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Elizabeth Weintraub
Not All Short Sale Homes in Elk Grove Should Sell as a Short Sale
The number of Elk Grove short sales are declining
Why would a homeowner in Sacramento or Elk Grove do a short sale if the homeowner didn’t have to? That’s a question that’s been plaguing me because from a logical point of view it just doesn’t make any sense. What kind of real estate agent would railroad a seller into short sale status if that seller could sell as a regular traditional sale and not take the hit to her credit report, much less her emotional state of mind? As a Sacramento REALTOR, we are all required by the Code of Ethics to do what is in the best interests of our sellers.
To be fair, railroad might be a strong word. An agent might be completely clueless, I suppose, or an agent might be tempted to take the path of least resistance, that which seems easiest to her. Selling a home on the edge of a short sale as a regular sale can be tricky and complicated, but it can be done because I do it. Fast appreciation from spring of 2013 has turned many would-be Sacramento short sales into equity sales. It makes my heart break when I see a home sold as a short sale within a few dollars of being a traditional equity sale. It makes me wonder why a little more money could not have been squeezed from the sale, and why nobody tried to do it. It is laziness? Ignorance? Or, does the term railroad apply?
Take this homeowner in Elk Grove, for example. This is a guy who wanted to put his home on the market last fall because his wife was losing her job — a typical story in today’s real estate market. They called because they wanted to hire the best Sacramento short sale agent they could find. The problem was the home was cluttered, not that it needed to sell as a short sale. OK, every room was filled to the brim just about. Bedrooms filled with boxes. It was like a person came home from the grocery store to unpack the bags and just never put anything away except stuff that needed refrigeration.
The sellers were told to move out and into their rental property. Once the home in Elk Grove was vacated and the carpets were shampooed, it would show very well. The sellers were fairly well positioned to salvage credit and make a tidy profit. Instead, shortly thereafter, the sellers hired a “friend of a friend” and sold the home as a short sale . . . and a fixer, to boot. Later, the sellers sheepishly apologized to their first real estate agent and admitted they had probably done the wrong thing; they had panicked.
What’s done is done. No need to say anything negative about their present real estate agent.
My mother always said if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. Of course, our REALTOR Code of Ethics requires it, too.
Looking at Sacramento Homes for Sale From a Buyer’s Perspective
New Home Listing in Sacramento
It’s very difficult to color correct photographs when a kitten is attacking my television monitor. Typing doesn’t seem to excite little Tessa as much as when I move the mouse around and magic happens in front of her eyes. She appreciates when I use the tool that lightens shadows, and she is madly in love with the adjustments I make using Levels in Photoshop. As a Sacramento real estate agent, I often agonize over my photographs because I want to make sure that each and every photo does its job properly online.
Now, I try not to say anything about other agent’s listings when I see photographs that let’s just say don’t do the home justice. The major thing about presenting a home online is the photos should offer a clear picture of each room that is suitable for viewing and tell a story to the buyer. Contrary to some popular views, we Sacramento real estate agents are not trying to sell a home online, on the internet, we are trying to whet a buyer’s appetite enough to get the buyer motivated to view the home in person.
Sacramento home buyers have choices. Their first introduction to Sacramento homes for sale is online, typically. They might have automatic emails set up by their buyer’s agents, which deliver listings to their inbox as soon as those new listings hit the market. That’s the easiest and the smartest way to search for a home to buy in Sacramento. If a buyer is not receiving emails, that buyer may not realize how much she is at a disadvantage.
When buyers get an email, it may contain a bunch of homes for sale because new listings come out every day. To access the information, it involves clicking on the property address. That’s one click. Up comes the listing with one photograph, the property description and specifics. The listing offers the ability to look at more photographs by clicking a second time. If a buyer does not like the first photograph, a buyer might not click a second time. Moreover, if the buyer does not like the second photograph, the buyer might not click through all of the photographs and will simply discard the listing by moving on to the next home for sale.
Each photograph must encourage the buyer to click again. The marketing verbiage should make the home sound unique. Even if the home is identical to almost every other home in Elk Grove, for example, there is something unique that makes it different that made the existing sellers want to buy it, and that is what will make a new buyer want it as well.
