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Elizabeth Weintraub
A Preemptive Strategy for Sacramento Real Estate
There are days in this business when I wonder to myself how any first-time home buyer ever gets out of underwriting unscathed. Buying a home in Sacramento is not as easy as those who aren’t in the market for a home believe. It’s becoming more complicated all of the time. Juggling all those balls in the air.
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t do mortgages, I am not in the mortgage business, and I don’t know much about the mortgage business because that is not my specialty. I’m also very wary of agents who try to do both jobs and generally end up failing at one or the other or both.
I know enough to realize one does not send to the lender a list of things wrong with the house, for example. We don’t send unsolicited inspection reports to the mortgage lender. We hope that our borrower has not run into any close encounters of the third kind: short sales or foreclosures in the past. We hope our borrower can verify income. We hope that our borrower did not decide yesterday to buy a new car and throw debt ratios to the wind. We hope for a lot of things that we can’t talk to the borrower about and simply hope that the buyer’s agent or lender will do that for us.
As a Sacramento listing agent, I don’t engage with borrowers. But when they can’t perform or escrows are delayed, I’m the woman with the big red bullseye on her forehead. That’s commonplace; it comes with the job.
Of course, one of the ways that listing agents can help to ensure a transaction will close is to talk with the mortgage lender upfront and voice concerns. But it still doesn’t guarantee that the borrower can get the loan. When I’m looking through a purchase contract, I’m on the hunt for red flags — things that could mess up the loan — and I try to get them removed prior to sending the contract to the mortgage lender. I try to imagine what can delay the escrow from closing and handle it.
I was a little astonished yesterday when the title company said a seller did not want to sign a grant deed prior to docs. The seller lives out of town. We need same-day turnaround to close on time. So, if I’m not getting it from one end of the transaction, it comes from the other. Doesn’t stop me from trying to employ a preemptive strategy for Sacramento real estate. That’s one of the secrets to my success. Figure out what could go wrong and try to prevent it from happening.
Call Elizabeth Weintraub, Broker #00697006, at 916.233.6759.
Hiring Friends or Relatives as Real Estate Agents to List a Home
This week has been busy fielding calls from sellers, many of whom either live in Davis or Elk Grove. When sellers call me to talk about selling a home, I first try to find out why they want to sell, who else they are talking to, and whether they have a price or timeframe in mind. I spend a great deal of time figuring out whether I should work with them or do much more than put together a comparative market analysis. Sometimes, by the time they get me on the line, they’ve already decided to hire friends or relatives as real estate agents.
It’s not that I don’t want to help people because I do. I love selling real estate, and sell millions every year. It’s my career. I’m devoted to it and focused on Sacramento real estate. The reason I do so well in real estate is because I spend my time working on listings that the sellers want to hire me to sell. I don’t spend a lot of time working on listings when sellers just want free advice or a second opinion, and they’ve already decided to hire somebody else. I’m not in the “free advice” business, even though that might be how some sellers view our industry. I work for my clients, those who hire me.
So, that can be a dilemma when sellers call me, this not realizing on their part that if they aren’t actually considering hiring me, they shouldn’t call. This isn’t Better Call Saul, you know. I often ask if they have another agent in mind and sometimes they don’t. Like this guy who has a home in Elk Grove to sell. We hit it off, and I offered him an appointment to sign documents after we discussed a reasonable price and why that price would work. He hesitated making the appointment and promised to call me back that afternoon. When he didn’t, I called him the following day. That’s another reason I am successful, because I follow up.
The story I got was his wife has a friend at work who sells real estate. When I asked if she was a part-time agent, the guy said he did not know, probably, but he would ask. Hmmm, the agent works with his wife. This guy has his choice of hiring a full-time professional agent with decades of experience and absolutely thrilled-to-the-bones clients. Or, he can hire a part-time agent with some day job whose track record he doesn’t know and whose ability to negotiate could be questionable. I offered to look up this agent’s performance and send him her stats, but he didn’t know her name.
Well, either that or he’s decided if Mama is happy, then everybody is happy — and the truth is I don’t need to take every single listing in Elk Grove. I’d rather work with the sellers who are eager to work with me. No need to be upsetting marriages. Besides, like he closed out the conversation: when it doesn’t work out, he’ll call me. And he very well might. I have a feeling he knows where he is heading. I’m often agent #2. If there has to be 2 or 3 agents, as there often is with friends or relatives, I’d rather be the last one.
Call Elizabeth Weintraub, Broker #00697006, at 916.233.6759.
Why Did the Seller Reject an Offer for That Home?
Why the seller rejected an offer to buy a home is really not all that important but it doesn’t mean a buyer might not want to know. Moreover, it might be the buyer’s agent who is more curious about why than the buyer. In my earlier years of real estate, like back when Jimmy Carter was in office, I would often feel like I was helping a buyer’s agent by explaining how the buyer could do better next time, but over the years I’ve come to conclude that trying to help was about the dumbest thing I could do. It’s not my place to try to help. I’m just the listing agent.
First, it doesn’t matter why the offer was rejected, the fact is it was. It didn’t meet some sort of criteria. There could be a bazillion reasons why an offer could be rejected but after the seller has accepted another offer, there is nothing the rejected buyer can do but wait for that buyer to cancel. If the seller is so inclined, the seller could agree to sign a backup offer with the buyer but many sellers dislike backup offers. They often prefer to retain the freedom to respond to fluctuations of the real estate market in the event prices later rise.
Second, short of discrimination / violating Fair Housing Laws, the seller can reject an offer for just about any reason. Sometimes it’s a toss of the dice.
Maybe you could look at it like a point system. Offers need to meet certain points. There is price, of course, terms of agreement, length of escrow, type of loan, possession dates, lender reputations, buyer’s agent reputations, amount of earnest money deposit, even to how the offer is written — whether error free, and each carries weight. When I try to help a seller weigh an offer against others, we add up the positives and look at the negatives. A negative would be a possible bad situation or red flag that could prevent the escrow from closing.
The final choice is always the seller’s. Anything I were to disclose to a buyer’s agent about why their buyer’s offer did not measure up would be subjective on my part and could open my seller to a potential lawsuit, so I don’t go there. My lips are zipped. Yeah, I might know what the seller told me as to why your offer was rejected, but unless I am representing a buyer under those circumstances, which I am not, those reasons will never pass through my lips.
Why the seller elected to reject an offer is not the buyer’s business.
Call Elizabeth Weintraub, Broker #00697006, at 916.233.6759.
It Takes Two, Baby, a Selling Agent and a Listing Agent
There are times in the Sacramento real estate business that I am reminded how it can really take two REALTORS to close a transaction: both a listing agent and a buyer’s agent. Just for the record –and because it tends to confuse both agents and the public alike — a buyer’s agent is a selling agent. A listing agent is a seller’s agent. The listing agent represents the seller but can’t really sell the property without an agent who represents the buyer, which would be the selling agent. No agent is an island in real estate. It takes two, baby. God, I hate that Marvin Gaye ear-worm and can’t believe that I, at any time in my life, could possibly have sung along to it.
I am very grateful to work with selling agents who on occasion can save my butt, too. I am not forced to interact with selling agents throughout every transaction, but I generally prefer to communicate directly with my fellow agents. Unless, of course, they are an asshole. Then they can talk to the wall for all I care. It is possible to never communicate through any type of technology, if one so chooses, and some agents are like that. Hi, this is Joe and I answer my phone during blue moons between 1:15 and 1:17. But I don’t run into very many of those, maybe one a year if I’m unlucky. For the most part, selling agents are professional, smart, funny and a sheer delight, even though we represent opposite sides in the transaction.
There are people who think the selling agent and listing agent need to maintain an arm’s length distance, and while we cannot divulge any confidential information about our clients to the other agent, it doesn’t mean we can’t work together toward a common goal and still have fun doing it.
Here’s an example of above-and-beyond cooperation for you. I listed a vacant home in Roseville a while back that had a series of apparent issues, fogged-up windows, no carbon monoxide detectors and no keys. The seller lived across the Pacific. To expedite matters, I hired a locksmith and paid for a new set of keys. I also bought 3 carbon monoxide detectors to install on each level of this tri-level home, and plugged them into the respective walls.
