How to Leverage Profit from Investment Rental in Sacramento

2163 Vollan Way, Sacramento, CA 95822

Coming home from my 6-week wor-cation in Hawaii yesterday means housekeeping my closed escrows like the investment rental in Sacramento that closed a few days ago. This particular seller contacted me on the first of November to talk about selling a home he bought in July of 2011 at the very bottom of the real estate market. He could not have picked a better time to leverage on the distressed sales in Sacramento at that time. He lucked out.

Since that time, he had been renting the home, and now he wanted to leverage his profit potential, so he went on the search for a top producer in Sacramento to handle the sale for him. When I showed up to meet with him and his wife, they were painting the interior. They hemmed and hawed a little bit when I walked in the door, and I could tell something was amiss. Something they didn’t want to say but was on their mind. So I asked them to share their thoughts, whatever those thoughts were, it was OK to ask me.

Perhaps they were checking out my car, parked in front of an abandoned vehicle, or maybe the way I dressed, or maybe it was after checking out my website, I dunno, but they asked if I was willing to work with them, as though this house, this sale, was not a usual sale for me. They were worried I worked on selling only luxury homes in Sacramento. No worries, I assured them, I work on all sales for all peoples. I’m always a bit amazed when this sort of thing comes up, but I am sensitive to it. I would never want anybody to think I would not help them.

Then I walked through the investment rental in Sacramento to inspect the condition. I gave them a list of things to do to prepare the home for sale, inexpensive stuff that would enhance its value. I also promised to push their net profit as far as  it could be pushed, including trying to obtain multiple offers without the buyers trying to renegotiate in the middle, like so many do nowadays.

The sellers did everything I suggested, including staging. We aggressively priced the home, almost beyond the value we thought it would appraise for. Went on the market at the end of November and by early December we were in contract — after receiving multiple offers and it sold over list price. A few days before closing, the buyer’s agent asked us about making a repair that popped up as a lender condition. Hey, the buyer agreed to AS IS, which means it is the buyer’s responsibility to satisfy lender conditions.

The agent argued the contract specified the seller. Well, that was the California Residential Purchase Agreement from several years ago. The contract today says lender conditions are negotiable items, and the sale is AS IS, so the buyer had to fix it. This particular seller put about $25,000 down to buy this property and he walked away with about $140,000. Not bad for a 5-year hold on an investment rental in Sacramento.

If you’re interested in selling an investment rental in Sacramento, call Elizabeth Weintraub at Lyon Real Estate at 916.233.6759.