Elizabeth Weintraub • Sacramento Short Sale Agent • Land Park

Why is it that Bank of America can be so easy to work with on a short sale and Wells Fargo is so dreadful? They both use Equator. Wells Fargo promised us last January that it had approved a short sale and was sending the approval letter any day now, at least by the third week of January. The buyer was excited. Yet, that third week came and went and no approval letter. OK, drop-dead date of February 4th, promised Wells Fargo. No letter. So, yesterday, the buyer canceled.

I don't have that problem with Bank of America. When Bank of America tells me it will do something, it performs. Yesterday, a law firm contacted me to say Bank of America would not release our mutual client from personal liability. The lawyer had sent Bank of America a letter, talking about California Civil Code 580e and so forth -- it was a non-recourse loan -- but no release was forthcoming. The request was denied. I suspect the lawyers advised the client to close anyway because the hard-money second was releasing her.

The problem was the lawyer's letter wasn't reaching the right person at Bank of America. I emailed my executive contact at Bank of America, explained the situation and asked his team to take a second look. By late afternoon we had a release of personal liaibility letter for that seller. No deficiency judgment.

The following short sale I just listed in Roseville does not have any loans with Bank of America nor Wells Fargo. I suspect this short sale will be a relatively smooth escrow. It's a darling home, with a truly open floor plan. When you walk in the front door, you are standing in the family room with a sweeping view of the fireplace, the dining area and kitchen.

The family room, hall and 2 of the 3 bedrooms boast laminate flooring that look just like real wood. Both of the baths have ceramic floors, so does the kitchen. The master bath has a granite top on the vanity, and 12-inch ceramic around the tub.

This home was built in 2005 by JML. It's a popular one-story with high ceilings. You've got indoor laundry, an attached 3-car tandem garage, and a pretty back yard with a couple of uncovered patio areas.

2008 Milan Way, Roseville, CA 95678 is exclusively offered by Lyon Real Estate as a short sale at $180,000. For more information, call your Sacramento short sale agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916 233 6759. For a private showing, call Linda Swanson at 916 607 0111.

Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub

What do you do when a lockbox won't open? Every so often, a Supra lockbox jams, and I get a call. Maybe the last agent crammed the key in sideways. Maybe it's moisture in the air or temperature changes that causes it. I don't know, but I know how to fix it because I've been down that road. The trick is to remove the lockbox by releasing the shackle. Then, holding the lockbox by its shackle, repeatedly smash it on a concrete surface. Trust me, it will unjam. You can't break a lockbox.

So, that's where I am headed this morning after the sun rises. Over to my listing in Fair Oaks to bash around a jammed lockbox. It's likely to be good therapy for me. Business has been so hectic lately.

You know what else is good therapy? Walking into a new listing that sparkles and is ready for showings. I appreciate it when clients listen to me by decluttering their homes and making those homes presentable for buyers to view. 

Like this new Roseville listing in Crocker Ranch. This is a home built by John Mouier Construction in 2000. It's a one story with an open floor plan. The entry features ceramic tile, which also flows into the kitchen. I measured the kitchen, and it's more than 200 square feet. It has a breakfast nook, a ton of cabinets and lots of ceramic counter space, including a breakfast bar that is open the family room.

The master suite is remote from the other 2 bedrooms, located at the back of the home with outside access to the covered patio. At one time, the covered patio had been enclosed and turned into a sunroom; however, the sellers removed that structure and opened up the patio to the yard. Much of the yard is low maintenance. You'll also find a free-standing spa in front of raised garden beds.

There is a small structure the sellers are presently using for storage but looks like a changing room attached to the back of the home. It looks like a little house, and has a floor and sitting bench. To unwind after work, you could change your clothes inside this room, pluck an apple or plum from one of the fruit trees and hop into a steaming hot spa.

The family room has a wood-burning fireplace that is plumbed for gas but the sellers don't use the gas feature. There is also space for a dining room table and a chandelier.

This 3-bedroom, 2-bath home in Crocker Ranch also has an attached 2-car garage, which features a wall of cabinets with ample storage space. It's possible that if you made an offer today, even though it's a short sale, you could possibly be moving into this home before Christmas.

8956 Rising Mist Way, Roseville, CA 95747 is exclusively offered by Lyon Real Estate as a short sale at $230,000. For more information, call your Sacramento short sale agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916 233 6759.

Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub

It happened again. This time to a different short sale and not in Sacramento. This short sale is in Roseville. High demand neighborhood -- such high demand that I received more than a dozen calls within 24 hours of putting this short sale on the market. Several months later, I'm still receiving phone calls and inquiries.

