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Elizabeth Weintraub
The Three Prices for a Home in Sacramento
I hear all sorts of phrases from sellers when it comes time to price a home. I think they all went to the same school of ways to sell your home in Sacramento. Often, they want to price it too high, and they justify this by saying, “I don’t want to give it away.” Come on. Have you ever seen anybody give away their home? Hey, I found this sitting out back by the dumpster; will you take this deed off my hands? OK, maybe if it’s a short sale. Or, they will say, “Let’s test the market.” OK, but what if you fail the test? You only get one chance at being a brand new spankin’ listing. It’s like Goldilocks, you don’t want to be priced too high or too low. You want to be priced just right.
Pricing a home to sell is an art. It’s also a science. I listen to sellers because, believe it or not, I don’t always know everything. I realize that’s a difficult concept to wrap your head around, a Sacramento real estate agent who might admit she still has stuff to learn and is not the master puppeteer of the Sacramento world of real estate. Because stuff constantly changes. But I believe I have a pretty good handle on figuring out the best price for a home in Sacramento. Moreover, at the moment, I am selling homes at astronomical prices. That’s because it’s a seller’s market in Sacramento. A wild and crazy seller’s market. This nutty market doesn’t mean one can throw logic and reason out the window, though.
There are always 3 prices for a home:
- The price the seller would like to receive.
- The price the buyer wants to pay.
- The price the buyer’s appraises it at — and who ultimately has the last word.
If you get an appraiser from some other town — which isn’t hard to do these days — the appraisal can be too low. Sometimes, it’s because the comparable homes used by the appraiser to justify value sit in a different neighborhood, even though they are within a half mile of the subject property, and those homes in an adjoining neighborhood could be worth much less. An appraiser who is unfamiliar with the neighborhood wouldn’t know that fact.
The way pricing works is unless you receive a cash offer, your home will be assessed by the buyer’s appraiser. If there are no comparable sales for your home, the appraiser will use the sales that are available. This is why you need to examine the comparable sales — particularly the pending sales that will become your comparable sales — before you put your home on the market. If there are no comparable sales to justify your desired sales price, perhaps this is not the time to put your home up for sale. Perhaps you should wait and watch.
Of course, you will then miss the best real estate market in Sacramento since 2005. I don’t think you want to do that.
The No Pressure Sacramento Real Estate Agent
Wanna know a secret? I am really terrible when it comes to follow up for developing my Sacramento real estate business. By that I mean I wait for people to call me back. I don’t hound them or ask over and over if they are ready to buy or sell a home in Sacramento. My strategy is to be patient. I figure if they want to buy or sell, they will let me know, and that’s probably not a very good strategy for a Sacramento real estate agent to follow. That’s not what they teach in real estate school, you know. They teach you to be a lot more aggressive. To call, prod, email, push, inquire, check up on and keep one’s fingers on the pulse of business.
If some Sacramento real estate agent followed me around and picked up the business I let fall by the wayside, she or he could make a good living in real estate. Much of being a success in real estate is being in the right place at the right time. It helps to have experience, skill and knowledge, but those things aren’t necessarily essential in the real estate business, it pains me to say. Everybody sells real estate differently. No two agents are the same.
Since I move a lot of inventory, my approach is somewhat different. I prefer to be analytical and study each situation to determine the best strategy. Go for the highest price. I figure that’s part of what I’m getting paid for — to do the best job possible for my clients. That involves waiting until my sellers are ready to sell, for example. Once I’m given that green light, I’m working with lightning speed.
Still, I can’t help but wonder how many sellers lose my business card, forget my name or decide to list with their Uncle Joe or neighbor down the street simply because I didn’t continue to bug them to list with me. Well, it doesn’t really matter in the long run. It’s not in my nature to bug people. If they want to list with some other real estate agent, that’s OK.
I just sold my 95th house for the year yesterday. That’s only counting the sellers, the listing side. It doesn’t take buyers into consideration at all. It’s a good life, selling homes in Sacramento. That’s what I focus on. The business at hand. You want no pressure and a job well done? Give this Sacramento real estate agent a jingle. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. I answer my phone, too.
Why Not Hire a Top Sacramento Real Estate Agent?
Wouldn’t you like to go away on vacation and come home to find your home has sold for many thousands of dollars over market value? You don’t have to put up with buyers traipsing through the house, or agents calling for an appointment at all hours. No time consuming open houses. Nope, you just pack your bags, enjoy your vacation and maybe once a day, if you feel like it, check email to tally the latest offer that arrived in your inbox. You can kick back, relax, and let your Sacramento real estate agent do all of the work.
In fact, you might have been able to hire another agent in Sacramento for a little bit less, but why? Commissions are negotiable. Why would you do it, though? Why would you give up all of that extra money just to save a few bucks on the commission? That’s like cutting off your nose to spite your face. It’s like driving down the street and throwing money out of the window. It’s being penny-wise but pound foolish. Yet, some Sacramento home sellers don’t know any better. They tend to think that all real estate agents are the same, and homes sell themselves by sticking a sign in the yard. Little could be further from the truth.
