Email Elizabeth
Elizabeth Weintraub
Red Flags on Purchase Offers for Sacramento Homes
Every Sacramento listing agent owes a fiduciary to her sellers to try to ensure that the offer the seller has received is a bonafide offer, especially those that seem a little bit weird. I’m not about to say that all out-of-area buyers, especially those from the Bay area, are crooks or are not to be trusted, but I have seen my fair share of purchase offers that require additional scrutiny and most of them seem to stem from the Bay area. To be fair, though, there are crooks right here in Sacramento, and there are doofus real estate agents right here in town who enable them.
Part of my job to my sellers is to look for what can go wrong and advise accordingly. The first red flag I might see in an offer is due to the fact the agent might not read the MLS listing nor adhere to the requirements. I suspect they do not always read all of the instructions because they either don’t have full access to MLS, they are confused, inexperienced, or they just didn’t bother to look for attachments. Some agents probably do not want to comply, so they simply ignore the requirements.
The second red flag is the offer itself might appear as a template. This means all of the standard information is typed in a different font, often an odd color, and a different point size, and the pertinent data such as property address and sales price do not match. Agents use this procedure when they are creating multiple offers and throwing those offers to the wind. They think nobody notices this.
The third red flag is the offer might be missing information. Certain boxes might be left unchecked and blank lines will be incomplete. Attention to detail is not always a strong suit among thieves, perhaps the APN number is missing or the agent’s license number is not there, which are important items to include.
The supporting documents are often a mishmash of papers tossed together. The proof of funds might not contain the buyer’s name. The earnest money deposit might be from a new stack of checks, numbered in the low 100s and containing no date nor identifying information. The pre-approval letter is most likely outdated if not expired.
You might ask yourself why do they bother to do this? What is the point? The point is the investors think they are clever and smart to lock down as many properties as they possibly can while they figure out which ones they might want to buy. They might make offers on 10 or 20 listings but be able to buy only one. This practice is not advised and many lawyers say it is against the law, but when has that stopped the crooks?
When you look at all of this damaging evidence, coupled with the fact the agent has not shown the home to the buyer, these are not really offers. If you need further proof, just ask the agent a question such as did you show the home? The agent won’t reply. And there you go.
Jealousy Can Lead Real Estate Agents to Badmouth Other Agents
Real estate agents who badmouth often feel the need to discredit another Sacramento real estate agent and can end up sabotaging their own career without realizing it. Before you can ask: how stupid are they, let me remind you that badmouthing another agent is stupid to begin with. There’s just no upside potential to it. It makes the agent who is doing it look horrible, not to mention small, petty, jealous and well, stupid.
I am often called to a listing presentation in which a seller who is hoping to choose a Sacramento listing agent has interviewed 2 other agents. I say, hey, good agents you called. But you would be amazed at some of the stuff I hear other agents tell the seller. Because the sellers tell me what they say when the agents learn that Elizabeth Weintraub is the competition to their presentation. First, I imagine the agents feel a bit intimidated when they look at my sales production and how much I sell. It can be 10 times the number of homes they sell, or more. This is intimidating because these agents can’t fathom how in the world I do it and remain competitive, because they can’t do it.
So they say stuff like, oh, Elizabeth Weintraub is too busy for you and won’t give you personal service. These agents should be shot and stuffed with mouse poop for allowing lies like that to leave their lips. You want something done right, you give it to a busy person, that’s what I have to say. Clients tell me that I treat them like they are my only client. I respond immediately to their concerns and address all of their questions, sometimes before the questions are even asked. I make them feel special because they are. Nothing should lead a real estate agent to badmouth. They should be better than that.
In my world, every client is important. Every situation is different. Another agent told a seller that I don’t negotiate my own transactions because, how could I? Yet, I do. It’s a fat lie to say I don’t. I personally handle every single listing myself. I shoot professional photography; I write copy and prepare the paperwork; I tweak my photos in Photoshop; I manage all of my listings; I collect feedback and deliver, provide suggestions, negotiate multiple offers, and there is no pawning off — I do it myself. Just because another agent can’t do what I do is no reason to make up crap about my real estate practice. You know what they call that? They call that attitude sour grapes. The Code of Ethics calls it unethical. I call it idiot real estate agents who badmouth.
A new client I’m meeting with this weekend asked me why none of the other agents she talked to didn’t tell her the things I suggested she do to get started. Well, I don’t know why. It makes sense to me that I bring up potential problems and solve them before we go on the market. I have no idea why other agents do what they do; I know only what I do, and that is I perform to high standards built on my decades of experience. When the only bad thing another agent can makeup is I must be too busy or I must not do the work myself, well, that tells you more about those agents than about me.
I’m not too busy. I do the work myself. If you expect excellence, you will get it. That’s how an ethical Sacramento real estate agent stays in business and gets referrals year after year after year. Sellers can hire a not-so-successful agent for the same amount of money, but why?
Forget Trying to Balance Work and a Personal Life
There is nothing wrong with loving your job and not trying to balance every little aspect of your life. On the other hand, some people behave as though they’re living on a seesaw in their career, always in motion, afraid that if it stops moving for just one minute, the weight from their fat butt will force the wrong side to the ground, kersplatt, and then everybody will see them for the pitiful failure that they really are — that’s what people think.
Years ago people, OK, mainly men, loved their jobs, felt fulfilled by a career and enjoyed going to work. Today many men feel torn in two. Women in the 1970s were not always encouraged to feel deeply engrained in their careers lest they turn into an old maid. Today, women are told they can’t have it all so they better choose. Or, they better try harder to balance work and a personal life. Forget balance. It’s overrated. You’ll hear men and women alike swear that family comes first, and work comes second, like loving a job is evil or there is something fundamentally wrong with your makeup if you look forward to going to work.
Spittooey on crap. If you have to say that family comes first, maybe there is something out of whack that makes you feel the need to verbalize it in that manner? Because most people don’t talk about having to put family into their hearts because family already occupies a spot. And, so does work. I love my job, and I don’t apologize to anybody for it. It doesn’t mean I love anybody or anything else any less. It’s not either or. Love doesn’t get “used up.”
People feel almost guilty if they admit they love their job. Workaholic describes a person who finds pleasure in working. Why should that be wrong? Isn’t that what everybody should strive for? To find a job that they love to do to such an extent that it doesn’t become work? If I promise a real estate client I’ll be over to shoot photographs and sign listing paperwork, they can count on me to show up. I don’t use family as an excuse not to perform. I balance my temperament, it’s not necessary to try to balance work vs my personal life.
Sacramento Homes Take Longer to Sell This Spring
Are Sacramento homes taking longer to sell this spring? You betcha. The trouble with making predictions in Sacramento real estate is sometimes those forecasts don’t materialize because the market shifts. Real estate agents who make predictions tend to look at the direction the market is moving and figure it will keep going in that direction. I tend to look for odd things that appear out of place. You know, I ask: what does not belong here? What one thing is not like the others? I look at the market somewhat differently, but then my approach is not an average approach, which is probably partly why I am successful at what I do.
Sellers always want to know how quickly a home might sell. I can identify the drop-dead gorgeous homes that should fly into escrow but I will still suggest at least a 2-week period for those sales, when last year it would have been 24 hours. This means I might need to remind a seller whose home has been on the market for 9 days that she has at least another 5 days to go, and maybe more. We can’t always accurately pinpoint that moment of sale. It depends on the buyer. These are just ballpark estimates.
It seems to this Sacramento real estate agent that homes are taking much longer to sell this spring, ever since January. So, I went on a hunt for facts to back up this assessment.
I can tell you that days on market — the average cumulative days on market — are 49 for February in Sacramento County. In April of 2013, that number was about cut in half at 26. This means the average cumulative days on market has pretty much doubled this year. Which goes to show when I tell a seller that what used to take 1 to 2 days is now taking 1 to 2 weeks, and what used to take 1 to 2 weeks might take 1 to 2 months, is absolutely accurate. Buyers are moving more slowly.
Home are definitely selling. They’re just selling at a more normal pace than over past decade of screwball-ness. You remember what normal is, right? No? Well, try to take it easy and slow down a little bit. At my age, the world moves much too quickly as it is. Savor a few precious moments. Pet your dog, hug your kids. Your home will sell.
April is a Time to Plan a Real Estate Agent Winter Holiday
You might find it difficult to believe that this Sacramento real estate agent ever has any downtime to screw around and contemplate a winter holiday, but I just had four dental implants shoved into my jaw on Friday, so I’ve been taking it easy. ?By taking it easy, I mean working solely on my existing business and not really focusing on new business. This free time gave me a few hours yesterday to visualize a winter holiday, among all the offers and phone calls rolling in. It’s tough to find time to slow down and take it easy when you sell real estate for a living. But the key is to make sure you have WiFi wherever you are. WiFi and satellite internet rules the world.
For example, a few years ago, I listed a home and sold it while dangling my toes off a dock attached to a thatched roof hut on an atoll in the middle of the South Pacific. People might wonder why would I do it? Why would I work when I’m on vacation? Because they wouldn’t. I do it because I like it. I’m just a weird duck. No client ever has to worry that I will go away and forget about her or him because I won’t. I love what I do, and I love the fact it gives me the financial opportunity to explore new places.
I like to take a real estate agent winter holiday in early December and return early January, because business is about as slow as business can get during any given year. So it’s not a constant pace nor consistent pressure that means I can’t enjoy a vacation. I can do both. So this year I’m thinking about spending about 10 days to unwind at a resort near Hobart, Tasmania. I’ve always wanted to see a Tasmanian Devil. Then jumping on a 16-day cruise aboard a small cruise ship from Sydney to Melbourne and around New Zealand. I’ve watched an excellent murder mystery series lately about New Zealand, and the Flight of the Conchords doesn’t count.
The series that resonated was Top of the Lake, starring Elisabeth Moss and Holly Hunter. I could see myself in that Holly Hunter character. She made me laugh out loud. The scenery was gorgeous and breathtaking. You can get kinda sick of watching the underside of LA freeways on TV.
Of course, there is also The Hobbit, if you need another reason to see New Zealand. But I think that show previously mentioned, which you can get from Netflix, is enough of a reason. The Hobbit is too computer generated and imaginary. See, this is a reason to excel at selling real estate. You can watch a movie with beautiful scenery, say to yourself Hey, I’d like to go there and then go off on your real estate agent winter holiday. Of course, I would also like to find a traveling companion because even a small luxury ship requires double occupancy or you’re penalized. My husband will probably be unable to go as he’s actively searching for a new career. Being a veteran newspaper reporter isn’t the best occupation these days.
On a side note, I also see in the Sacramento Bee this morning an article from Lyon Real Estate on the front page that says I am #1 in the downtown midtown office for last year (as I’ve ranked the last few years) and ranked #4 in the company. I wonder how that #4 ranking happened when I sold more homes and produced a higher dollar volume than the #3 proclaimed agent. I looked at the numbers in MLS and in Trendgraphix, and both of those reporting sources indicated I rank #3. But you know what, I am not as riled about it as #3 was, I suspect. And I guess that’s why Lyon shows this level-headed agent at #4.
Politics. Schmolatics. I don’t waste time on petty crap I can’t control.
Is anybody interested in Australia and New Zealand this winter? I realize many people want to stay home for Christmas and New Years, but I prefer to travel. Maybe I should call a few other top producers to see if they would like to take a fun trip and go on a real estate agent winter holiday?