We received short sale approval for an all-cash offer and were headed for closing when a buyer's agent in Roseville called to put me on the alert. Even though this vacant home has been in active short contingent status for a while, agents still show it. I don't know why. But this particular agent noticed the air conditioning unit was missing. That huge component that sits on the side of most homes in the yard.

Turns out not only did thieves steal the A/C unit, but they ripped out the home's entire electrical panel as well. Then, I suspect they set the side yard on fire. The grass looked burned in the photos I received. Where are the neighbors when these things happen, I wonder?

I advised the seller to file a police report and notify his insurance company. However, in this particular instance, I believe that insurance will most likely not cover any damage because the home has been vacant for more than 30 days. So, that leaves me having to ask Bank of America for a price reduction.

Last month, thugs broke into a Natomas short sale and swiped the appliances. Fortunately, they didn't do further damage, and it was just the dishwasher and range that were stolen.

I tell all my short sale sellers to make sure they carry adequate insurance on a vacant home because their existing homeowner's insurance probably won't pay on a claim. But nobody ever thinks anything bad will happen to them. It's always the next guy or the next town over. Of course, the problem with this is rates to insure a vacant house are expensive. If a seller can't make a mortgage payment, a seller probably can't afford a special insurance policy, either.

Steve Poizner, insurance commissioner at the California Department of Insurance, released a statement last week warning homeowners to review their insurance policies and to consider vacancy protection options. Pretty timely advice, I'd say.

Sellers in Sacramento who are looking for a Sacramento short sale agent should be very careful whom they choose because there are "fake it till you make it" agents out there. These are novices who are erroneously calling themselves a short sale specialist. How do I know this? Well, some attend a 3-hour class down at the Board and slap the title of certified short sale agent on their business cards. A seminar doesn't replace experience. It seems like everybody and their grandmothers are hopping aboard the short sale wagon these days.

I also know it because a website entrepreneur contacted me yesterday to offer me an extraordinary opportunity. He asked if I wanted to be listed on a new website, shortsalesguide.com, as one of his two exclusive Sacramento short sale experts. It's so exclusive that he wanted to charge me $500 for the privilege. That was my first clue something was amiss.

He was on a mission to sign up two short sale experts in every city in the country. He gave me the name of his other so-called short sale expert in Sacramento. To check out this guy's credibility, I looked at his "expert" agent's production in MLS for the year to see exactly how many short sale listings that agent had listed and closed in 2010. The answer? None. Yup, a big, fat zero.

That was my second clue. As if I needed one.

The people I feel for are the poor sellers who are desperately trying to find a good agent to sell their home as a short sale and get duped. How can the public separate the wannabes from the doers online? I don't know if they can. But my clients can easily find my short sale listings and track my closed Sacramento short sales on my website. I'm an open book. And if I am unavailable for some reason, I will recommend other qualified and experienced short sale agents in Sacramento.

Here is my newest Sacramento short sale listing. This is a home in the Crocker Ranch subdivision in Roseville. It has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. The living room features a vaulted ceiling, ceiling fan and a fireplace. The entry has custom tile, and you'll find ceramic floors in the kitchen and the baths.

It's got a great layout, which is a lot more spacious than the square footage would indicate. For example, the kitchen is enormous. There's enough room in the kitchen for a table, too, with space left over for a room full of people to gather while you're cooking. The counters are granite tile. Sort of a unique feature is the fact the sink faces the living room, so a cook could wash and cut up vegetables while keeping an eye on the TV screen.

Down the hall are 2 good-sized bedrooms, a guest bath and a small laundry room with washer and dryer. At the very end is the master suite, with a vaulted ceiling, a cut-out in the wall for a headboard or shelving, and the master bath with a walk-in shower.

The courtyard is enclosed, and it has a pergola attached to the roof that shades a concrete patio area. There is also a raised concrete pad with RV access for your boat, and a small lily pond. The home is situated on a corner and is attached to the home around the corner, but it's not obvious that it's attached. It feels like a single-family home inside and it looks like a single-family home from the street. It's only when you go around the corner that you can see there is a home on the other side. Oh, and it has a 2-car garage, too. It's situated among many more expensive single-family homes, which makes this price a bargain!

9101 Eagle Wind Drive, Roseville, CA, 95757 is exclusively offered by Lyon Real Estate as a short sale at $190,000. For more information, call your Sacramento short sale agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916 233 6759.

Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub

I received a phone call yesterday from a very unhappy seller whose name sounded vaguely familiar. Apparently, we had a conversation last year about selling his home as a short sale. He was now calling to let me know that although he had listed his home with some other agent, had received an offer and submitted that offer to his short sale lender, the lender had instead foreclosed. He was frustrated with his agent and felt his agent did not have enough short sale experience to help him.