Last week we had 68 showings and 14 offers for a home in Elk Grove! The home sold while the sellers were on vacation. I had met with the sellers to discuss strategy, marketing and home staging months before we went on the market. I have a certain way I do things because I have found that over 35-some years in the real estate business that my way of doing things works. It’s why I am successful. I constantly strive to improve my performance. Money matters. It matters to my sellers. Immensely.
If money matters to you as well, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916 233 6759. Experience doesn’t cost you. Experience pays off. Because you deserve a top-notch Sacramento real estate agent. Don’t you?
Why the Seller Didn’t Take Your Purchase Offer
Don’t give sellers a reason to reject your purchase offer. Not in a seller’s market like our present real estate market in Sacramento. Don’t give them one little reason. The thing that buyers don’t realize is when a listing agent is reviewing offers with the sellers, they are probably looking for a reason to reject. They are not looking for a reason to accept. That’s because most homes right now are attracting multiple buyers.
If you’re buying a home in Sacramento, you want to make your offer stand out but not in a bad way. You don’t want your purchase offer to be the only offer, for example, that asks the seller to give you the refrigerator. A smart buyer makes no demands on a seller. A smart buyer makes the offer easy for the seller to accept. This is not the time to ask the seller to pay for a home warranty or to demand that the seller in a Sacramento short sale, for instance, not send any other offers to the bank.
Realize that a Sacramento home buyer is not in a position to make demands today. Don’t stand out like a sore thumb.
For one thing, I don’t know of a single Sacramento short sale agent who would send more than one offer to the bank. It’s just not protocol. The only reason to ever do that is if the initial offer is too low. As long as a buyer’s offer is sufficient and would be acceptable to the short sale bank, only a short sale agent with sadistic tendencies would advise a seller to send more than one offer to the bank. It’s unwise to insert any clause apart from the norm that would make your purchase offer stand out in a negative way.
I promise you that if you offend the seller, your offer won’t stand a chance in a blue moon. If you’re not getting offers accepted, there might be a burr wedged in your offer somewhere.
25 HUDs to Close a Bank of America HAFA Short Sale
I will forever recall this short sale as the deal that demanded 25 HUDs to close a Bank of America HAFA short sale. I am only half joking with clients when they ask me about a Bank of America HAFA short sale. I say: “You would rather poke out your eyes.” Like with any short sale, there is truth in the pain. The pain, I tell sellers, is simply an accurate description of the agony that other Bank of America HAFA short sale sellers have shared with me, which I freely pass along to them. I don’t discourage a HAFA short sale for these Bank of America customers, but I want to prepare them for what lies ahead. As a Sacramento short sale agent — I share my experiences, good or bad — full strength, I don’t dilute.
We closed a Bank of America HAFA short sale yesterday that started in August of 2011. We were bright-eyed and bushy tailed back then. Our HAFA package was completed on that warm August day when we initially signed the listing paperwork. We started the transaction with UTLS, which later changed to AMO, which was then transferred to AMS, and I’m not sure who we were talking to when it closed, but it might have been REDC. I lost track. It was no longer important to count the third-party vendors as it was to the count the number of HUDs we supplied to them.
I tweeted the Bank of America social media team. I contacted the Executive Office. We escalated the file. It did not stop the demand for a revised HUD — eventually 25 HUDs in all. First they wanted THIS on the HUD. Then they demanded THAT. We gave them THIS and THAT but they wanted THIS NEW THING. After they got THIS NEW THING, they wanted THIS again. We supplied THIS and they asked for WHATEVER. We gave them WHATEVER and they went back to THIS and THAT.
I’m not making this up. That’s the hilarious thing about a Bank of America HAFA short sale — you don’t have to make up anything to induce tears from your shrieks of laughter. You start to wonder if the bank is just messing with you or if it is really that inept. A client told me yesterday it’s definitely ineptness after I relayed this story. He showed me a letter he received from Bank of America. It said his loan was paid in full. It was an explanation of why the bank returned his August payment. Because his loan was paid in full. Except his loan is in default, and we’re about to open a short sale file. Needless to say, his short sale will not be a Bank of America HAFA short sale.
But the 25 HUD short sale that closed yesterday was not my longest Bank of America HAFA short sale. This lasted a short 14 months. Of course, when we finally received the short sale approval letter, the buyer who had patiently waited all of this time decided to cancel. That is not completely unexpected. We put the home back on the market and immediately received a ton of offers — some as much as $20,000 over the original buyer’s offer. I asked the buyer’s agent: Is the buyer dumber than a bag of nails?
The 28th of September came and went. Our short sale approval letter expired. Finally, the original buyer came to his senses and elected to close escrow. We received an extension, submitted at least 3 final HUDs and closed on October 5th. Which was good because Monday is a holiday and the auction is scheduled for Tuesday. The seller is very relieved that this short sale rollercoaster ride is over, bruised, but no broken bones.
