Is it a full moon? I had to look it up and, sure enough, according to the U.S. Navy, last night at 9:21 PM, the moon was full. I shot this photo about 6 AM this morning. It's what the moon looks like setting over Land Park, Sacramento.
Although I'm not a big believer in astrology, despite my wacky attempt at a bit of humor with my Real Estate Horoscopes for 2009 -- which caused some readers to say they were never, ever, going to read another thing I wrote, not if they lived to be a million years old -- sometimes I do wonder if the gravitational pull of the moon affects human behavior.
Many of my Sacramento short sales had an extreme amount of activity yesterday. Coincydink? You tell me. How does a short sale in Sacramento get approved within 30 days? I have a few I've been working on for several months that seemed to be headed nowhere. Then, all of a sudden, a negotiator called yesterday to say he'll have short sale approval before the end of the month, and we just submitted the file 10 days ago.
By some stroke of miracle, my pile of Countrywide deactivated files suddenly were reactivated. Are the pagans dancing naked under the moon?
And to think I was complaining to my husband a few days ago, asking him to tell me again why I am a Sacramento short sale agent, to which he responded, "Because you enjoy hitting yourself on the head with a hammer?"
But this morning, all those short sale files appear headed toward closing. I presently am working on 18 contingent short sales, meaning they all have accepted offers from committed buyers. I also put another Land Park short sale buyer into escrow yesterday who had been toughing it out, waiting days for a presentation of multiple offers. Come on, Wednesday, I'm ready for ya.
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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 in bookstores everywhere and at Amazon.com.
Sacramento Short Sale Agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, has the answers to your Sacramento short sale questions.
Photo: Elizabeth Weintraub, Land Park, Sacramento
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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.
I am firmly stuck in all my family supersitions so I think some things happen in a full moon that don't happen other times. Glad your files are activated again.
Hi Elizabeth... I think that you are onto something here. I noticed that I had all sorts of deal issues when mercury was in retrograde a couple of months ago. Lunar cycles affect or sorts of things in nature so why not real estate?
LOL Elizabeth - Well now, your husband isn't quite accurate when he says you enjoy hitting yourself on the head with a hammer. I would suspect it is the log jam of planets you have in the sign of Cancer (the crab), that has influence over your ability and desire to be a short-sale specialist. The crab can move forward, backward and in most any other direction, swiftly, and quickly, with little effort. Having many planets in the 12th house of karma, self-undoing and secret enemies, might be acting as a catalyst for that:-)
Also Steve is right, a retrograde Mercury will often cause communication to break down. I've watched transactions I've had turn to mush during a retrograde Mercury, only to have them "miraculously" straighten out, and actually close the minute Mercury return to a direct path once again. A retrograde mercury may also have office machines and computers acting up, and cars to breaking down.
As for your wondering about the effects of the Moon, when you stop to consider our bodies are made of mostly water, and the Moon has control over tides, you can understand there is likely lunar influence on humans as well.
Well, we've been making offers since mid december, all of them above asking price and we kept getting nowhere..
Yesterday, a short sale that we had made an offer back in April (we had lost hope) came back approved!!
So yes, whatever happened yesterday was good!
Different market - same hammer.
Made my day to read you moon blog.
Congratulations on having so many potential closes.
Hi Elizabeth, I definitely think odd things happen in a full moon, people act differently, and there is a strange energy too...glad the strange energy reactivated your files!
Hi Tammy: Well, if a full moon was truly lucky for me, my cat would not have scratched me in a vigorous effort to pursue my husband's strawberry ice cream instead of nestling into my lap last night.
Hi Steve: You'll have to ask Myrl about Mercury in my chart. She said something today about all the inner planets being in my rising sign and how I have 5 cancers in my chart. She said people would die for my chart, but then we all die at some point, don't we?
Hi Myrl: I must thank you profusely for drawing up my chart. I don't believe I have ever in my life had my chart drawn. And it was a fun lunch, such as it was with the interruptions from that irritating agent today. Thank you, again. It was truly wonderful to see you again.
Hi Maria: Hey, you're but another example of how perseverance pays off, and maybe it pays off under a full moon. Who knows?
Hi Glenn: You can have my hammer any time. Here, take it. Boing.
Hi Barbara: I hear that my closings make me the #4 agent in my office, and we have over 85 agents in that office alone. Many top producers. We handle downtown Sacramento, Midtown, East Sac and Land Park / Curtis Park. I'm not a gigantic, hands-over-fist producer, but I do all right and consistently earn top producer. I'm after quality, not quantity.
Great picture of the moon! My AR friend in Tennessee was telling me the moon was awesome last night and to go out and look for it. I never found it! LOL
Great picture of the moon..and i like to read horoscopes..just not short sales..but we all have our own thing..thanks
HELPFULHANNAH
Full moon brings out the buyers? Is that what you are saying? Does it get the deals closed faster, too?