His exact words were: I should have hired you.

Well, why didn't he? That was the obvious question I wanted to ask, so I did. It seemed that this guy had no intention of hiring a Sacramento short sale agent when he initially called me. He just wanted to pick my brain, ask questions and then hire a friend of his who had a real estate license. Now, he was blaming his friend that his home had gone to foreclosure. On top of that, he had taken out a home equity loan. Although this second loan had been wiped out by the foreclosure, it was not gone. Hard money lenders have the right to pursue borrowers and try to collect.

The truth is there are a lot of things that can go wrong with a short sale. Too many to list in this blog at the moment. And while there is absolutely no guarantee that any short sale agent can prevent a foreclosure, at least an experienced short sale agent might have reduced those odds. I felt sorry for the guy because he's hosed. I suggested he call a lawyer.

Here is a new short sale in Roseville. This is a remarkable home with four bedrooms, three baths, soaring ceilings, and a pool. Probably the best feature about it is the back yard. It's huge; the lot is more than 15,000 square feet at .36 acres.  It's located in the Courtside subdivision, a little bit south of Douglas Boulevard and Eureka Road.

The first floor features a tiled entry, step-down living room, formal dining room, bright kitchen with a skylight and breakfast nook, a coveted downstairs' bedroom, guest bath, and a family room with a fireplace. Both the family room and kitchen overlook the pool area.

On the second floor, you'll find 3 more bedrooms, one of which has teak hardwood floors. The master suite is spacious with curved windows and a walk-in closet. There is another closet in the master bath, coupled with a jetted tub and separate shower. All together, the home boasts about 2,521 square feet.

A heritage oak stands proudly in the front yard. The back yard has maple trees, mature oleander and rose bushes, but they are all located a reasonable distance from the pool so leaves aren't falling from overhead into the water. It's a very private yard. You really can't see any neighbors.

317 Laver Court, Roseville, CA 95661 is offered exclusively by Lyon Real Estate as a short sale at $349,000. For more information, please call your Sacramento short sale agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916 233 6759.

Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub

I have a lousy sense of direction. When I was filling out a profile sheet for MLS at a seller's home in Roseville yesterday, I noted that the archived listing showed the home facing west. But it didn't feel like it was facing west to me. So, I asked the sellers which direction it faced. They didn't know, either. But fortunately, they had an app that turned their cellphone into a compass.

Sense of direction is not my forte. The only thing worse than losing your sense of direction is losing your common sense on top of it. Once I got lost in a boat off the foggy coast of Maine, arguing with a guy who has the distinction of being known as my ex-husband.

We didn't know where we were. The fog was very heavy. I felt like we should turn left, but the compass indicated otherwise. Maybe the compass was malfunctioning? If we had put our faith in my sense of direction, we could have ended up in Ireland, malnourished, dehydrated and most likely half dead. Well, no, I would have eaten my ex-husband first. But the point is I am here today because against all intuition, I chose to rely on the compass.

Here is a short sale home in Roseville. It is surrounded by larger, more expensive homes, which makes this home an attractive buy for a first-time home buyer. It's a desirable one-story with a spacious and open feel. In the main living area, some of the walls don't reach the ceiling, and there is an open beam separating the living room from the entry.

You'll find tiled floors in the entry and both baths, plus vaulted ceilings and a number of ceiling fans. It has dual pane windows, central heat and air, and was built in 1992 by U.S. Home in the Vineyard Estates subdivision. The carpeting is casual Berber in almost new condition. In addition to a breakfast nook in the kitchen, the home has a formal dining area with a chandelier, located between the kitchen and living room.

It has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths and, according to the assessor's office, is 1,438 square feet. It faces west, we verified that fact, which means the master suite (with outside access) is filled with sunlight in the morning. The living room has a gas-piped fireplace.

The kitchen has a newer refrigerator, gas range and built-in microwave. Although the washer and dryer are gone, there is a separate laundry room with a gas connection and 220 volt receptacle, so you could use either a gas or electric dryer. It has a 2-car garage with a garage door opener. You'll also find roses lining the front sidewalk, raised beds in the back yard for gardening, a big uncovered patio and a storage shed.

1220 Chablis Circle, Roseville, CA 95747 is exclusively offered by Lyon Real Estate as a short sale at $175,000. For more information, call your Sacramento short sale agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916 233 6759.

Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub

While my husband is out counting homeless people for the U.S. Census Bureau -- which he's been doing since 3 AM -- let me tell you about my new short sale listing in Roseville. The seller of this Crocker Ranch short sale home in Roseville does not use the second floor of her spacious home, but a new buyer will most likely appreciate and utilize the space. This home is a Seville model, built by JMC, and it has approximately 2,601 square feet, according to the tax records.

