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Elizabeth Weintraub
Are You Ready for MLS Enhancements?
It is nice to see that a person or persons are thinking over at MLS because they are calling their mandated updates — decided without input from the membership — MLS enhancements. In some ways, though, the changes are enhancements. Are you ready? Because all listings supposedly converted two days ago. I only know this because I spotted a warning that other features might not work correctly because of the updates, um . . . enhancements.
One of the best changes are the increase of allotted letters and spaces in the marketing comments and confidential remarks in MLS. We were bound by 500 characters for so long. Not anymore. Now, with the new MLS enhancements, we can enjoy 1,000 characters for marketing and an increase from 300 to 1,300 characters for confidential remarks. We can yak away!
Although I figure the added stress will definitely backfire for some agents. Those are the agents who struggle to describe a property. And let’s face it, some properties are so boiler-plate, they have difficulty. Those are the agents, I’m afraid, who do not know how to write about a brick in the wall. Which of course I can do. They can’t even write about the wall, much less the perimeter of the property on which the wall resides.
Further, our allotment of photographs has leapfrogged from 36 to 99 photos. Personally, I’m having a hard time imagining a listing that would require 99 photos to adequately tell the story. There are only so many angles in which to shoot a bedroom. I suppose we could look under the bed. Or in the closets. Maybe inside the medicine cabinet?
And speaking of photos, MLS contacted me a few days ago to say one of my photographs was not in compliance. The way that sort of thing happens is some agent, and it is a listing agent, reports the violation to MLS, and then MLS follows up. My listing photo was not in violation. It was shot from the property. With a zoom lens, but still it was shot from the property, which is a MLS rule. MLS removed it anyway, even though it was in compliance, and frankly is not worth the energy to argue over such trivial shit. But what a pissant.
But back to the MLS enhancements. Some of the changes pertain to legal liability such as adding a field for surveillance equipment. I imagine it’s to let buyer’s agent know they should watch what they say and do within view of the surveillance equipment. So, that’s gonna put a stop to discussing the merits of the property in front of the Ring doorbell or opening the refrigerator to swipe a Coke. Oh, who am I kidding, agents would have to read MLS.
Some of the other MLS enhancements include re-naming a sold property now as closed. Not sure the reason for that. And many of the statuses have changed. Personally, I’ve always liked active release clause as a strategy, but now that is gone in favor of contingent show.
One of the clauses is likely to draw the ire of sellers, though. I’m not sure they thought this one through, but one of the MLS enhancements is to include the now required status of Notice of Default. To me, that is an invasion of the seller’s personal financial situation that is really not anybody’s business. Now, buyers will know if a seller has fallen behind on her mortgage payments.
It used to be we could enter a listing that was in default into MLS as a regular listing. As long as we could close escrow prior to the sale date, the parties do not need to know upfront that the seller is experiencing financial difficulties. I do not see a logical reason to make this a listing status because it will hurt the seller. It eliminates any negotiating power the seller could hold.
Besides, as a matter of disclosure, once an offer has been accepted and we are in escrow, the preliminary title report will show the Notice of Default. Further, the Notice of Default is also noted on the Realist, which any buyer’s agent can access to analyze. Publicizing the seller’s personal financial situation to a buyer means the seller will lose equity. Once a buyer knows the seller is hurting, buyers will attack. Just does not seem fair to sellers, and I hope MetroList reconsiders.
When pigs fly, I’m afraid. Or enough lawsuits are filed.
December 2018 Report Sacramento Housing Market
The December 2018 Sacramento Housing Market is not pretty from a seller’s point of view, but from a buyer’s point of view, it is beautiful. This is not to say that sellers should not be selling because if a seller owns a gorgeous home in a fantastic location, it will quickly sell. The others, not so much unless they are priced accordingly, and that is a struggle.
Because you don’t work in the Sacramento real estate business for as long as I have without knowing that almost every seller thinks they have a gorgeous home in a fantastic location. So that means I have my job cut out for me in 2019, because it will be a lot tougher for us Sacramento listing agents.
For this Sacramento listing agent, I am not concerned. I can weather any kind of market because I’ve been in real estate for over 40 years.
Also, I forgot to mention this earlier, but my Elizabeth Weintraub Team placed in the top 3 agents at Lyon Real Estate for the month of December. What makes this particular feat of worthy note is three-fold.
- About $2.5 million of sales rolled into January and did not even close in December!
- I spent the entire month of December in Hawaii, still working!
- And the company has close to 1,000 agents so to place in the top 3 is an honor. How do you like those pineapples?
Which means you absolutely cannot say the December 2018 Sacramento Housing Market is faring poorly. It’s doing just fine for some of us. However, inventory is up almost 30% over last year at this time. The number of homes sold in December of 2018 as compared to December of 2017 is down by more than 26%. And pending sales for December over a year ago have fallen by 11%.
What the December 2018 Sacramento Housing Report should signify to sellers and buyers is the market has transitioned to a buyer’s market. Twice the inventory offers twice the choices for buyers. Further, the second take away is if you are thinking about selling, try to make your home conform to what buyers want. Buyers will not overlook defects or dated houses, even if you think they will because you would. They won’t. And third, hire the best damn listing agent you can find. This is definitely not a time to consider discount agents with little experience.
