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Elizabeth Weintraub
Following up on Buyer Leads Before a Listing Hits MLS
You can bet one of my priorities for a new listing is following up on buyer leads. Just because I refuse to work directly with a buyer in dual agency doesn’t mean I won’t follow up or talk to buyers. Of course, buyers are free to choose any agent they want, and hopefully they will pick a professional agent with many closings under her or his belt. But I will also work with Uncle Joe’s cousin if that’s what it takes, knowing I’ll end up doing that agent’s job as well as mine, and it’s OK. Whatever it takes to sell a house is my method of operation. No prima donna here. I take more of a pragmatic view that as long as it leads to closing . . .
Yesterday was no exception. The ink isn’t inked yet on a new listing, yet I already had 2 different sets of buyers. Wasn’t planning on following up on buyer leads yesterday, but they were there in my face. One buyer was a neighbor next door. She approached me when I was attaching the lockbox to say how deeply disheartened she is that her friends are moving away. It was 11 AM and she was in her robe and slippers, but so what.
Since I wasn’t wearing a jacket — because I raced out of the house like we live in Hawaii — I shivered. Let her know if there was any trouble of any sort or questions arose, she could call me. My cell would be embedded on the sign rider in the yard. Then I dashed back inside to warm up as the photographer shot photos. A few minutes later, the neighbor knocked on the front door. Still in robe and slippers. Wanted to know how she could get a loan. Best guy in the business is Dan Tharp at Guild Mortgage. I brought up his contact info and got ready to hit “share contact.”
I’ll get a paper and pencil, the neighbor says. Just give me your cell number, I say, and I’ll forward you Dan’s contact information. A few minutes later, my cell phone rang. It was the neighbor. Hello, may I speak to Dan Tharp? she asked. I explain she can tap the contact icon in my text message to her, and it will download the contact information to her phone. Hey, not everybody knows these things.
Later, Dan tells me they had a good talk, and she seems to qualify for a loan. Although, an hour later, she decided against the loan process. But that’s OK. I go with the flow. It was a day to be following up on buyer leads. The sellers had another friend on the cul-de-sac who knew of an interested relative. Actually, I had tracked down and texted, emailed and called that relative’s agent the day before. However, the agent could not get around to calling me until the following day. Will it work out? I have no idea, but I follow up on buyer leads because it’s my job.
Leave no stone unturned. That’s what a Sacramento listing agent does. It wouldn’t be the first time I sold a listing to a neighbor, and it won’t be the last.
Buyers Who Call Listing Agents Now Have More Ways to Sue Dual Agents
Who isn’t looking for more ways to sue dual agents in California? I hear from a lot of real estate clients around the country who are upset with their agents, and many of those complaints center on dual agency. They read an article I wrote about dual agency or contingencies or some other legal matter in real estate and call. In case you don’t know, in simple terms, dual agency occurs when the seller’s agent is also the buyer’s agent. This is when sellers find out too late that paying their own agent to represent a buyer might not be in their best interest. Or, buyers discover that trying to manipulate a listing agent into divulging confidential information may have backfired. By attempting to buck the system, buyers may end up with no agent advocating for them.
The new document that will most likely cause more lawsuits by encouraging parties to sue dual agents in California is the revised Agency Disclosure. Its formal name is Disclosure Regarding Real Estate Agency Relationships. I say this because I know from observation how lackadaisical many listing agents are. So many just don’t consider ramifications or cause and effect much less consequences. In fact, it is so tough to be a dual agent that I prefer to pass on it.
Dual agency is not good for sellers nor for buyers and the only people who think it is are the dual agents themselves. Further, the main reason dual agents like dual agency is because they make twice the commission. No wonder some consumers hate real estate agents. It’s rare that dual agency is better for the parties. Usually the opposite.
New language in the Agency Disclosure sets out pretty clearly the confidentiality requirements. Agents are always required to keep this sort of information confidential (without written authorization), but in dual agency, they sometimes forget. Below is the verbiage, with the new changes in bold:
“In representing both Seller and Buyer, a dual agent may not, without the express permission of the respective party, disclose to the other party confidential information, including, but not limited to, facts relating to either the Buyer’s or Seller’s financial position, motivations, bargaining position, or other personal information that may impact price, including the Seller’s willingness to accept a price less than the listing price or the Buyer’s willingness to pay a price greater than the price offered.”
Agents are often made privy to confidential information about why sellers are selling, which is none of anybody’s business but the seller. This reduces dual agents to pretty much transaction facilitators. They can’t represent either party very well. The downside is buyers might think they don’t need representation but they certainly do. Never had a buyer say, “oh, we didn’t need you guys.” Just not gonna happen.
But what will happen, mark my words, is more parties will decide to sue dual agents because the agents will, without hesitation, disclose confidential information. I know this surely as the sun sets in the West.
One Way to Sell a House in Sacramento
Is this one way to sell a house in Sacramento? My team member Josh shot this photo yesterday. I don’t know if you can read the small print, but the rider sign hanging below the panel reads: “Free Pizza With Purchase of House.” Is it a joke? Does the agent own a pizza joint? Is the pizza frozen or fresh? How many pizzas do you get? Do you get pizza for a year delivered to your house or does the agent just send a pizza to the closing table?
So many questions over one way to sell a house in Sacramento. Ask the incredible Barbara Dow about it, and she’ll say it gets people talking so all publicity is good.
Who doesn’t like pizza?
You ask my husband about the notion of free gift with purchase, and he will launch into a tirade. How there is no such thing as a free gift with purchase. But then he has never shopped for department store makeup or perfume. You pay the same price whether you get a free gift or not. Although, maybe it’s the “free gift” he objects to. It’s redundant.
