And yet a third country heard from. Whenever I take a break during my day to pet one of my male cats, it's almost a given that my little female ocicat will come running to demand attention. She's quite vocal about it, too. That's because she rules the house. Which is not unlike many other households shared by humans.
The adage is if mama ain't happy, nobody is happy.
I keep that in mind when communicating with my clients. Because in any given relationship, there is typically a balance of power. You might think this is sexist but it's not, really. I look for nonverbal clues. For example, who handles the paperwork? I could be emailing, texting and calling one person who appears to be the dominant individual but often it's the quiet person who makes the decisions.
Of course, I work with a lot of single women buying homes. They might be in a relationship, in which case I have a partner to consider, but many are single and happy without a relationship. One such client called yesterday. She bought a home in South Land Park. I consider her to be a friend. She wanted to know why the County of Sacramento had filed foreclosure proceeding for back taxes and turned her over to a collection agency. She had paid her supplemental tax bill.
Yikes. Turns out the tax bill in question was for second-half property taxes for the 2009 - 2010 tax year. See, property tax bills in Sacramento are issued for the calendar year, which runs from July 1 to June 30th. First-half taxes, which cover the period from July 1 to December 31st, are delinquent after December 10th. Second-half taxes, which cover the period from January 1 to June 30th, are delinquent after April 10th.
This buyer had closed escrow at the end of October of 2009. She paid 2 months of taxes and the seller paid 4, which escrow forwarded to the Sacramento County Assessor's office. However, the assessor's office did not send out a duplicate second-half tax bill. When the second-half taxes were not paid, the buyer was assessed a $60 penalty, the county filed a notice to foreclose and sent the file for collection. The assessor's office says it is not required to send an invoice to a new buyer. The buyer is simply supposed to know that her taxes are delinquent if not paid by April 10th.
Neither escrow nor title nor the lender gave the buyer any paperwork that let her know a) the amount of her tax bill or b) where to send payment. I guess this is another task I will need to handle for my buyers who close escrow without an impound account during the months of July to December. Because I surely can't count on anybody else to take care of it, not even the Sacramento County Tax Assessor. Seems a little odd, doesn't it?
Photo: Elizabeth Weintraub, Pia, Pica and Brandon in Land Park
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Certified HAFA Specialist
My Sacramento Real Estate Listings
Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout the four-county Sacramento area. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate. DRE License # 00697006.
The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available at Amazon.com.
Lyon Real Estate is not associated with the government, and our service is not approved by the government or your lender. Even if you accept this offer and use our service, your lender may not agree to change your loan.
Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.
The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of Lyon Real Estate.
Disclaimer: If this post contains a listing, information is deemed reliable as of the date it was written. After that date, the listing may be sold, listed by another brokerage, canceled, pending or taken temporarily off the market, and the price could change without notice. It could blow up, explode or vanish. To find out the present status of any listing, please go to elizabethweintraub.com.
