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Elizabeth Weintraub
In Defense of Open Houses in Sacramento
Open houses in Sacramento work for many reasons, and are mutually beneficial to a seller and a Sacramento Realtor, even though I realize there are some agents in the business who do not believe that open houses work. By working, I mean an open house brings potential buyers who may buy the home, and it also brings buyers who might not buy the home. Those “leftover” buyers, the buyers for whom the home does not meet their needs, are often wandering about without representation. For them, the open house provides an excellent opportunity to interview agents and for agents to interview buyers, in a non-threatening, casual atmosphere.
How can open houses in Sacramento be bad? For anybody? Yet, there are agents who just don’t want to do an open house. I suppose these agents have a ton of clients and don’t need any more buyers to work with. Maybe they don’t enjoy talking to buyers, which can make a person wonder why they are in real estate. Or, maybe they feel that they will be dissatisfied if the open house produces just one buyer for them to help?
Buyers find out about open houses through 2 main methods: homes for sale on the web and by following open house signs placed in the street. Some weekends, traffic is slow; other weekends, brisk. The success of an open house can be influenced by the weather, holidays, weekend events, but rain or shine, successful Sacramento real estate agents work.
I hear from a few other agents that open houses are a waste of time, but if an agent finds a great buyer every other open house, that’s an investment of four hours. If four hours isn’t worth investing to find a buyer, I’m wondering how far an agent will go in the real estate business.
Not only that, but holding an open house allows an agent to become more familiar with a neighborhood, its people, traffic patterns, positives / negatives, market values — all of which is beneficial information to a real estate agent developing her career.
On top of this, although not every buyer will buy a home on the spot at the open house, for a large number of buyers, viewing the home at the open house is often their first exposure to the home, and they do eventually buy. They might look at the home on a Sunday, think about it for a few days, get a preapproval letter and eventually call a real estate agent to show the home to them a second time. Many homes that sell today were first viewed by the buyer at an open house.
Due to our busy schedules nowadays, most people look at the weekends as a time to a) do chores and b) to relax. They can squeeze in an open house or two that they might not be able to schedule during the week. People also make impulse purchases, and real estate is not immune. How often have I heard, “Oh, we weren’t in the market, but then we drove by this open house . . ..”
It’s too easy when there’s little traffic for an agent to decide that open houses in Sacramento don’t work. The real estate agents who make it in the real estate business are those who view every open house as an opportunity to engage with people and to sell a home. Open houses in Sacramento is a necessity.
Why Is a Stubbed Toe Incredibly Painful When the Toe is So Small?
This morning I have to ask my silly self why am I responding to emails when I should be searching the web for information on a painful stubbed toe, which I may have fractured by tripping over my hand weights. It was so painful that I had a hard time sleeping, yet here I am answering emails and taking care of my clients instead of looking for information to alleviate my pain. That seems a bit defeatist and almost masochistic, neither of which are qualities inherent in this Sacramento real estate agent.
Yeah, my husband complained about me leaving the weights on the floor. He warned me. I think he had a stubbed toe from the weights. But did I listen to the point of taking action? It’s not so much that I purposely abandon the weights in the middle of the floor as it is when I am finishing my sequence of daily exercises, my phone rings. I jump up and pace, focus on the call, fully intending to move my foam roll and hand weights to their designated storage spots, but I just don’t get back to it.
If it’s a choice between leaving my weights on the floor as cat toys and possible stubbed toe attractions or handling a problem in escrow, I tackle the latter.
Apart from answering my phone and working on my computer, at least I don’t have any pressing appointments this weekend that will take me away from the house. I have a lockbox to retrieve from a closing, but that can wait a few days. They say the important thing is to keep the foot elevated, make sure it’s not black-and-blue, swollen or has bones sticking through the skin and, as a safety precaution, tape the toes together.