All gifts are free, except for those with strings attached. Like a timeshare presentation. Oh, I know you think you’re immune and you will stick it to them, but the likelihood is the timeshare promoters will stick it to you. And if they don’t, you still gave up a precious two hours of life that you can’t get back, being subjected to and reduced to the position of a “mark.” They know it and you know it.
By my mere holding of a California real estate license, I am a regular “mark” to all the mortgage lenders in the business who think a Sacramento Realtor is ripe for harassing. Even those of us who have been in the business for over 40 years and are top producers. These MLO’s think we crawled out from under a rock. Or, how about some listing agents who do not realize we have access to MLS listings just like they do, yet they still want to dump email blasts toting their newest listing into my email box.
It’s spam, it’s junk, and if you gave me a free gift, I’d give it back. The only person they are reaching is the seller who thinks any method to promote is good.
Is this one way to sell a house in Sacramento? Plaster email blasts to such an extent they no longer have any value or uniqueness to the information? Of course it is. Just like the one way to sell a house in Sacramento is to offer free pizza.
I prefer to use technology in such a way that it does’t annoy people. But then I don’t use those methods to sell a house. I use tried and true strategies that have worked for me one way or the other for the past 44 years, and I incorporate any new technology I stumble across. However, do you really think email blasts and free pizza are the way to do it?
Tips for Helping Sellers in Sacramento to Understand our Real Estate Market
When I take a listing, in turn I am helping sellers in Sacramento by providing accurate data and being painstakingly honest. Part of my directness, undoubtedly, comes from being raised in the upper midwest. My mother always called Minnesota the upper midwest and not just the midwest because I presume she didn’t want to be confused with Missouri or Kansas. Like she lived in Upper Manhattan and not the frozen tundra of Minneapolis. But I grew up believing the only way to relate to others was to be honest and direct rather than embellish or, worse, make up things you can’t remember.
If people don’t like it, they aren’t a good prospect for me. In that photo above, you can see my sisters and brother on the front steps of the first house my parents ever bought. I am on the right, grinning in a red tafetta dress and my fancy saddle shoes. My sister, Kathryn, on the left lives in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, and long ago, without reason, cut off all ties with the family. My brother John died from sarcoma two years ago, and my little sister, Margaret, is still in Minneapolis. We talk every Sunday.
Look at us. No safety railing on those steps. Probably asbestos in the siding. Ha! Lucky we didn’t all die, riding bikes without a helmet.
Yet, now that I’ve been in the real estate business for 40+ years, I’ve learned that being direct is still the best policy. Never deviated from that factor. Although, I am cognizant of what other agents might say to sellers. I won’t go so far as to say they lie, but they don’t always tell the truth. If you ask a listing agent if this a good market in Sacramento to sell, you’d be hard pressed to find an agent who will say the market is softer and demanding. They tend to paint rosy pictures because they don’t want a seller to get discouraged. They also know that sellers tend to gravitate toward those who make them feel good.
But that’s not my method. Maybe that’s why I’m so successful when I’m helping sellers in Sacramento sell a home. I spoke with a potential seller yesterday about selling a home in Citrus Heights. She said it was worth about $300,000, and I know instinctively she pulled that number from Zillow, which is often incorrect. Then she told me it needed work. No updates. She bought it in 1998. Well, there are only two ways an older home in Citrus Heights without updates will sell.
Either you update the home or you reduce the price accordingly to account for condition. Nobody thinks about “condition” when they live in a house. It functions. What’s not to like? But buyers have plenty to say about it, and they will pass you by. This seller’s solution was to either a) sell AS IS or b) remove the carpeting and install ceramic. How do you tell a seller that ceramic floors are a thing of days long gone past? With compassion and empathy, that’s how.
She also thought she could come up with a number that it would cost renovate the house and then deduct that amount from the sales price, and a buyer would hop on it. So, I had to explain it doesn’t work that way. If faced with house A, all fixed up, at $300K or house B, needing $30K of repairs and priced at $270K, which would a buyer purchase? Why, House A, of course. House B would need to be priced around $250K or less to sell. Buyers expect compensation for the hassle.
This seller also did not understand that the $300K homes were much larger than hers. Square foot cost? She never heard of that computation. To her, a 1,500 square foot home would sell for the same as an 1,100 square foot home, except they don’t. Well, I probably talked her out of selling all together, but that’s what helping sellers in Sacramento is about. Helping them to come to their own decisions and making informed decisions.
If you’d like to talk about selling your home, please call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. My full intent is to sell your home at maximum profit potential for you. You can rest assured I won’t tell you what you want to hear, but I will tell you what you need to know.
Sacramento Housing Market Report Reflects Seasonal Dip
Our Sacramento County housing report for October 2018 shows not only a seasonal dip but also a large gap between inventory and closed sales. About half of the homes for sale in Sacramento are selling, which is typical this time of year. However, it is also indicative of a market shifting to a buyer’s market.
The average square foot cost for our Sacramento County housing report for October 2018 shows stability. These numbers include all single family homes and attached houses in the county. However, what the numbers do not show is a 3% dip between original list price and final sales price.
Next, in our Sacramento County housing report for October 2018, let’s look at the average days on market in Sacramento. Or, not. You can see it shows an overall average of 35 days on market, which is an increase of 25% from a year ago. That is not bad at all, though. In normal real estate markets, homes can take 2 to 3 months to sell, so even 35 days is OK.
The median sales price reflected in our Sacramento County housing report for October 2018 shows a dip to $350,000. A bit of softening in prices is good news for buyers. More good news for Sacramento homebuyers is the fact the Feds left the rate unchanged this month. Although 4.875% is about average at the moment, it’s still a good time to buy a home. Call the Elizabeth Weintraub Team to gather more information or to become a valued client at 916.233.6759.
