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Elizabeth Weintraub
Why a Listing Agent Specialist is Like a Public Prosecutor
A listing agent specialist is to a public prosecutor as a buyer’s agent is to a defense lawyer.
My prediction is it’s the wave of the future: a listing agent specialist in Sacramento and an exclusive buyer’s agent versus your average Joe Blow Sacramento Agent. When you think about this, it will make more sense if you consider the way public prosecutors and public defense lawyers operate. They are both lawyers who passed the Bar. They might have had the same training and attended the same law school. But they are different from each other.
A public prosecutor works for the state, usually. The prosecutor’s job is to obtain a conviction. The defense, on the other hand, could be a private lawyer or appointed by the court to raise reasonable doubt and get the defendant out of jail. Opposite goals.
You would never see a public prosector state a case against the defendant and then run over to the other side of the courtroom and try to present a defense for the defendant. Hold on Your Honor, I have to take off my prosecutor’s hat and put on my defense hat. But you see this happen in Sacramento real estate all the time. It’s the goofiest way to do business. Based on greed, mostly.
I recall an elderly woman who called last year while I was furniture shopping. She demanded to know if I had sold a home on her street. She planned to hire only an agent who sells on her street. Even if that agent had no real experience, if the agent sold a home two doors down, that’s good enough for her. That seemed a bit narrowly focused to me. Around the corner is not good enough? She did not want to hire a listing agent specialist. But that’s exactly who she needed.
It’s bad enough some sellers consider hiring only a neighborhood agent. That neighborhood agent might sell one home every couple of months, on a rinse-and-repeat procedure. Whereas, a listing agent specialist might sell a couple of homes a week. Each with custom designed marketing plans designed to produce top dollar.
Long ago I decided against working with both buyers and sellers. I chose to become a listing agent specialist. Now that my focus is solely sellers, I have developed far superior skills than I used to possess. I see it in my results. I also chose the entire Sacramento area to be my territory. Thinking big. And now it is my territory.
My team members have been trained by me to work exclusively with buyers. Imagine the stellar service they provide when they’re showing 30 to 40 homes a week! They don’t give a hoot about sellers because their focus is buyers and what is in the buyer’s best interest. Just like my job is to protect seller’s equity. My focus is getting top dollar for sellers in very creative ways. We have opposite goals. As it should be.
We have developed highly refined ways of doing business because we specialize in client representation. Completely different experiences and strategies. Listing a home is not like buying a home. And buying a home is not like listing a home.
So the next time your agent wants to represent you as a seller and also work with you to buy a home, think about whether you would like a prosecutor to also be your defense lawyer. You truly deserve complete service with undivided attention from a professional. To learn more, call The Elizabeth Weintraub Team at 916.233.6759.
Why is My Phone Number Still in MLS on an Expired Listing?
Client asking, why is my number in MLS when my listing has expired?
Like an expired listing, my time in Hawaii has now expired and it’s time to come home. I received the gift of a few more unexpected days in Hawaii when last Tuesday I missed my flight on Hawaiian Airlines. However, I was able to rebook for Friday without much trouble. Which is how I came to find myself sitting on my lanai enjoying my last 24 hours in Hawaii when a new client called. She asked: “Why is my phone number still in MLS on an expired listing?”
See, wherever I am, I answer my phone. Especially when a client calls. Yet another simple way to minimize or eliminate client frustrations. It’s the little things, like answering your darn phone, that keeps people happy with you. Happy clients = 5 star reviews. This particular property, I should point out, is not MY expired listing. I don’t have expired listings. My listings sell. This was an out-of-area listing agent who let the listing expire.
I smiled at my cellphone. Explained I probably won’t find her number in MLS and offered to check for her. We take out personal info as standard protocol when listings move from active to sold (or to expired listing). She wanted to know: Well, then how are they calling me? Sure enough, no publication of personal information. No phone number on the expired listing.
Then I launched into my explanation of the expired listing ambulance chasers. These can be experienced agents, but generally not. It is usually a brand new agent trying to find business. The rationale is the seller wanted to sell at one time, so why not go after that dead business, just lying in the bushes? These agents buy personal information data through brokers who sell it. They can also buy that information online. Everything is available for a price.
To work expired listings, they use an aggressive approach. Agents know the the tough competition from those who chase expireds. Aggressive behavior like that is often a turnoff to sellers. It’s a different approach to selling than focusing on what is best for the client. It’s more of an approach of what is best for the agent.
I always warn my sellers about what will happen if we pull a new MLS number to reset the days on market. It’s like a flood gate opens. Once a listing is re-listed, sellers in Sacramento can expect their phones to blow up because agents don’t bother to check if it’s back on the market. Some of them don’t check the National Do Not Call registry, either.
Pool Home on Greenhaven Drive Now Under Contract
This pool home on Greenhaven Drive is now under contract.
My good news is yesterday we put the pool home on Greenhaven Drive in the community of Greenhaven into contact. This home required two open houses to sell, but it’s not a cookie-cutter house. It was a matter of finding just the right buyer who appreciates mid-century construction blended with a granite kitchen and step-down family room boasting a floor-to-ceiling brick fireplace.
Because I specialize in working with sellers in Sacramento, I happen to list a lot of homes in the area. Sometimes people ask if I am a local agent, and it doesn’t get any more local than Sacramento. Other agents pick neighborhoods and I picked the entire city, and some on the outskirts such as West Sacramento and Davis. When we slipped the pool home on Greenhaven Drive into contract, I asked for an MLS change to active with release clause.
It’s because we have a contingent offer. The buyer is selling her home. The likelihood is we will close with our present buyer, but you never know what will happen. I’ve had so many sales lately blow up in escrow because buyers could not or would not perform. Just as a precaution, I asked the buyer’s agent to find out if the buyer was seriously committed.
Full disclosure, I went further than that. I threatened that I would drive over to the agent’s house and let the air of her tires if her buyer flakes on us. Was I joking? You don’t know, do you. But the good news is the buyer appears to be very dedicated. She told her agent when she commits, she commits. That’s what I want to hear. And the agent also mentioned she doesn’t want the air let out of her tires. That carries more impact than throwing the Code of Ethics around.
More good news yesterday, I also made reservations at Halekulani for next New Year’s with Hella Rothwell in Honolulu. There are many exciting things to do in Honolulu over New Year’s Eve. The reservation desk said the hotel could not guarantee separate beds. I called Martin the manager to discuss. When a person pays a triple mortgage payment for four nights in a hotel room at a prime time of year, it better not morph into army cot accommodations. When the manager spoke his piece and listened to my rant, he then gave me satisfaction odds of 95%, which made the arrangement acceptable.
So sorry, this home is under contract. If you want to see it, you can make an appointment. Yet no guarantee if you make an offer that our existing buyer will let go. She will probably just remove her contingency to sell. But, hey, you never know. Our pool home on Greenhaven Drive went into contract with just 12 days on market. If you’re looking to sell a home in Sacramento, feel free to call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.
How to Miss a Flight to Sacramento on Hawaiian Airlines
Not that bad to miss my flight to Sacramento on Hawaiian Airlines.
If you’re ever in a position to fly home to Sacramento on Hawaiian Airlines, there is one important thing you need to know. In fact, you need to know this if you are flying anywhere on Hawaiian Airlines. When it’s cold in Sacramento and you’re getting ready to take a long winter vacation in Hawaii, little is more delightful than receiving that colorful email. Hibiscus flowers. Ocean waves. You know, the email that says, It’s Time to Check In for your Flight to Hawaii!!
Except there is no stinking’ email anymore. I thought it was just an odd thing when I flew to Hawaii last November. Just one of those technology glitches. But it is not. As I discovered yesterday. You won’t believe what I did. First, I wrote on the calendar when I arrived in Kona last November the date of January 31: when I’d return home. Like I would forget, right? I would not forget when to go home. Because I know when I need to do it. It was today, Wednesday.
So on Monday, I threw away all my food so it wouldn’t rot in the refrigerator. I packaged food meals in separate Rubbermaid containers. That way, I would not generate any trash. I can wash the dishes. I even divided a bottle of wine into four glasses so I could throw away the bottle in Tuesday’s trash pick-up and be all ready to depart on Wednesday morning. This is how organized I can be. I think it’s an illness.
Also on Tuesday, I took apart our Weber gas grill and cleaned all the greasy bits of it. Discarded the drippings pan. Polished the grill. Slipped on the cover. Washed all of the laundry. Sat down at my computer on the lanai to check the status of my flight. Strange. No email. OK, I’ll go to the website. Yikes, my flight home to Sacramento on Hawaiian Airlines showed only a departing flight out of Honolulu. Why would that be? Where is my Kona to Honolulu . . . uh, oh . . . it slowly dawned on me. Because my reservations to fly to Sacramento on Hawaiian Airlines was Tuesday. That inter-island flight had already departed.
