When I first started selling real estate, everybody was doing the hustle. By that, I don't mean using aggressive, high-pressure selling tactics. I'm talking about the dance craze at the discos. The Bee Gees. Donna Summer. John Travolta. Some people, my husband included, love to thumb noses at spinning and glittery disco balls but let me tell you, as a person who lived through this era, it was fun.
It was fun because it was different. To do the hustle, you had to actually touch another person when you danced and follow precise dance steps. You weren't twirling in circles by yourself with your eyes closed and waving silk scarves in the air, only to discover that when the music ended your dance partner had long ago wandered off to smoke a bong somewhere. You were actually dancing with somebody.
Back then, I represented buyers and very few sellers. My reasoning was buyers need to buy a home so I was pretty much guaranteed that I would get paid for my efforts. A seller, not so much, because a listing might not ever sell. Buyers are grateful and happy. Sellers often blame the agent if a home doesn't sell. I felt as though I was appreciated more by buyers and that I was providing a worthwhile service. Buyers = happy. Sellers = mad. It made more sense to surround myself with happy people.
Today, I've done a 180. As a Sacramento short sale agent, I now represent more sellers than I do home buyers. I've discovered that my strengths lie with listings. Sellers might have a greater need for superior service than buyers. They generally need to sell for a particular reason, and my job is to move that home quickly at the highest price. It's a good match. I love to list homes and sell them. I price them right, employ home staging when possible, shoot what I believe are great photos, and I plaster those listings all over the Internet. My listings move. In a short sale, all I've really done over the years is elevate my listing abilities to the next level. Or maybe I'm just a sucker for punishment challenges.
Here is an exceptional Rocklin home built in 1978. It's a short sale. When you open the leaded-glass double doors to enter, I swear, that 1978 song by Abba, Take a Chance on Me, might very well start running through your head. This is your home. Take a chance on it. The entry is wood and it is raised. To the right are 3 bedrooms and two baths. Straight ahead, a dining room. To the left, an open floor plan concept, featuring a family room / kitchen. Upstairs, a second master suite with a balcony and a separate office.
The views from this home are stupendous. It backs up to the Sunset Whitney Country Club Golf Course and offers stunning views of the fairway, hills and wildlife. Gaggles of turkeys. Magnificent trees. And the view goes on forever off to the right but directly in front is a park-like paradise. It's right there in your face. You might wonder how you got to be so lucky to find this home and whether you could actually afford to live in this home, but you can. It's affordable because it's a short sale.
Where else will you find 4 bedrooms (two of which are master suites), 3 baths, plus a den that backs to the golf course and boasts more than 2,100 square feet? The kitchen features newer stainless-looking appliances, plus there is a ceiling fan over the breakfast area. Just think, every morning you can sit at the table, sip your Starbucks and marvel at your breathtakingly beautiful back yard.
In the evenings, you can gather around the stone fireplace in the family room, entertain friends in the separate dining room or go upstairs and sit on the balcony to watch the sun go down over the hills.
3245 Argonaut Avenue, Rocklin, CA 95677 is exclusively offered by Lyon Real Estate as a short sale at $285,000. For more information, call your Sacramento short sale agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916 233 6759.
Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub
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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.
I love disco, Elizabeth. There is nothing like the Bee Gees or Abba, and never will be again. As for the house, it looks like a home design I have seen frequently out here in Sterling, VA. The ones out here were called Balboa floor plans. They are retro houses, but hit all the buttons of today's home buyer that likes an open floor plan.
I'm not going to mention any ages here... but I think I'm a bit younger than you, but I love love love the music from that era. I was actually quite offended when I heard music from the late 70s and early 80s on an "oldies" station recently. And you represented? buyers then? WOW, what different worlds we live in. There was no buyer represenation in Georgia until the 90s. We had seller agency and seller sub-agency.
Looks like beautiful views from that home. And I am in a market where "view" is all that to buyers on the lake. That looks like a beautiful country setting and not anything I would have imagined in your city.
Hi Chris Ann: Is a Balboa floor plan East Coast slang for something that belongs in California?
Hi Tammy: I used my own contracts with buyers and we credited the commission from the seller to the buyer who then paid it to me. I guess I probably was a little bit ahead of myself at the time, although I never thought of it that way back then.