Selling a Sacramento Home for a Family Member

Selling a home in Sacramento for a family member is not a possibility for this Sacramento real estate agent because I have no family in Sacramento — apart from my husband — whom, BTW, just informed me the other day that he is not really a family member according to Facebook, and that I should not have included him when I updated my list of family members in Facebook. WTH? See, this is why I don’t much care for Facebook.

I sometimes get referrals, though, from other agents who don’t want to work with a family member to sell a home or buy a home in Sacramento. It’s not so much that they don’t want to work with their relative as it is they don’t want problems to arise in the family over it. Anybody involved in an ordinary family will understand those dynamics.

For example, I would not sell my own sister’s home. I would not help her to do it herself as a for sale by owner. I would find her a top-notch producer to do it, try to make sure she stays out of trouble, if I can, but I will not interfere in her transaction. Some people might think that attitude is cruel, especially since I’ve been in the business for just about 40 years now and could be of great assistance, but they don’t know my sister and they aren’t in the real estate business.

I love my sister to pieces. I’d like it to stay that way. Plus, my personal feeling is family and business do not mix very well. It is very difficult to be impartial when it comes to family. A real estate agent has to hold fiduciary with a client, do what is best for that client, not what she thinks is best.

Further, imagine if a real estate agent with decades of experience feels it is not a good idea to represent a relative in a real estate transaction, the kind of a job a brand new agent with no experience might do?