An alternative is to sit for hours and hours in emergency care at the hospital, and I’d rather poke my eyes out than go there. Stubbed toe pain is incredibly painful but it’s not so bad if you don’t move the toe. I’ll just wait until Monday and get an appointment with my doctor for an X-ray. I can work that appointment around my listing appointment in West Sacramento, because I’m not leaving my seller hanging. She needs to go on the market, and it’s not like I can’t walk.
OK, maybe there is a slight resemblance to Igor.
When it comes to Sacramento real estate, look no further than Elizabeth Weintraub Broker and JaCi Wallace of Re/Max. You can call us at 916.233.6759.
The Housewives of Homes in West Sacramento
The names and places in this story have been changed to protect the innocent, and it did not really happen in an HOA like The Rivers at West Sacramento, but that’s as good as place as any to depict the true events. Because it could have happened there, even though it didn’t. If you’ve ever lived in a community with restrictions and come into contact with unreasonable homeowners who have chiseled the 10 commandments of the HOA onto their dining room wall, you’ll probably recognize some of the emotional content.
There I was, sitting in a chair on rollers at the nail salon in Land Park, drying my manicure at the station under fans and purple blacklights. My bluetooth jangled and I carefully reached up with one wet finger to depress the button and greet the caller. I barely got my name out before the woman on the other end of the phone began screeching the address of one of my listings, let’s say it’s in the West Sacramento gated community, The Rivers, but it’s not. I have a couple listings there, but this is not either.
My first reaction was to tell her the home is in escrow, which it was. Sometimes I don’t admit that fact that right away, especially if it’s a buyer calling to inquire about a property, because if the home is pending I might have another home that would work or be able to locate another like it. I don’t want potential buyers to hang up without talking with me a little bit so I can get better acquainted with their needs and perhaps help. But this woman was not one of those. I could tell by the way she screeched and the hostility in her voice. She was definitely on the rampage.
Well, she announced that she didn’t give a rat’s patootie that the home was in escrow. She lived behind my listing in West Sacramento and was calling about the #*#%(@! camellia trees in the back yard. The woman who was sitting next to me edged a bit further away because I imagine she could hear my caller screeching and probably thought somebody was dying. What was wrong with the camellia trees? Usually irate neighbors call to yell about camellia flowers falling in their yards because maybe they think the real estate agents should be standing in the back yard holding out nets to catch errant tree waste before it blows over the fence.
After much hoopla, her problem seemed to be that her gardener proposed that perhaps my seller’s camellia tree roots were invading the yard and interfering with the neighbor’s sprinkler system. One of her sprinkler heads broke and she immediately pointed her well manicured finger at her neighbor. Not only that, she hissed, but she called The Rivers and the HOA told her that camellias are not allowed under association rules. So, Miss, what are YOU gonna do about THAT? I can stop your closing of escrow.
She doesn’t possess that power. I let her know I would contact the seller and asked if the number she was calling me from was the best number for the seller to reach her. This released even more rage. What? She thought I was the seller. Wow. But I was not the seller; I was just the West Sacramento real estate agent. No, she spit, the number on my phone is NOT the number the seller should use. The seller should call her cellphone. I asked if she could please call me back and leave her cellphone number on my voicemail, explaining that I could not write it down at the moment.
More yelling.
Was I on Candid Camera? I glanced around the salon.
Listen, seriously, I pleaded, I am at a nail salon with my wet nails under a dryer, and I cannot write down your cellphone number; I’m sorry.
Well I am in my kitchen drinking coffee, she retorted, and I’m just as busy as you are!
What is this, Housewives of West Sacramento? She promised to call me back in 15 minutes but did not. It’s too bad you can’t physically slam down a cellphone or she would have done it. People. Sometimes they are their own worst enemy.
If Financing Options are Not FHA Nor VA
A few of my Sacramento home sellers have elected not to advertise their homes as available for sale with FHA nor VA terms. In other words, they want a cash or conventional offer. Apparently, this either sounds like a foreign concept to some or they just don’t care and will submit an FHA offer anyway, hoping the seller will change her mind.