One of the reasons a new buyer will enjoy the second floor is due to the incredible view of farmlands just the other side of Fiddyment. You will find 3 bedrooms plus a master suite upstairs, a huge bonus room / loft, which also provides access to another small room with 2 walls of windows that was once used as an office. If you need space, this home has it.

The first floor boasts a large office right off the entry. In fact, it could be turned into a bedroom if you need a first-floor bedroom, which would make this a 5-bedroom, 3-bath home with 2 offices and a huge loft. Of course, there is also a formal dining room, first-floor laundry room, and the home features a great room concept that blends the open kitchen with the family room. The kitchen has tiled counters, an island and a ceramic floor. There is a fireplace in the family room.

From the family room, open the sliding doors to the back yard and you'll be amazed when you see the size of the raised Koi pond. As you stand under the covered patio and take in the view, you may begin to wonder how gorgeous this almost quarter-acre yard will look at the height of summer. It has a flowering cherry tree, too. And hummingbirds.

1885 Terracina Circle, Roseville, CA 95747, is offered exclusively by Lyon Real Estate as a short sale at $299,000.

For more information, call your Sacramento short sale agent Elizabeth Weintraub at 916 233 6759.

Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub

APRIL 2010: THE SELLER TOOK THIS HOME OFF THE MARKET AND IT IS NO LONGER FOR SALE.

A certain number of buyers prefer a home with a pool, while other home buyers can take it or leave it. I suspect that's because some of those take-it-or-leave-it buyers have never owned a home with a pool and might think that taking care of a pool is too much of a hassle.

Well, if you've got deciduous trees over or near the pool, it can be more work than a pool that is located right out in the open. Or, if the pool is older, it might need to be resurfaced. But overall, pool maintenance is inexpensive. I know of clients who pay $40 a month for a pool service to maintain their pools.

The other thing about a pool home is many owners who truly love their pools focus on an outdoor lifestyle. They love to entertain poolside. If you're one of those people, then this pool home in Roseville is for you. The pool area sports 2 tiki huts, an outdoor kitchen with a refrigerator, built-in stereo and a built-in propane barbecue grill. You can view the pool area from the entry, through the living room / dining room windows or from the great room concept, which is a combination family room / kitchen.

This is a Centex home in Westpark, built in 2007, and it's a highly desired single-story, boasting more than 2,000 square feet. It has 3 good-sized bedrooms, a den near the entry and 2 baths. You'll be amazed at the quality and number of upgrades throughout the home -- upgraded carpeting; tiled floors in the kitchen, entry and bath; granite counters and stainless appliances in the kitchen; cherry wood cabinets throughout.

The master suite features a huge walk-in closet with adjustable closet organizers. Storage in this home is abundant. You'll find extra storage in the hallway. Even the 3-car garage has custom built-in storage units.

2336 Lockton Drive, Roseville, CA 95747, offered exclusively by Lyon Real Estate as a short sale at $315,000.

Call your Sacramento short sale agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916 233 6759 for more information.

Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub

If you're looking for a two-story with almost 2,000 square feet in the Silverado Oaks subdivision in Roseville, you'll want to take a look at this new short sale listing. This is an immaculate home with gracious features everywhere you turn.

The sellers said when they bought this home, they weren't really in the market for a home. At the time, they were renting and fairly happy with where they were living. They drove by on a Sunday afternoon and noticed the home was an open house. Pulled over, got out of the car, walked into the home and were bowled over. The next day they wrote an offer. That's the kind of impact this home has on buyers, and even non buyers!

Perhaps the most spectacular aspect of this home, the one thing that will whisper (or maybe scream in your ears), is the breathtakingly beautiful back yard. It's an entertainer's paradise. Not only will you find a sparkling pool, but there is an in-ground spa, a waterfall and a second water feature with lily pads and koi, surrounded by a large patio. The yard is humongous, too large to capture in a single photo.

The home has 3 large bedrooms, which include a master suite, plus a loft area that can be used as a library, den, children's play area or work-out gym. The loft overlooks the entry and formal living area.

Of course there is a formal dining room; the home boasts an open floor plan with a gourmet kitchen / family room combo. The family room has a fireplace and the kitchen has a breakfast nook, too. Soaring ceilings. Lots of windows. This could be your dream home.

1033 Rudgwick Drive, Roseville, CA 95747, offered at $258,000 (subject to bank approval)

Elizabeth Weintraub

916.233.6759

Lyon Real Estate

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 Sacramento. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you.

The Short Sale Savior,by Elizabeth Weintraub, available through bookstores everywhere and at Amazon.com.

Sacramento Short Sale Agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, has the answers to your Sacramento short sale questions.

Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub