I recall a dinner I attended and planned for sales reps from Linotype-Hell in Minneapolis some 20 years ago. Reps came from all over the Midwest. One of them was Bud -- from Iowa. Bud was a big guy who wore plaid shirts, a meat-and-potatoes-and-corn kinda man. The first course was an appetizer. Scallops. Two large scallops. Served on a big plate. Bud looked down at his plate and then glared at me: "Where's my dinner?" he asked.
Last night my husband and I had dinner at one of our favorite outdoor dining spots in Midtown Sacramento, Lounge on 20. I like the vibe at this place. It was so crowded we almost didn't get a spot outside. The trick is to get there about 7 PM, right when the happy-hour crowd is leaving to go wherever happy and half-drunk people go at that time of evening. Maybe to Target. Maybe back to the Capitol garage with bicycle cops hot on their tail.
I ordered a hamachi appetizer, which was about the size of a boiled egg. A beet salad, which consisted of a row of 5 or 6 tiny beets -- I mean tiny, like the size of a thimble. And my main entree, which was day boat scallops. The scallops arrived on a large plate, and there were two of them. Smaller than a lime. Not large, in other words.
For $17. Two scallops. I got Bud's appetizer for dinner!
We try to go out and celebrate on Fridays, especially if I've had a good week. This week I closed another short sale in Natomas. The seller said she had talked with me several years ago but made the mistake of hiring instead some other Sacramento short sale agent. That agent could not perform. Oh, well. Not every agent can sell a short sale. The seller had a sticky situation, too, involving mortgage insurance.
I hear this a lot. They hire an agent who claimed to be a short sale agent but wasn't. It's OK. Sellers can come to me even if they initially hired some buddy or relative or referral from an ex-husband, whatever, and those agents eventually fall down on the job. I don't hold it against sellers because they have their own reasons for making what I might believe are the wrong decisions, but that's their choice to make.
Not only did I sell and close this short sale, but I sold it to a VA buyer who was represented by an excellent buyer's agent. Not very many short sales are sold to buyers getting a VA loan because they can be very tricky to do. I also sold this for $10,000 less than the bank previously demanded. And it was a Wells Fargo short sale.
Earlier in the day yesterday, I drove over to remove the lockbox. It was about 3 PM in the afternoon. As I turned the corner into this Natomas subdivision, I noticed sprinklers were going off. On everybody's front lawn. Eight or 10 homes had sprinklers running in the front yard in the middle of a hot afternoon in Sacramento. How is this even possible? These homes are not in an HOA.
Sacramento is an interesting place to live. We can't seem to get a balanced budget, Midtown restaurants give you 2 scallops for dinner, and we don't yet have water meters. But those Sacramento short sales are closing!
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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.
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The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of Lyon Real Estate.
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Well if you ever come to Georgia Elizabeth... do stop by and I'll take you to Bone Island Grill... where you will get way more than 2 scallops for less than $17, but hey, we have water meters so go figure.
Congrats on another great week. I had a doozy myself, but hubby was too exhausted to celebrate with me last night. Maybe tonight. I am looking forward to going out for some crab legs. YUM!
Elizabeth, we have water meters...(even on our own wells where I live) so the wasting water and watering in the middle of the day is the only thing that struck a chord! Congrats on another week to celebrate, did you use Bud's line and ask the waiter "Where's my dinner?!"
You're on, Tammy. I figure with tax and tip, each scallop cost $10.94.
Hey Chris Ann: Enjoy some bubbily with those crab legs. My husband says Alaskan King crab serve only as a butter delivery system for me.
Hi Mary: I thought about it. There were no side dishes either and it was listed as an entree. You'd think you would get more than 2 scallops and a couple of small dollops of sauce. I looked at the dessert menu because I was still sorta hungry, but every offering was too sweet, and I'm doing a low carb thing now. No cheese platters were available.
I come here to learn about short sales and get to chuckle about Bud. You are a fun learning experience.