Has this ever happened to you? It has never happened to me. I have never missed a flight. Well, there was that coke-induced period in the 1970s, I guess. But OK, not for 45 years. Hey, I have appointments to keep this week. Important stuff like hair, pedicures and several listing consultations.
I discovered a text option on the Hawaiian Airlines website and sent a text: Help! I’ve missed my flight! Within seconds, a Hawaiian Airlines employee texted back. They could change my flight to Wednesday, but it would cost a bit over $1,000. What? What is that insanity? After I picked myself up off my lanai Futura stone, I asked about another day. Yes, if I fly to Sacramento on Hawaiian Airlines this Friday, it’s only a $20 difference in fare, plus the $200 change fee.
Just so you know, the $200 change fee is only for travel in North America. Not to Hawaii. In Hawaii, one pays fare changes, too. And since they don’t send emails anymore, you’ll have to remember to come home. You know why they stopped sending emails? Because everybody knows they have a website. I’m not making that up; it came from their lips. They blast me all of the time with promotions. I am now unsubscribing from all emails because the important one I need is no longer an option.
It’s not so bad, actually, to get 2 more days in Hawaii. Is it? Yup, I’m looking at the bright side. I have an excuse to dine out for a couple of days, and there is still time to run down to the beach. It’s not like one has to change hotels when we bought our own house in Hawaii.
How to Fix the Amazon App When it Stops Working on a Smart TV
How to fix the Amazon app when it stops working should be easier.
If you’re wondering how to fix the Amazon app when it stops working on your Smart TV, you’ve come to the right place. The place where we decide to be self sufficient and figure it out by calling the pros. Instead of calling my husband who is 2,500 miles away in Sacramento and who might not readily possess the answer. It was much easier than I had anticipated.
Of course, I blame the Golden Globes, which gave 2 awards to an Amazon Prime Video movie called The Marvelous Mrs Maisel. I started watching the series shortly thereafter. It’s about a housewife in the 1950s who decides to become a stand-up comedian. Great premise, right? And the star, Rachel Brosnahan, is indeed stupendously marvelous.
But my viewing pleasure was interrupted. About a week ago, I stopped getting Amazon on my Smart TV. Then, it worked the following day. Wha? The day after that, though, no Amazon. I thought about googling how to fix the Amazon App for all of 2 seconds. Just easier to watch Netflix instead. However, with only 2 days left at our house in Hawaii, damn it, I want Amazon.
In the spirit of Ollie Hardy, I felt like flipping my nonexistent tie. I’ll take care of this myself, Stanley. Time Warner Spectrum said not their problem. Spectrum to pointed to LG TV. They were nice enough to give me the phone number, and a person was nice enough to actually answer.
Well, after I screamed stupid prompts into my phone. My voice started to get raw. Then I recalled going to Walmart and finding myself suddenly stuck on the aisle with cold medicines. I couldn’t get out. My cart was blocked. People sneezing, wiping their noses, oh, god, it was hell. You might picture hell as red devils and burning flames, but no. Not hell by a long shot. Being stuck on the cold medicine aisle at Walmart with a bunch of sick people: THAT is hell. I just held my breath and bashed the cart in front of me to escape. I suppose germs float around in the air and slip into your body regardless but I wasn’t planning to intentionally inhale any bugs . . .
Finally I got connected to a live person. She informed me that if I hit the home button I can access another world I did not know existed. At the bottom. Just keep pressing the right arrow key until you get to the very end of that world. At the very end is a white pencil icon. Press it. It puts you into edit mode. Then hit the left arrow key until you get back to the Amazon app. Press the up arrow once to hit the X. Press the action button to delete the Amazon app.
Next go to the home button again and access “premium.” Click. Go to the Amazon icon and reinstall the app. I should point out that you need to know your user ID and password. This is a terrible time to discover you don’t know it and you got this far with how to fix the Amazon app. Fortunately, I know my access information.
Which is better than the poor governor of Hawaii managed during the Ballistic Missile Threat. The reason Gov. Ige couldn’t send out an immediate Tweet to let everybody know no threat existed is because he couldn’t remember his Twitter password. True.
You would think that Amazon would find an easier way for its customers to update the app than going to this extreme, but this is the best you get.