Jackson in box with Tessa
If you’d like to talk more about what this Sacramento real estate agent can do for you, please feel free to call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916 233 6759. I love selling homes in the Sacramento Valley, and I’m not afraid to say I’m good at it.
And, my kitten Tessa? She says she’ll buy them all. This one, and that one, and the next one, too. You can see that she sticks her nose into everything. Even when I’m trying to take a photo of Jackson, our ragdoll.
The State of Sacramento Real Estate Right Now
If you listen very carefully to the wind in Sacramento this morning, you can hear Ollie’s voice over the freeway hum: “This is another fine kettle of fish you’ve gotten us into, Stanley.” Because that’s precisely the sentiment I feel when I look at the condition of the 4th quarter of our Sacramento real estate market.
It’s not that any one person makes the real estate market in Sacramento what it is, but we do need to work within it when you’re a Sacramento real estate agent. I just don’t know whom exactly to blame for it, so I’ll pick the Feds because that’s an easy target and I didn’t get enough sleep last night. I’m still on Florida time, haven’t quite recovered from the Dry Tortugas.
Now, in case you’re thinking that I’m going to tell you some terrible news or say it is not a good time to buy or sell, that is not about to happen. I just report what I see and then figure out how to work within that framework to best position my clients.
First, let me say the market is typically seasonal in Sacramento. Just because we have more days with sunshine than without doesn’t mean real estate sells like gangbusters all year long. We experience ebbs and flows. In the graph above, though, inventory has been steadily falling, along with the pending and closed sales. But it doesn’t mean prices are following suit.
Second, the market has been relatively flat with regard to home prices. You can see in this next graph that our square-foot home prices have remained very stable since last summer. This could very well indicate that our big push for rising prices has leveled. As my 2014 real estate forecast predicted last year, I suspect we won’t see a lot of appreciation this year. But prices won’t fall.
I could show you the same graph for average home sales prices and median sales prices, and that graph would reflect the same behavior. Our median sales price in Sacramento County has jumped from $186,000 in October 2012 to $250,000 in December 2013. However, that $250,000 median price has remained stable since July.
Buyers don’t seem to know which end is up. I have seen offers range from ridiculous to borderline nuts. On top of this, many home buyers appear marginal, and then we’ve got the new federal regulations kicking in this month that say a buyer must be able to prove she can afford to buy a home. Who woulda thought this was a necessity? But they had to make a law, so you know it wasn’t.
In the last graph, you can see our absorption rate for Sacramento County. This is the number of homes that closed escrow as compared to the number of homes for sale. We had a slight uptick in December, but when compared to high points from last year, we are pretty low at the moment at 52.7%. This means about half of the homes that are for sale right now closed escrow last month. Compare this to December 2012 / January 2013 when that absorption rate was almost 125%.
Our inventory (number of homes for sale) is less than two months. This means it would take two months to sell every home we have for sale. It’s still a very strong seller’s market in Sacramento. The problem is we have fewer buyers and the buyers we do have are often marginal, with little in reserves. If home buyers have no reserves, it means sellers might need to start kicking in closing costs to help a buyer in Sacramento to purchase a home. If the buyer can find a home to buy because we have so little for sale.
Images: Trendgraphix
The Downside of a Sacramento Real Estate Year-End Celebration
Based on Trendgraphix reports, it looks as though there is only one agent out of the 1,000 or so agents at Lyon Real Estate who sold more homes in 2013 than this Sacramento real estate agent, and that agent works primarily in another county in the Foothills of Sacramento. This is what I do when I come back from my winter vacation — clean up my 2013 records and begin 2014, fresh, on the ground and running. I also look at my big fat belly and wonder how it got that way and why it’s in my way.
Almost 3 whole chickens have crept their way into my body while I lay sleeping, dreaming of carrots and celery. I was soooo good on vacation. While I watched my husband enjoy cheesy omelets for breakfast, I spooned nonfat yogurt with berries into my face. There was no “bacon fest” like one can enjoy in January at Ella Dining Room and Bar. Even for lunch I was somewhat restrained: salads and soups. We walked and explored Key West. At night I pounded on my computer to respond to all the emails I received about Sacramento real estate. That 10-finger action alone burned many calories, I’m certain.
