A Sacramento Real Estate Agent Answers Her Phone

Some real estate agents work on the weekends, and some agents do not. But that doesn’t stop the buying public from calling a Sacramento real estate agent. So, if you’re a real estate agent and you don’t want to work, you generally don’t answer your cellphone. Typically, the agent who doesn’t answer her phone is the agent who gets too many phone calls.

This Sacramento real estate agent receives a ton of phone calls. All the time, not just on the weekends. My telephone number is everywhere. It’s hanging from sign riders swinging in the breeze on dozens of For Sale signs throughout Sacramento and our four-county area. It’s published in MLS. I put my cellphone into Zillow, Trulia and just about all of the major websites. If a person wants to find Elizabeth Weintraub, learn about real estate or short sales, I’m very easy to find.

And I answer my phone. This fact astonishes people. A Sacramento real estate agent who answers her phone? They often say when I answer my phone that they did not expect to find a real live person on the other end. I tell them I can hang up so they can call back and go to voice mail if they like, but no, they will put up with talking to me if they have to do it. If I get a real crackpot on the phone or somebody who won’t shut up, I am capable of politely explaining that I have to go, and I hang up myself. But that doesn’t happen very often. And every once in a while I get a telemarketer. When I do, I report those callers to the government’s Do Not Call List.

But yesterday, in the middle of a quiet October Sunday afternoon, my cellphone rang. My husband and I were both reading. The wind picked up slightly. It was forecast to rain. Skies were overcast. I answered the phone.

Caller: I’m calling about Lockwood.

Weintraub: Yes. (He sounded like a really old guy.)

Caller: I’m calling about Lockwood.

Weintraub: Yes. (I set down my book and sat up. OMG, I’m thinking, is the home on fire? Is this person calling to tell me the wind just blew off the roof?)

Caller: I’m calling about Lockwood, can you hear me?

Weintraub: Yes, I can hear you. May I help you?

See, this is the part where normally a person would ask a question. They might ask if the property is still available, or how many bedrooms it has or whether there is a pool.

This is a property that I’ve sold 3 times as a short sale. All 3 escrows were at the same price but the first 2 buyers were flakes in my book because they didn’t close. It’s been listed for 10 months. It’s unusual to get a call on a property that’s been pending for a while like this one.

I asked the caller again if I could help him. He seemed agitated. Maybe he couldn’t hear very well? Oh, no, maybe somebody kicked in the front door or swiped the lockbox? Maybe he’s a real estate agent who is very angry that he can’t show the home because there is no lockbox?

He yelled at me: “What can you tell me about it?”

Well, I could tell him a lot but I won’t because none of it matters. What matters is the home is in escrow and closing this week so he can’t buy it, but if he’s interested in this neighborhood and price range, maybe I can help him? So, I tell him the home is pending and ask if he’d like information about other homes in the area.

Instead, he blurted out: “Why isn’t there a sold sign on it?”

Because we don’t do those things anymore. Especially not on a short sale. Everything is published online.

He screamed an obsenity and slammed down the phone. This is why a Sacramento real estate agent doesn’t like to answer the phone. See, a real estate agent’s life isn’t always glamorous, even if she does answer her phone.