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Elizabeth Weintraub
How Quickly Should A Real Estate Agent Respond To A Potential Client?
How quickly should a real estate agent respond to a potential client was written by Elizabeth Weintraub for another website. The # 1 reason people complain about real estate agents is agents do not call people back in a timely manner. This is a great article on the subject. ENJOY.
— JaCi Wallace
“Years ago, when I was buying a home in Land Park, Sacramento, and in the process of moving from Minneapolis, I had hired a real estate agent who rarely communicated with me. I would email her and she would not respond. I would leave her voice mails and she would not return my phone calls. Being several thousand miles away and trying to close a real estate deal was stressful enough, but working with an agent whose communication skills were sorely lacking was even more frustrating. It’s not the way I choose to do business.
“You learn a lot when you’re on the other side of the fence, so to speak.
“In my own business, when I receive an email from a prospective client, I immediately respond, and this practice sometimes freaks out the recipients. I guess they aren’t used to it because they tell me how shocked they are that I called or emailed. But it’s easy to respond to people. When I get an email from my website, it generally contains a phone number, which on a cellphone makes it easy to dial. I just scroll to the phone number in the text and click the call button.
“My response time is generally 2 to 5 minutes. If I’m out showing property, I excuse myself to make a quick call to say I will call back at a certain time.
“I’d like to ask the agents who read my blog: how quickly do you respond to potential client inquiries? My email is set up to download every 2 minutes at my home office and immediately to my cell. That seems normal to me. And to the public, I’d like to ask: how quickly do you feel an agent should respond to your request?”
If you want to have your calls and inquiries returned by a Sacramento real estate agent respond with a timely manner call Weintraub & Wallace Realtors, with RE/MAX Gold, at 916-233-6759.
— Elizabeth Weintraub
Using your Agent Looking For Homes
‘Using your agent for looking at homes,” was written by Elizabeth for another website. Enjoy.
— JaCi Wallace
When a buyer works with a real estate agent, one of the services a good agent provides is to preview homes for the buyer. There is no reason for an agent to waste a buyer’s time by hauling the buyer all over town to look at homes the buyer doesn’t want to buy.
Let an agent pick your brain to find out which amenities are important to you, and which types of homes more closely suit your particular needs. Then use that agent to look at those homes and weed out the ones that are unsuitable. Wouldn’t you rather spend two hours looking at a series of homes that fit exactly what you want instead of traipsing through homes you won’t consider? Who wants to look at two stories with a postage-stamp lot, for example, if your heart is set on a single-level ranch home with a big back yard?
Here are tips about How to Use Your Agent for Looking at Homes.
If you would like to hire agents who take you looking for homes,” call Weintraub & Wallace, with RE/MAX Gold, at 916-233-6759.
— Elizabeth Weintraub
Garage Trends and Garage Remodels
Garage trends and garage remodels was written previously for another website, by Elizabeth. Having a garage is a big selling point in my experience and they are practical too, especially in cold climates.
Enjoy. — JaCi Wallace
“When I persuaded my husband to buy a Victorian with me in the mid-1990s, it came with a carriage shed. You know, the kind where you put in a buggy that a horse would pull. But we needed a two-car garage. After all, we were living in Minneapolis, where temperatures dip below zero in the winter (and let’s not even talk about windchill). I wanted my vehicle protected from the elements, OK, I said it.
Plus, I wanted a garage door that would open by a remote from inside the home. Not too much to ask, is it? Read more about Garage Trends and Garage Remodels.
So we tore down the shed and built a garage. Building a garage is fairly easy and doesn’t require extensive knowledge of construction, but since I had done my fair share of framing, it was even easier than I imagined. The single largest expense was the slab floor, apron and base of cement block around the perimeter. Although, my husband wasn’t too happy when October (brrrr) rolled around and we were still up on the roof hammering / gluing its ridge shingles in place.
If you are thinking about a garage remodel and are curious about how your home values with or without a garage, call Weintraub & Wallace Realtors with RE/MAX Gold, at 916-233-6759.”
— Elizabeth Weintraub
Home Buying With Pets
Home buying with pets is a blog previously written by Elizabeth for another website over a decade ago. I love when words have the same meaning today as they did long ago. This article is close to my heart as pets are a huge part of my lifestyle, ENJOY.
— JaCi Wallace
Whenever I set out in the past to buy a home, one of the qualifying criteria for the home, was to find a place where I could hide my cat’s litter box. Putting the box in a closet with coats and other odor absorbing garments did not appeal to me. And I’m not a person who enjoys stepping on traces of cat litter scattered about the bathroom with my bare feet. Nope, cat boxes require their own special place in the home.
I always ask buyers if they have pets before we start looking at homes, just so we can accommodate those pets in the plans to buy a new home. For example, if a buyer has a dog or wants to adopt a dog, it’s a good idea to buy a home with a fence — or at least be prepared to put up a fence.
I realize some condo dwellers in New York use those indoor dog pad thingies, but I’m dealing with a cat who is in renal failure right now, and I could not imagine dealing with a pad for a pet day in and day out. If you are buying a single family home in which to live with your dog, a fenced yard will be appreciated by both of you.
If you are buying or selling a home do you want to work with Realtors who care about home buying with pets? We list and sell pet-friendly homes. Call Weintraub & Wallace Realtors, with RE/MAX Gold, at 916-233-6759.
— Elizabeth Weintraub
CMAs – Comparative Market Analysis For Sellers
CMA’s – Comparative Market Analysis for Sellers. This is an article written by Elizabeth previously, for another website. She breaks this term down beautifully for a reader. I notice lots of agents say “CMA” when talking with clients. This sounds as though everyone understands our slang terminology. You will understand what a CMA is about after you read this article,
Enjoy, — JaCi
“I don’t always prepare a full-blown CMA package for listing presentations. Sometimes, the seller already has a handle on the market and knows what is for sale and which homes have sold. Besides, for sophisticated sellers, they really don’t need to read all that miscellaneous data that often accompanies CMAs. For them, I print out a portrait CMA that shows the last six months of activity, including current inventory, days on market and median prices. Print and go.
Because that’s what lots of sellers want to know, coupled with how much extra value they believe that new roof should bring. For sellers who want a clear a picture of the trends in their market, it is the pending sales that predict which way the market is moving.
Sometimes the comparable sales are too old because the market is moving too quickly. And active listings are important only to the extent that they present competition. Not to mention, those prices can be all over the board and meaningless, regardless of how often a seller may point to the neighbor’s McMansion and want to list at a higher price for their 1,000 square-foot bungalow.
What Is a Comparative Market Analysis?
Although reports can vary, from a two-page list of comparable home sales to a 50-page comprehensive guide, the length and complexity of the report depends on the agent’s business practice. However, standard comparative market analysis reports tend to contain the following data:
Pending Listings:
Active Listings:
Sold Listings:
Off-Market / Withdrawn / Canceled: “
To obtain your free market analysis, please call Weintraub & Wallace Realtors with RE/MAX Gold, at 916-233-6759.
— Elizabeth Weintraub
