Elizabeth Weintraub • Sacramento Short Sale Agent • Land Park

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

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

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.