After watching a few sellers lately reject FHA offers in hopes of a conventional or cash offer, I thought that it might be better to be completely upfront about the fact that some sellers don’t want FHA or VA. There is no point in listing a home for sale in Sacramento with FHA or VA terms if the seller plans to reject those offers in favor of conventional or cash. Because odds are in the seller’s favor, especially in this Sacramento seller’s market, that she will receive a conventional or cash offer. It seems the fairest and most effective way to honestly advertise a home is to eliminate those types of financing options from MLS when the seller doesn’t want to accept those types of offers. We don’t want to mislead a Sacramento REALTOR.
I realize some agents believe that agents routinely fail to note FHA or VA as financing options in MLS when they really meant to do so. This means that agents think other agents make mistakes. Sometimes, they do. But the odds still exist that when FHA and VA is not noted, then it is not available for that property.
I’ve had buyer’s agents call and try to talk me into accepting an FHA offer. They are relentless. They will write emails, too, and go into great detail all about the strengths of their buyer’s FHA offer, explaining what their buyer is willing to do in the event there are funding conditions, and they won’t take no for an answer when the answer is no.
I feel like saying: Read my lips. No, the answer is no. No FHA and no VA and no exceptions. I realize the market is tough for buyers, and that’s why I believe it is more important now than ever to accurately advertise a home and to not mislead buyers into thinking they have a chance to buy that home if they do not. I am not obligated to explain my seller’s reasoning when the answer is no. It’s just no. Accept it.
If you need a Sacramento real estate agent, call Elizabeth Weintraub, Broker, #00697006, with JaCi Wallace at RE/MAX #00773532 at 916.233.6759.
Are All of Your Phone Numbers Registered on the Do Not Call List?
Do you know if all of your phone numbers are registered on the Do Not Call list? Bet you do not.
Talking on the phone is such an antiquated thing, though.
Yet, that doesn’t stop people from calling and leaving messages. Often, it’s spammers, advertisers and other types of people I don’t want to talk to. This is why I have my phone number registered at the Do Not Call List. I discovered something a few days ago that didn’t initially dawn on me. I run campaigns on Zillow. When I get calls from Zillow, for example, my phone notifies me the caller is from Zillow. That’s because Zillow uses tracking phone numbers.
I get a lot of calls from Zillow, especially, that are telemarketers. Makes me wonder if Zillow is selling their list of real estate agents who advertise or if callers comb Zillow for those phone numbers. The only way to stop some of those calls is to register the tracking phone numbers on the Do Not Call List. And then report the callers. So, if you have other phone numbers out there, make sure you register them on the Do Not Call List. You can register 3 numbers at a time. If your phone number is on the Do Not Call Registry for 31 days, you can file a complain.
Funny how we readily adapt to technology. With a bluetooth device stuck in my ear, I rarely look at my phone anymore when it rings. That’s because my bluetooth device tells me who is calling. However, if I am on the phone already when a call comes in, generally that phone call goes to my voice mail. The problem that I have — and I realize this is probably an isolated situation for most people — is I don’t always remember to check my voice mail. I’m so busy I often forget my phone even rang. There is nothing that nags me to check voice mail unless I actually touch my phone, turn it on and look at it.
Further, the problem with talking to my phone is it doesn’t always understand me. It types weird crap. If you’ve ever received a profane message from me, it’s because my phone did it, not me. Honest. You won’t believe some of the messages it types and to which I accidentally hit send. My assistant has to decipher what I really meant to say. I encourage her to speak the words out loud because that might give her a clue. My text messages go out in code. There or is actually therefore. Who says therefore? I guess I do.
Voice mail is no longer time efficient for me. To retrieve messages from voice mail means I have to first listen to the message. Some callers are pretty long winded. Then I have to write down the phone number, because not everybody calls from the phone number they ask I call, so I can’t just call the number that called me by pressing “call back.” If I’m driving, that’s a problem. Then, when I call the person, there is no answer half the time.
Call Elizabeth Weintraub, Broker, #00697006 with JaCi Wallace at RE/MAX #00773532 at 916.233.6759. We answer the phone.
