How Many Offers Does it Take to Sell a West Sacramento Home?

The Tower Bridge leaving West Sacramento.

If you believe that even in a hot market it is easy to sell a West Sacramento home that presents layout issues sans updates, then you are not a Realtor. A smokin’ hot seller’s market can only set the stage for a sale, it won’t ensure a buyer will fall in love with a home that is, well, not without its challenges. Por supuesto, as a top producer West Sacramento Realtor, I try to explain the challenges to the seller, but I also realize that not every seller is ready to hear that the home she bought oh-so-many-years-ago, the beautiful la casa with the layout she loves, has many things wrong with it from the perspective of home buyers today.

Things That Do Not Sell a West Sacramento Home

First, the main floor el cuatro de baño was located right around la esquina from the kitchen. One buyer joked that while he’s doing his business, he could open the refrigerator with his foot to grab a la cerveza. The kitchen featured glossy white ceramic counters, out-dated white appliances, under-sized ceramic tile flooring, and an island without a sink. A half wall separated the dining room from the family room (it was not open), and the adjoining areas were carpeted (not hardwood). There were only three bedrooms (not four) in this almost 2,000 square-foot-home. The back yard was open to a busy street. But worst of all, the separated attached garages were single car, lacking storage.

These were all el obstáculos to overcome. I figured it could take a while to accomplish my new objective: to sell a West Sacramento home at top dollar with drawbacks. Hey, I don’t make up the problems, I just deal with what’s at hand. I look for a way to put a positive spin on every drawback. The deal is the obstacles present $ decline values in the eyes of a buyer. Even though it’s wrong, buyers often steeply discount homes that don’t meet the standards they have come to expect.

We received 6 offers for this West Sacramento home before one of the offers was realistic enough and satisfactory to meet the seller’s needs. I did not throw in the la toalla and walk away from the listing, like some agents might be tempted to do. When I make a commitment to a seller, I make a promise to stick it out and do my best every single day regardless of how long it takes. If they are willing to wait for a full-price offer, that’s what we do. It’s not my house, I’m not making the payments. It’s not my call to tell a seller to sell for less than what they expect.

Buyers do it instead. They send these ridiculously low offers and expect us to work with them. Their agents send “comparable sales” to support the lowball offers because they are at a loss for any other strategy. No buyer’s agent I know wants to write a lowball offer that is going nowhere but they often do it to try to solidify a relationship. Usually to sell a West Sacramento home, the sellers and I might receive multiple offers at one time, not a bunch of lowball offers scattered throughout the listing period. I never urge sellers to take an offer they don’t want.

Instead, I review my marketing. I didn’t like the photographs that were shot in August with dead leaves all over the place, so in January, I paid my photographer to shoot all new photos. Studiously held open houses almost every Sunday. Plastered large ads in the Sacramento Bee for open houses, and updated the listing on websites across the board. Tweaked everything I could lay my manos on. And finally, the winning buyers fell in love with this home, and we sold the home over list price without a single repair. To sell a West Sacramento home with issues, it can take revised strategy and patience.

I’m satisfied that I got the job done well, and I set high standards for my performance. My sellers are thrilled they got their price.

If you’re looking for a West Sacramento Realtor who produces results, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.