Selling a House Three Times to Get Paid Once
Undoubtedly, when I am selling a house 3 times to get paid once, I am doing it solely for the benefit of the seller. Other agents seem to intensely dislike that kind of attitude. They are used to listings agents who rollover and do whatever it takes to close a transaction. It confuses them when they discover that I am not one of those agents who will rollover.
For starters, I care deeply about my fiduciary relationship to the seller and doing what is best for the seller. How do I do that? Well, here’s a hint for ya, I don’t count my chickens before they hatch because even if they never hatch, I don’t care. I care solely about making my sellers happy. It’s a recipe, albeit a weird one for many, but it’s a successful recipe for me. I don’t really know how to better explain it than if you take yourself out of the equation and try to do only what is best for a seller (I know, strange concept), as an agent you will win in the end. And so does the seller. I won’t go so far as to say win-win because that’s not really a concept I subscribe to, and I used to be married to the guy who coined that phrase. In real estate, generally one side, seller or buyer, fares better than the other. That’s the reality.
When I first sold the fixer home I wasn’t planning on selling a house 3 times to get paid once, but it happens. It happens more often than you might think. Because I generally advise my sellers to just say NO to opportunists. It’s hard to tell who is an opportunist and who is serious when presented with an offer.
The first buyers for this particular fixer home in Sacramento appeared to enter the contract in good faith. But when we were scheduled to close in a few days, and the buyer’s agent called in the middle of the day, it was only bad news. I happened to be at my neighbor’s house in Hawaii when I saw the call come across my Apple Watch.
This is only bad news, I whispered to my neighbor, but I gotta answer. Sure enough, within a few seconds, the buyer’s agent launched into: we did our due diligence and we found a lot of problems . . .
I’ve been through this so many times. I cut her off at the chase. The home is sold AS IS, and if your buyer doesn’t want to continue with the transaction under the present terms of the contract, send us a cancellation. The agent on the other end of my Apple Watch could not believe what I said. She didn’t know I’ve heard it all before.
This is the ploy to ask for repairs or a price reduction. Not gonna happen. My seller agreed. I knew he would.
Don’t you want to know what the buyer found? She asked.
No, we don’t.
If I know what he found, I’ll have to disclose it to the next buyer. Also, it doesn’t matter. The home is sold AS IS. If the buyer doesn’t like the house in its AS IS condition, don’t let the door hit ya in the butt. I don’t care about the buyer’s reason for canceling. I care about getting the seller the money the seller deserves. I was not wrong on the sales price.
This is a perfect example of an agent who expected the listing agent to “hold the deal together,” and I won’t do it. To hold it together is to cost the seller money. I know full well I can sell it again, Sam, to somebody else. This is where experience pays off. So while agents might not understand the concept of selling a house 3 times to get paid once because they feel their time is “more valuable” or whatever, they are probably not top producers.
Enter next buyer. This buyer also goes into contract quickly. I drill the buyer’s agent. Are you sure they know what they are buying? Do you know for a fact they can handle the repairs? Well, long story short, regardless, the agent did not know a thing about the buyers as they also canceled. Criminy. OK, third time’s a charm.
Sometimes sellers get really upset when two escrows cancel. They think it’s not time to sell or the listing agent could have done something differently. Well, yes, we could do something differently, we could throw the seller under the bus. But we don’t. We have no control over buyers. None at all.
So when the third buyer came along, the seller was prepared and ready. At least they did not try to renegotiate. I really dislike the stupid strategy of buyers who think, oh, let’s just get into contract, and then when a couple weeks go by, we’ll renegotiate. We’ll find something to grind the seller over.
Nope. Not on my watch. And that’s how sometimes I end up selling a house 3 times to get paid once. I am honest with my clients. If I think making a concession is a good idea, I’ll say so. But if I think they can sell to a better buyer, I will say that, too.
We closed on January 4th. At list price.
Unfortunately, I’m kind of a dying breed in Sacramento real estate. I hope somebody else will raise the bar after me; after my time is up.
Elizabeth Weintraub Sells 3rd Home on Jefjen Way
Jefjen Way is a street in Elk Grove that backs to a school in Quail Ridge. This means the playground and the noise that goes along with that can be disturbing to residents who live on that side of the street. Fortunately, the last listing I took on Jefjen Way sold within 3 days with multiple offers, even in today’s softer buyer’s market.
We went on the market in early December, a time of the year when sales typically slow down. I would have preferred to list and sell the home in April, when our market was much stronger, but that did not happen. Oddly enough, I’ve been expecting to get the listing since April of 2018.
I’m not 100% positive, but if I recall correctly, it was one party’s parents who called me, and it was not the party who was on title. They wanted to talk with agents and help the party in title to obtain an independent and trustworthy agent. Somebody they at least knew, I suspect. And it was through those parents that I was introduced to the actual seller.