Most of the dinner menus in the Florida Keys involved some sort of shellfish or seafood, generally grilled. OK, there was breeeaaaaad and the teensiest bit of butter. A few desserts. All right, maybe a dessert almost every night. A cocktail, maybe. A glass or two of wine. Perhaps a 20-year tawny after dinner. But it was a minuscule glass of tawny, barely two ounces. I really detest having to face the fact that when you live long enough to cross the 60-year mark, you’ve got to watch what you shove into your face.
I did — I watched the magnificent gastronomic creations with great delight. Night after night. Never took my eyes off the fabulous displays of culinary genius placed in my view and with both hands shoved into my pie hole. Snatched a few French fries off my husband’s plate, too. I even hauled carry-out containers back to our hotel and left the lobster-cheesy-macaroni in the mini bar to rot.
The beginning was so innocent. I started out by leaving half of my food on my plate. Yeah, that’s a good plan. By the end of our vacation, I couldn’t pass by a gelato sign without stopping inside for a taste and a two-scoop treat. I hang my head in shame. Now I must pay the price for such gluttony. Maybe I will wear a cardboard box to my Sacramento real estate office meeting, with a hole cut in the top for my head to poke through.
Or, maybe I will just get back on the elliptical and resume a sensible diet. My clients don’t care if I gain 10 pounds or lose 10 pounds as long as I get the job done.
Coming Home from Key West to Sacramento
The guy in the second row on the flight from Miami to Dallas / Fort Worth looked friendly enough. He had tousled gray hair, a few wrinkles and a big grin. My husband thought it was worth a shot to ask if he would be willing to trade seats with us because American Airlines somehow messed up our seat assignments. My husband was placed in the bulkhead row. “Sorry,” the friendly guy shook his head, “I need the leg room.”
Whatever. I turned to the guy with the nearly bald head in the bulkhead and asked if he would like to switch seats. He was busy thumbing his cellphone. Bulkhead dude briefly looked up without moving his head, waved at the row across from him and played the kid card. “We’re here with our 3-year-old,” he muttered, and went back to thumbing his phone.
Because he needs to sit directly across the aisle from his wife and daughter. The same daughter who started whining and crying halfway through the flight and never once did he look up at her.
Unfortunately, our flight was delayed, almost an hour late. My husband leaned over the front seat, “Just be prepared,” he warned, “We will probably end up spending the night in Dallas,” because we had exactly 5 minutes to make our connecting flight to Sacramento.
That was not news I wanted to hear. Time to mind-bend reality. Instead, I decided to maintain a positive attitude and was determined we would meet our connecting flight if we had to run like we had just stabbed the gate attendant. Besides, the odds were our connecting flight would be delayed. I was betting on it.
And let me add here that first class on American Airlines is not like first class on other airlines. Other airlines offer its passengers a cold beverage upon boarding, a warm wet towel; the flight attendants know your name. Not American. Coach passengers are free to roam in the first-class cabin, sticking their hairy belly buttons in your face while pushing against the overhead bins as they stumble inebriated to the restrooms, but first-class passengers can’t get so much as get a set of headphones from the flight attendant because the flight attendants are too busy chatting with each other. Chaos doesn’t begin to describe it.
OK, maybe the plane was about to crash, and they were keeping this information from us, as a nicety or per flight regulations. The flight attendants could have been discussing life-saving strategies, whispering, “Let’s first save the woman with the Everglades T-shirt.”
As we were taxi-ing in Dallas, I checked my the mobile site for American and discovered our connecting flight was delayed by 30 minutes. Thank god for booking on an airline with a terrible on-time flight performance average — there is a silver lining for lousy customer service. Then, friendly guy in the second row inquired if we would make our connecting flight. Oh, yeah, now he’s all nice and sweet to us. Now that he has enjoyed his comfy seat in the second row for this entire flight.
By the time we made it to Sacramento, we discovered that American lost only one piece of our luggage and not all of it. And that’s a positive thing, too. As I learned from our trip to the Dry Tortugas, things can always get worse.
Photo: Wall at the Miami International Airport by Elizabeth Weintraub
