How to blow up your house...

Step one: hook a flexible gas line up to both your water heater and dryer.

Step two: 😖

Sometimes I wonder what goes through people's minds when they do really goofy do-it-yourself home repairs. Like this. I saw this showing property in Fair Oaks. Seriously?

Don't be "That Cross House" -- remove potentially distracting decor when preparing your home for sale...

I have long advocated for staging homes for sale so they show well and buyers can see the home in its most favorable condition...and while you may love your wall of all the crosses you have collected for years, often times this sort of décor is a little distracting to buyers. It may turn some people off if they are not religious, make the room look unnecessarily darker or smaller than it is, or buyers might label your house "that cross house" when referring to it later and forget all of the great things about it. I bring my go-to stager into my upcoming listings before they go onto the market so that she can make recommendations. In this room, she advised the seller to remove the crosses and thin out the furnishings, and pack them up for her future move. She did, and it made a huge difference in the feel of the room. She made similar changes in the rest of the house. And ultimately, this home got 4 offers on it in just a few days on the market, and sold for $10,000 over the listing price. A little strategic preparation can pay off big time.

Got a residential electric vehicle charger for my own house...pretty affordable and pretty awesome!

This is pretty cool. Nearly 2 years ago my husband and I got a Nissan Leaf electric vehicle. He drives is primarily to work downtown and back, and mostly charges his car in the parking garage. A company called Chargepoint just came out with an affordable residential charging unit, so we took the plunge and had one installed in our home. This thing is awesome. The unit we purchased was the Chargepoint 25 32-Amp hard-wired model and cost about $500. They do make other less-expensive units as well...we purchased this one because it charges more quickly. We had an electrical contractor professionally install it for us. SMUD and PG&E both offer incentives to installing residential charging stations. We are loving this so far.

You decide: weird floating door in a Carmichael home...or entrance to the magical land of Narnia?

Take a good hard look at this photo. What do you see? Why yes, that is a 2nd level, floating door to no where. On the other side of the door on the exterior of the house is a decorative balcony that extends out a couple feet. Unless you put a ladder on the first floor below it, there is absolutely no way to access this door or the balcony.

This is in a new construction Carmichael home listed at well over a million dollars. Wow. I'm wondering what the original intent of this feature was, and why it turned into this? Needless to say, my buyer clients and I were not impressed. Moving on...

Staging tip of the day: Man-eating toilets don't appeal to the masses...

Yo sellers! Before you put your home on the market, it would probably be a good idea to rid your home of "Man-Eating Toilets." Have you ever seen "Little Shop of Horrors?" Does the phrase "Feed me Seymour" mean anything to you? I came across this gem in a South Land Park home for sale. A new toilet seat at Home Depot is less than $20. Well worth the investment. Candidly, I'd be a little scared to sit on this.

What the F--- is wrong with this photo??

I took other agents in my Dunnigan Realtors Land Park office on a tour my new Tahoe Park listing today...we tour each other's listings as a group every week. I was taken aback by the sign out front! My name misspelled!!

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, or have been following my recent blog posts regarding my name change, you will know that I changed my name this summer after a several months-long process (from Erin Attardi, my former married name -- to Erin Stumpf, my maiden name that I reverted back to following my divorce a few years back).

Of course changing all of my marketing materials was part of the process, and my listing signs were changed out when the CA Department of Real Estate finally recognized the change and issued my Real Estate Broker license. This sign must have been made at 4:30pm on a Friday. Or perhaps they ran out of F's that day. Either way...it's been fixed.

How many smoke detectors does it take?

Paranoid much? This high level of residential disaster prep is a little bit over the top. When I toured this cute little 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom East Sacramento home today, I couldn't help but wonder...why? Three. Separate. Smoke. Detectors. Over just one of the bedroom doors. The other bedroom door had zero smoke detectors. Was the occupant of that bedroom not as "important" as the occupant of this bedroom? Does each smoke detector work? Perhaps the seller couldn't figure out how to change the batteries and just installed new ones? But why install new ones without removing the old ones? Well...my buyer client opted not to make an offer on this one, so I suppose that the mystery of the smoke detectors will go unsolved.

Do you love soap? This may be the house for you...

I like soap. And I like washing with soap. But if I had to guess, I would think that whoever owned this Tahoe Park home before it was sacrificed to the Sacramento foreclosure gods must have LOVED soap. My buyer client's iPhone sits in this tub/shower soap dish just to give it's length a little context. Really? I have never seen a soapdish like this at any Lowe's, tile store, or another house...? These folks must have really valued cleanliness. Or perhaps were hoping to score a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest soap dish?

A creative use of space in an East Sacramento home...?

