Club Chaos Agents - All Things Hollish, Wacked, and Jacked

After I closed another Bank of America short sale yesterday, the buyer's agent sent me an email demanding that the sellers replace the appliances. The agent also attached a printout from MLS that noted the appliances were included in the sale and a blog that said the same thing.

I hate to say this, but this is a buyer's agent who might have to buy his or her buyer new appliances. Why? Because he / she did not negotiate this personal property in the purchase contract. It's a missing element from the contract. Whose fault is that?

MetroList is pretty clear about its stand on this issue. MLS does not supersede the purchase contract. If a buyer's agent does not specify which appliances remain with the home, they don't stay. They can go. MetroList doesn't own that personal property. The listing agent doesn't own that personal property. The seller owns it. And if the buyer doesn't reach an agreement with the seller to give it to them, the personal property does not belong to the buyer.

Personal property is not a fixture.

So, what happens if a buyer tells his or her agent that he / she wants the refrigerator but the agent doesn't put it in the contract? I'd hate to be wearing that agent's shoes. They wouldn't fit me anyway.

Here is a new short sale listing in West Sacramento. It's located in that gorgeous complex called Riva on the River. I was so happy to see river development in West Sacramento when this complex was built in 2005. I don't believe that Sacramento or West Sacramento has done enough for river frontage. That's not to say I believe natural land should be spoiled, but I don't like to look at decay and rubbish along our river banks. I don't think anybody does.

This is a two-bedroom with office space and a two-bath condo. It's approximately 1307 square feet. It looks like nobody has ever lived in it, even though it is occupied. There is definite pride of ownership.

You'll find parquet wood floors in the entry with a transom by the door. The kitchen sports granite counters, beautiful oak cabinets and a large pantry. Other nice touches are ceiling fans, dual pane windows and exterior access in the master bedroom to an enclosed courtyard / patio area.

This is a one-story, lower level unit, with a two-car tandem garage. It's an affordable alternative to renting.

1291 Milano Drive #6, West Sacramento, CA 95691 is exclusively offered as a short sale by Lyon Real Estate at $114,900. For more information, please call your Sacramento short sale agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916 233 6759. For a private showing, call Weintraub team member, Linda Swanson, at 916 607 0111.

Photos: Linda Swanson

As a Sacramento short sale agent, I often receive lowball offers from pretend buyers or guys who want to flip, but these offers can be used to a seller's advantage. Instead of advising sellers to toss them into the circular bin, I say counter them. Yup, issue a counter offer. With a lengthy acceptance period. That way, while your counter offer is in the buyer's hands, more often than not, another offer will arrive. When this offer comes in, it gives the seller the opportunity to issue a multiple counter offer to the second buyer.

Because you know what? Nothing makes a buyer want to buy your short sale more than knowing somebody else wants it. OK, maybe the first buyer doesn't really want it, but the second buyer doesn't know that. It's human nature for people to covet what other people want. Everybody wants what Meg Ryan is having.

Here is a home worth drooling over. It's located in Bridgeway Lakes in lovely West Sacramento, way down Jefferson and close to wine country. This is a Shea home, built in 2005 -- the Peaceful Haven model. It boasts 2,250 square feet, per the seller, and it's one of those desirable one-stories.

Apart from its 3 bedrooms and 2 baths, it features a bonus room near the entrance. The bonus room could be used as a den, a living room, work-out room or hobby room. Or you could put a door on it, close it . . . and call it your teenage son's bedroom.

When buyers buy a brand new home from a builder, generally buyers have a choice in upgrades. Especially nowadays when builders prefer to build only when they have a buyer in contract. The owners of this home chose well. The entry, hall, family room and kitchen flooring is a high buffed maple hardwood. The kitchen, hall, laundry and bath cabinets are also maple. It makes the entire home light and airy. Gives it energy.

The master suite is spacious with a sitting area and located away from the other bedrooms, but close enough that one could hear a baby cry down the hall. The laundry is extended with additional cabinet space, plus it has a sink and the commercial-grade washer and dryer are included.

In the kitchen, you'll find stainless appliances and yes, the refrigerator stays with the home. In addition to a separate formal dining room, there is dining space in the kitchen and a breakfast bar / kitchen island.

The back yard is landscaped. It features green and red plum trees, plus a lemon tree and weeping cherry. There is a stained concrete patio and a fireplace. It's fenced, of course and bigger than most back yards of a one-story home. You'll also find ample storage space on both sides of the home.

3680 Topaz Road, West Sacramento, CA 95691 is offered exclusively by Lyon Real Estate as a short sale at $249,000. Why buy new when this price is so affordable? For more information, call your Sacramento short sale agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916 233 6759.

Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub

Hey, sometimes it happens. You get locked out of your house. I've done it twice and have put a system in place so it never happens again. The first time I tried to crawl in my second-story window. Except my ladder wasn't high enough, and I had to jump from the top rung. Not to mention, tear out my screen. I could have killed myself.

The second time I was taking out the trash late at night. The trash can was in my attached garage. I wasn't appropriately dressed to seek help, either, because I was wearing a nightgown. Opened the side door to the garage, and when I heard it click behind me, my heart sank. I knew it was locked. Did I want to sleep in the cold garage? Or did I want to knock on my neighbor's door and ask him to kick in my back door? I suppose it could have been worse; I could have been naked.

Last night, the seller of my new West Sacramento short sale listing called. Her home was on Lyon broker tour yesterday. An agent, in an attempt to secure the home, no doubt, locked her door to the garage. The seller, I discovered, doesn't carry a key with her. She had already driven over to our Lyon office in West Sacramento, but the lights were out and the place deserted.

I called an agent I know at the Lyon West Sacramento office, but received her voice mail. I thought about jumping in my car and driving over there myself, but it would have taken me at least 20 minutes from my home in Land Park.

Instead, I pulled up the Lyon website, plucked a friendly looking face from the West Sacramento office and called a Lyon agent at random, Patt Kregelo. Patt was driving home from the grocery store, 5 minutes away from my listing, and she offered to run over there. I added that if she hadn't yet seen this home, perhaps it would be a good time to preview it, but Patt had frozen food in the car. See, this is the thing about our vast network of Lyon real estate agents, even if we don't know each other, we stick together. Thank you, Patt, if you're reading this, for helping me out. I really appreciate it. So does the seller.

For the rest of you, though, to avoid getting locked out of your own house, you should hide a key somewhere on your property. If you don't have an extra key, get one made today and hide it. Consider a place in the garage. For about $30, you can attach an outside wireless garage door keypad, which will let you open the overhead garage door by entering a code on the keypad.

You can also give a key to your neighbor. Or buy one of those fake rocks for keys, put the key inside and hide the rock in the garden. Just let me say that I've already had a reason to use my hidden key. The trick for me was remembering where I hid it. Plus, if you don't think that you'll ever get locked out of your house, just wait.

As I was driving to West Sacramento yesterday to take a listing in Bridgeway Island, a buyer's agent called. Just for the record, I wasn't pulling a Maria Shriver, I was wearing my Jawbone. He asked about a Sacramento short sale home that I have listed and wanted to know how much his buyer would have to offer to buy it.

I explained that his buyer would have a running chance if the agent ran the comparable sales and based the purchase offer on the comps. This is the same procedure an agent would use for a listing that is not a short sale. The agent got huffy with me. "I'm an old man," he said, "and I've been in the business for 46 years. I don't have time for this."

His poor buyer. He's apparently working with an agent who doesn't have time to do the job the buyer hired him to perform. This is where the adage: "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" comes into play. So I thanked him profusely for calling me, and was as polite as I could be while following a cement mixer down Jefferson.

Here is a new listing in West Sacramento. It's a 4 bedroom, 2 bath, with vaults, boasting almost 1900 square feet of pure joy, especially if you own pets. That's because the living room, dining area, kitchen and family room have upgraded ceramic tile floors. The tiles are larger than 12-inch, but I didn't measure them to determine if the tiles were 16-inch or 18-inch. The home was built by Forecast in 2001. It's a desirable one-story on a cul-de-sac with a view of the greenbelt.

The interior is absolutely immaculate. It's in move-in condition. The kitchen has an island, the counters are ceramic tile and there's a breakfast nook that overlooks the incredibly landscaped back yard.

You'll love the spacious master suite, which is almost 20 feet. Plus, it has outside access to the back yard. The master bath has double sinks, ceramic tile floor, a separate tub, shower stall and a huge walk-in closet with organizers.

As I was leaving, the seller mentioned that she found me at my Homebuying About.com site when she Googled "short sale." When she read my article -- which ranks #2 at Google, right behind Wikipedia -- she discovered that I was a Sacramento short sale agent and was delighted when she realized that my office is in Midtown. See, Lyon Real Estate has 18 offices in the Sacramento area, and we have an office in West Sacramento, too. So, this seller gets the advantage of a For Sale Sign on her lawn that sports our West Sacramento office phone number, and she gets her home on tour with our Midtown office over the river, plus my cell phone number on a sign rider. Dual coverage. It doesn't get any better than that.

3044 Sherman Island Road, West Sacramento, CA 95691

Offered as a short sale exclusively by Lyon Real Estate at $235,000

Elizabeth Weintraub, 916.233.6759

Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub