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Elizabeth Weintraub
Notes on Decluttering a Cluttered Home Before Selling
We all tend to accumulate crap in our lives but the people who are selling cluttered homes have a tougher time preparing their home for sale. I’ve sold many homes for packrats and those suffering from an obsessive compulsive disorder, and I try to be compassionate because I realize it’s not their fault. It’s a disease. Besides, I am also focused on the job at hand. I realize I am not responsible for their mental condition, I’m simply responsible for selling their home. I don’t try to be a White Knight agent.
Who among us hasn’t collected crap, when you come right down to it? True story — when my husband and I moved to Sacramento, I carted off truckloads of crap, er, really nice stuff and donated it to charity. The crummier stuff I tossed. I had worked past the years of moving boxes of old bus transfers from the 1960s and telephone bills and other types of paper receipts that are absolutely worthless, which I had saved and forgotten to discard. They tell you to save stuff but don’t tell you when to toss it. I also had accumulated boxes in my attic filled to the gills with old curtains, drapes, bath towels, pots and pans, you name it, if I had bought it for a previous home, I had saved it.
This is why now when sellers ask me if they can take the drapes, my eyes get wide and say WHY, for the LOVE of God why? They won’t fit the windows in a new home. They will be too long or too short or the wrong color or the wrong material, and they will go into a box in your attic that you will move to the next house and the next house and the next house, so for crying out loud just don’t do it. Even if they do fit, you’ll decide you want new window coverings for some other goofy reason. Don’t even get me started on the people who plan to unattach and take their plantation shutters.
I also threw away boxes of old shoes. I suppose now it would give me great pleasure to paw through such a box but only for a moment as I held up a pair of rotting hippie moccasins to recall the last time I wore them and realize I could not (that’s what the ’60s do to ya), so what they hey, into the trash they go. I had to tug and pull two boxes of old shoes, they were so huge and heavy, outside for the trash collectors. Next thing I knew, people were knocking on my door in anger, waving shoes in my face, demanding to know how I had a right to throw away such precious things! You can’t win.
Then, when I got to California and moved into our new home, not everything would fit. As I unpacked, I realized what I should have realized back in Minnesota, and that is I did not need half of this crap. So even though I paid to ship it across the country, I still rented a 30-ton dumpster, put it in the street and filled it to the brim. Homeless people and scavengers had a field day.
I share this story in hopes that my clients and readers will be a bit more ruthless — poor Ruth, she gets all the blame — when trying to sell a cluttered home and will get rid of the crap upfront. Or, you can just call this Sacramento real estate agent, and I’ll guide you through getting that cluttered home prepared for sale.
Where To Get Legal Advice for Real Estate in Sacramento
Nary a day goes by when a client doesn’t ask me a legal question about real estate in Sacramento. They do not realize that I can get into a boatload of hot water and trouble up the ying-yang if I answer those kinds of questions and provide legal advice for real estate. Even when I say: hey, a Sacramento real estate agent is not allowed to give legal advice; I could lose my real estate license for practicing law, they will twist the question around and insist it’s not a legal question because they just want to know how other people have handled a similar legal technicality — which still makes it a legal question, regardless of whether they agree with my statement.
I say if you want to get conflicting opinions, ask a C.A.R. legal hotline lawyer. Those guys are paid, I suspect, on a flat-fee basis, and probably a minuscule flat-fee at that, to answer the phone which, because of that minuscule fee, I imagine, they often do not answer the phone. But one of them will eventually call back an agent to dispense real estate legal advice. In the few times that I have personally called a C.A.R. lawyer, the advice I received reminded me of an old Johnny Carson show, when he used to go on the street to ask questions of silly people in those Man on the Street interviews. In my experience, some of these lawyers seem to hold a weak grasp on real estate law, don’t understand how MLS works and tend to talk off the top of their heads, which I can get from my husband with a missing caveat: my husband will apply logic.
But one typically gets what one pays for in this world. C.A.R. legal hotline lawyers are free to dispense real estate legal advice to agents; they don’t submit written legal opinions. They simply provide free legal advice to agents in California. These free lawyers also probably feel like they aren’t paid enough to actually practice law but they’ll talk to an agent like we interrupted them while they were reading a comic book on the John. For all I do know, they take their cellphones with them into the stall before they accidentally flip them into the toilet. I bet cellphone providers sell a lot of insurance plans to free legal hotline lawyers. Heaven knows, too, that all-important phone call might come through from Domino’s Pizza. Gotta have your phone.
You might think I am unduly harsh on these professionals, but the advice they have dispensed to many agents has been completely wrong on so many levels that it has colored my opinion of them. It’s also possible that agents misunderstood or misconstrued. The point is that the C.A.R. lawyers are not held liable for poor advice because they’re not paid enough to be liable for the advice. And you know what that kind of advice is called? Lip service.
If I really need legal advice I can rely upon, I go to my company lawyers who are paid beaucoup bucks to protect the brokerage and, by extension in most instances, its agents. I respect these people and they know real estate law. If a client needs legal advice for real estate, I have a list of respected real estate lawyers in Sacramento whom they can call. I often point clients to California Civil Code, which explains many of the secrets in California real estate, but nothing can substitute for the advice of a lawyer — a real estate lawyer who provides professional assistance based on her own experience, associate practice, court case and real estate law. Don’t ask a Sacramento real estate agent.
And don’t blame C.A.R. either because our agent dues don’t begin to cover a legal hotline. C.A.R. is just a trade association.
Honesty Should Not Be Tough For Real Estate Agents
Agents need to be truthful when asked if they have shown a property to their buyers if, for no other reasons, than the California Bureau of Real Estate makes honesty a requirement for a license and the REALTOR Code of Ethics demands it. You would think being honesty for real estate agents is a no brainer but some apparently disagree. The dishonest sort tend to twist honesty into a pretzel and a format they recognize, something they can rationalize, but there really is no rationalizing the truth. You are or you aren’t. You did or you didn’t. You did not have sexual relations with that woman. You are not a crook. You’re just some whack job driving a white Bronco very slowly.
We all get it. We all wish it would stop.
Except, sometimes, the people who perpetrate and give life, meaning and clarity to the unfortunately descriptive word: asshole. This sort doesn’t give a crap.
The California Bureau of Real Estate created bare-bone requirements to become a Sacramento real estate agent. You must be 18 (you do not have to be a high school graduate), you must complete 3 real estate courses, and an applicant for a real estate license must be TRUTHFUL and HONEST. Right there, that requirement probably knocks out at least 1 person out of every 5, yet they still get a real estate license because if they are untruthful, do you think they will admit it? Ack.
In the REALTOR Code of Ethics, the very first article a REALTOR pledges is to treat all parties HONESTLY. Yes, honesty for real estate agents is a prerequisite.
Yet, when a listing agent asks a buyer’s agent who submitted an offer the sellers want to accept if the agent showed the property to the buyers and the agent responds, “Yes, she loved it,” when the agent did NOT show the property, well, what do you make of that? When presented with the facts such as maybe the sellers were home all day and did not possess a business card from that agent, only then might the buyer’s agent admit that the buyer did not actually view the inside. Inferring, btw, that the buyer was outside of the property with the agent, which probably did not happen, either.
It’s the writer’s instinct in me, I ask questions and probe.
Agents, you might be tempted to “fudge” the facts even if you don’t see it as outright lying, but please don’t. Dishonesty is against the law, it’s against the Code of Ethics, and sellers might ignore your buyer’s offer when they find out what you did. I will tell them. It’s in my fiduciary to disclose what I know to my sellers. Just be honest. Why is honesty for real estate agents so tough?
Sacramento Home Buyers Ask: Why Wasn’t My Offer Accepted?
It pains me when I see a purchase offer to buy a home arrive in my email and I instinctively realize the buyer will be asking her agent: why wasn’t my offer accepted? In the mind of many Sacramento home buyers, they did everything right. This particular home buyer found the home she wanted online all by herself — it fit her parameters exactly. She fell in love with the photographs and knew before she ever stepped foot inside that house that she wanted to buy that home.
Visiting the home in person solidified those feelings and thoughts. Yes, she should definitely buy that home. She is qualified and has her pre-approval letter that confirms it. The buyer may have provided proof of funds from her checking account. She has delivered an earnest money deposit with her offer. Everything is as it should be. All the stars are aligned, and this is her home. She even offered list price. She did exactly what was asked. All that’s left to do is to figure out where to put the sofa.
Ack. The seller accepted a different offer. Why didn’t she get this house? Why did the seller reject her offer? What is wrong with her Sacramento real estate agent? These are the thoughts running through the buyers’ mind. Do you want to know what the problem is?
First, it’s probably not the real estate agent. I imagine the real estate agent told the buyer that Sacramento is experiencing a limited inventory market, there is not much for sale, and there is intense competition, especially for entry-level homes in good condition. This means many Sacramento home buyers must write a better-than-normal offer. It could entail a higher price, paying more of the closing costs or giving the seller extra benefits, among other home buying offer tips.
I know that buyer’s agents explain this to their Sacramento home buyers. But somehow, that advice seems to fall on deaf ears or for some other reason the buyer does not agree nor understand. An agent can tell a buyer they need to offer more than $300,000 for that listing at $295,000, and some buyers will still ask, can I offer $250,000? These are not true buyers who say those sorts of things; these are people who are mentally deranged, which means yes, they are buyers from another universe and don’t operate in our world.
Working with a veteran real estate agent can also help improve a buyer’s chances of getting an offer accepted. Listing agents know the agents who perform and agents gain a reputation in this industry — good reason not to rely on your cousin’s aunt who happens to have a real estate license.
It’s generally one of three reasons why a buyer’s offer is not accepted: the buyer or the agent or both. Which is your reason? Because it’s not the Sacramento real estate market. We all must adjust to the market. If a buyer conforms to the market, the buyer will get her offer accepted.
Sacramento Spring Home Selling Starts in the Rain
One of my Elk Grove sellers yesterday almost passed out when I called to say we had sold his home. I’m not joking. He could not believe it, and that’s putting it mildly. One day he’s a guy with a home in Elk Grove that is almost upside-down with a roof at the end of its life and the next day he’s slipping $50,000 into his pocket. I’m sure that’s the way it seemed to him. “Buttt,” he stuttered in disbelief, “We haven’t even been on the market for 2 weeks yet.”
When a listing is done right, much of the work is done upfront. Sellers don’t see the hours we agents pour over our listings, highlighting this feature, brightening this spot, cropping thusly, and plastering it everywhere online. Or the time invested to study the comparable sales and help the seller to choose just the right sales price. Or the number of inspection reports obtained from roofers, pest workers much less our own visual inspections, rearranging, color coordinating and staging the home a little bit. What they see is a buyer walking in the door and cooing, “I want this home.” It sends sellers into shock.
It was an unbelievable day yesterday for this Sacramento real estate agent. I don’t always have days like that Wednesday or I would probably drop from exhaustion. In addition to receiving an award from Leading Real Estate Companies of the World at my office meeting, bringing in a breakfast item for a potluck to honor veteran and former SAR president Barbara Harsch, and adding another curb scrape to the front lip spoiler on my car on my way to drop it at the body shop, it seems like everything happened in three’s. First, I took 3 new listings: met with the sellers, inspected the homes, shot my photographs, signed all the paperwork, explained how showings work, all that stuff.
Lyon Real Estate and I are bringing to the Sacramento spring home selling market today a gorgeous remodeled home in East Sacramento at 700 San Antonio Way at $649,000. The attention to detail in this remodel is astounding. Another new listing is a home in Carmichael, just north of Fair Oaks and east of California Street at 6145 Fountaindale Way at $350,000. This is a single-level, open floor plan with vaults and attached deck, surrounded by mature landscaping, built in 1992. The third new listing is located at 17 Oasis Court, which is on a culdesac, built in 2008 (among newer homes in central Sacramento), with 4 bedrooms and 2 baths at the affordable price of $195,000.
On top of this, I put 3 listings into contract and into escrow. Like the home of my Elk Grove seller who almost had a heart attack. I picked up 3 new clients by answering my phone as I was driving around Sacramento, too. We’re just getting started in this Sacramento spring selling season. See, focus. That’s the name of the game, and an agent must be on top of her game. Besides, it was too rainy to take my daily bike ride through Land Park yesterday anyway.