When the home sold, the buyer’s appraiser could not locate the carbon monoxide detectors. They all had vanished. Carbon monoxide detectors are a huge, huge deal, a bigger deal than whether a home has a functioning air conditioner or a solid finished floor. A carbon monoxide detector is to real estate as a door frame is to a door: without it, you’re not closing. And somebody had stolen the carbon monoxide detectors. I tried to imagine a mother collecting CO detectors throughout the tour and stuffing them into her baby bag. Why? Or, a real estate agent blazingly walking out the door carting all 3 in his hands.
Nobody broke into this house. Whomever swiped the CO detectors entered through the key in the lockbox.
Yet, the selling agent didn’t shrug once, and she replaced the carbon monoxide detectors, even though it wasn’t really her place to do it. We all do what we need to do to take care of our clients and each other. At least the professionals do. The others apparently walk off with carbon monoxide detectors.
To put 40+ years of experience to work for you, please call Elizabeth Weintraub, Broker #00697006, at 916.233.6759.
Getting More Money Out of a Low Appraisal in West Sacramento
When the seller of a home in West Sacramento contacted this Sacramento REALTOR, he already had a different listing agent in mind, an agent who would charge less than the commission that agents like me charge and he was just about ready to hire this other real estate agent. See, this is where some sellers typically go off track. They tend to focus solely on the commission and not on results. They don’t know any better. They think about saving 1% of the sales price, for example, and don’t look ahead to how much they are probably losing during escrow because they’ve hired an inexperienced agent who can only sell herself by discounting her fee.
Getting into escrow, into contract, is just the beginning. There are home inspections, disclosures, repair requests, and more negotiations that happen during escrow, including dealing with shaky buyers who can’t get a mortgage.
Fortunately, this seller listened to his friend who had referred him to me, and he listened to my advice. He decided it was worth it to hire the best Sacramento REALTOR he could find, a top producer. I explained what I would do and how I would do it, and then he asked me how much his home was worth. The comparable sales reflected, let’s say for practical illustration purposes, a price of $650,000, tops, and that was stretching it. Because any agent worth her salt realizes an appraiser will use comparable sales within a 1/2 mile radius of the property and within the past 3 months. Appraisers are supposed to compare condition, location, age, upgrades, size, etc, and pick similar homes. But every appraiser is different, just like every real estate agent is different.
I didn’t ask the seller how much he wanted because in most cases how much a seller wants is immaterial; instead he shared in no uncertain terms that he expected to get, let’s say, $675,000. Would I take such a listing? Could I get him $675,000? I licked my finger and held it in the air to confirm which way the wind blows. Yup. I could. I shot terrific digital photos that showcased the home in all of its glory, and it was a stunning home. I tell stories with my pictures. If the photos speak to me, they will speak to the buyers.
This home in West Sacramento sold at, let’s say, $675,000. Then, the appraiser, an old-school dude who has his own way of doing things, submitted his final estimate of value. $650,000. Market demand is not a value. We got a low appraisal in West Sacramento. We were $25,000 short. This is NOT what the seller desired. I asked the buyer’s agent to discuss the situation with the buyer and put forth in an addendum the buyer’s best cash contribution.
The buyer offered an additional, let’s say, $12,000 in cash to bridge part of the gap. This was a good workable situation because now we knew the buyer has access to additional funds. We were in negotiation, not at the final step. We countered the buyer’s contribution, and the buyer’s countered back. We countered again. The seller asked if I could find additional money anywhere else. Ha, ha, ha. No, there are no other pockets. Oh, wait, we didn’t talk to the lender.
For a small adjustment to the interest rate, the lender was able to find more money that suddenly became available to pay much of the seller’s closing costs. By transferring a large chunk of the seller’s closings to the buyer’s side of the settlement statement and allowing the lender to pay it, the sales price did not need to increase by the full $25,000 to net the seller his desired amount.
Was this worth hiring an experienced agent who charges more than a discount agent? You betcha. I could not ask for a more ecstatic West Sacramento home seller. At closing the seller called me a “Real Estate Rockstar.” I go that extra mile for my clients. Would you like to be my client? Let’s talk. Call Elizabeth Weintraub, Broker #00697006, at 916.233.6759.