I was touring an East Sacramento home earlier today, and found this in what is basically a closet under the stairs...I can just imagine an over-zealous parent telling a child, "Get in there, do your homework, and DO NOT come out until you are done!" Or this may just be Harry Potter's ideal place to surf the web. Either way, I am sure there is a Sacramento home buyer out there who will appreciate this space-saving home office.

The forecast does not call for a Sacramento Zombie Apocalypse...

So...If you follow me on facebook or twitter, you will already know that I was showing a house in Elverta yesterday, and my buyer client and I stumbled across an old bomb shelter in the back yard!! It was probably 15' x 30' with cement stairs leading down about 8 feet, and had two "snorkel" like air tubes penetrating the ground above it. CRAZY! My first thought was thank goodness the cold war is over, then my mind wandered and thought -- hmm what a neat place for kids to have a club-house (I know I would have LOVED to play in this in my youth), or a great underground wine or home-brewed beer cellar, or extra storage...or preparing for a zombie apocalypse!??? Anyway, this while my client thought this was totally cool, the house was ultimately not a good fit for him.

Girls just wanna have fun?

Hmm. Someone likes to par-tay!! I couldn't help but notice this fine assortment of platform 6-inch heels in the closet of a condo I showed today in Citrus Heights. These aren't exactly my style. Not only are they not my style, but darn they look like they would be so uncomfortable. Since I am a runner, I really value comfy shoes.

Amazing Luxury Home in Carmichael -- Stunning American River Frontage and Views!

Got an extra $2.2M laying around? Well if you do, and are in the market for a magnificent Carmichael property with stunning views of the American River, I know of the house for you. Today I previewed an absolutely amazing home of approximately 4,400sf including a fully appointed guest quarters, a huge multi-level deck, swimming pool, on almost an acre of river front property. Here is a photo of the view of the river from the kitchen and living/dining area. This is truly a unique luxury home -- not many homes like this come on the market in the Sacramento area. Let me know if you are interested in more details...this one will be coming on to the market soon.

Electric blue and turquoise...not my first choices for paint colors!

Hmm...call me crazy, but I am not sure if these colors even look good on the 1-inch by 1-inch swatches available in paint stores. Drove by this house in Sacramento near Executive Airport today while touring properties.

Unique Decor in this Natomas home for sale...

Well sure enough, a few days ago while I was out showing property to some Natomas buyer clients, I came across this 'unique' home decor. I can appreciate the whole DIY (do-it-yourself) paint job, but this was pretty horrendous. The entire bathroom was painted in camouflage - the vanity, the drawers, the light switch cover, all of the trim mouldings, the door, etc. In fact, the entire house had unique decor...there was a full wall mural of a 'Monopoly' game board in the loft area, a hot-air balloon themed room, a jungle-themed bathroom with textured bamboo wallpaper, etc.

This particular property was a bank repo...it's been on the market for about 2 months. I encourage any bank foreclosure asset manager to slap a fresh coat of white paint over this stuff. Neutral is good when selling a home...overall the layout of the house wasn't too bad, location was good, curb appeal was good, but UGH - it is so hard to see past this sort of stuff when looking for a home!

Unique Stuff in Other People's Homes...

So, if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you will know that several days per week, I tour the newest home listings that come on the market in different Sacramento neighborhoods.

Why do I do this? Well, it makes me a more effective Realtor. I find that I am better able to service the needs of my buyer and seller clients if I am familiar with the listing inventory in the areas that I work in. If I see something that one of my buyer clients may like, I immediately make arrangements to show the home to them. Or if I am listing a property, actually having first hand knowledge of the recent comparable home sales in the neighborhood helps me to guide sellers with regard to proper pricing. Of course, when I list a home, I open it up to other agents to tour it as well....it's good exposure.

In addition to making me a more effective Realtor, there are a couple other reasons I enjoy touring.

The first reason is - touring is a good opportunity to network and briefly socialize with other agents. The listing agent is usually present during these "broker open houses" and often times other (good, productive) agents are touring the homes at the same time. The Sacramento real estate community is really a small world...so, when I know an agent on the other end of one of my transactions, it makes for a much smoother process as there is a spirit of cooperation, and that ultimately makes for a less stressful process for my buyer or seller client.

The second reason is - sometimes the homes on tour are a little...unique. Or they have unique features. Or unique furnishings. Or unique decor. At least once every week I am pleasantly entertained (or completely disgusted?) by something found in homes on tour. What were these people thinking when they did that!? I occasionally tweet these photos, but until now have not put them on my blog...well since it seems that I run across these things so frequently, I thought I would start a regular blog feature to "showcase" the oddities that people do to or with their homes...Of course the property itself will remain unidentified. Let's start with a favorite of mine. Yes, this is a rug in a really gorgeous Sierra Oaks home, and yes it's real.