Last April, I would have pegged the home to sell for a lot more money because buyers were more willing to overlook homes that needed work at that point. However, by the time the home became available to sell, in early December, we had moved into a remarkably different market.
Homes without updates, such as certain homes in Elk Grove that feature oak cabinets, white tile counters, white appliances and laminate floors, are not in high demand. Throw a little deferred maintenance, a badly needed paint job that wasn’t gonna happen, on top of stained carpeting, and the price needed to come down even more.
I looked at the homes for sale in that neighborhood, in particular a similar home on Jefjen that was not selling, even though it was priced exceptionally well. It was about the same size but it had a much smaller lot than our subject property. However, it presented the same dilemma of no updates. But it was in better condition and it had a 3-car garage. My listing was a 2-car.
The last home I sold on Jefjen Way took almost two months, and the present competing home had already been on the market for two months without selling. My advice to the seller was to price it tad under the competition, which theoretically should attract a lot of attention. We also made it clear the home would be sold AS IS, and to sell AS IS in today’s market, it absolutely MUST be priced right.
My point is always to maximize seller profit potential. The strategy we use is different depending on the competition, the recent sales and the overall temperature of the market.
Sure enough, within days we received an offer. Followed by another offer. They were close in price to each other. However, the second buyer wanted the house a lot more than the first buyer and suddenly bid several tens of thousands of dollars more. Much more than the first offer.
This pleases me to no end to get more money for the seller. Especially when my strategy pays off. It can be a bit risky when moving into uncharted territory, when the methods used over the past 10 years no longer work. You adapt to the marketplace or you get left in the dust.
In the end, the buyers were ecstatic, the seller was thrilled and the home sold for exactly what the market would bear and then some. You can play this market to your advantage. Which it felt good to prove.
This was my first closing of 2019. Tomorrow I’ll tell you about another 2019 closing, a home that I sold three times.
The Deal With the Halekulani Pool
This is my friend, Hella Rothwell, relaxing by the Halekulani pool in Waikiki. It was not always like this. We had to struggle to secure a spot at the pool. Like, when there are so many other things to do in Honolulu over New Year’s but we became obsessed with the pool.
Why? Because the Halekulani, like just about every other hotel in Waikiki, has overdeveloped its property to the point where the hotel cannot accommodate the needs of all of its guests.
At first blush, it seemed nutty. When a guest pays 4 figures a night for a hotel room, one would think a guest would have a right to a chair at the pool. Yah? But one would be mistaken. There is no distinction at Halekulani between a guest in a garden courtyard room or a a guest in the Diamond Head ocean front room, much less an ocean front suite.
The Halukulani pool enforcers are fierce. We went to breakfast for an hour at Orchids and they gave away our chairs. When asked why they shrugged and said they cannot time every chair accurately. They are supposed to give you an hour and fifteen minutes before they snatch your belongings and turn over the chairs to another guest.
We didn’t even want to spend time near the pool until we were told we could not be there. It would make sense for Halekulani to charge for chairs, assign them to guests who can afford to pay, like at the Moana Surfrider. But even at the Moana Surfrider, there are chair wars among the guests.
I simply sigh and recall all of the wonderful stays I’ve enjoyed at the Four Seasons and The Fairmont. However, the hotels in Waikiki are not necessarily resort hotels, and they don’t seem to cater to guests who expect luxury. It’s another world where people would stab each other in the eyes with chopsticks to get a pool chair.
We finally figured out we needed to tip the Halekulani pool attendants to get decent pool chairs. By decent I mean in the proximity of the sun with an umbrella.
When we stopped by the pool attendant’s desk to discuss the pool chair situation at Moana Surfrider, the guy there seemed confused as to why we were complaining about the Halekulani. Why don’t you like the Halekulani, he asked. It’s the best hotel in Waikiki.
They would not deliver a coffee pot to our room. I was ready to catch an Uber and find a Target to buy a coffee pot. Just not our policy (because we can make you pay for room service), says Halekulani. Besides, we have free coffee near the pool at Orchids. Yes, Orchids where we had to endure the antics from the creepy English toad at Halekulani’s Orchids.
That means I would have to get dressed and not lounge about in my robe. Not only would I have to get dressed, but I would need to insert my contact lenses because I can’t walk around in reading glasses. Then I would need to dig up my room key. Walk out the door. Find the elevator, go down 16 floors, walk across the open area in the rain. Grab two coffee cups, fill them, and try not to spill the coffee as I make my long trek back to the room.
Or, I could wait 30 to 45 minutes for room service. Since I don’t know what time I will wake up, I cannot pre-order room service the night before. Because this is supposed to be a vacation.
After much moaning and sweet-talking, we finally got a hot water dispenser in our room, which stayed hot all day long. You know those packets of coffee you find in most hotels, those without a pod machine? Hella had a huge supply of them, like she recently ripped off a Holiday Inn. Stick one of those coffee filters into a paper cup, fill with water, and voila. Coffee.
I’m not after a Starbucks’ experience. Just the caffeine.
And a pool chair at the Halekulani pool. Is that too much to ask?
