Carmichael Realtors CMA $100,000 Less Than Market Value for Carmichael Home

Four curved windows from a church adorn the living room at 6527 Grant Av.

When these sellers called to ask whether I would prepare a Carmichael Realtors CMA of their home, they were very upfront that they were interviewing other agents. They asked me if I knew one of the agents, said they see this agent’s signs up and down the road, but I didn’t. All together, I figure they talked with at least 3 other area specialists who primarily sell only in Carmichael. I sell a lot of homes in Carmichael, but I don’t focus all of my energies in Carmichael. I sell in a four-county area, which means I have to carefully scrutinize each aspect of every single sale to stay right on the mark.

I don’t worry too much about other agents or what they do. They have their way of doing things and, over the past 43 years, I have developed my own techniques. Since my focus is listings, and that’s what I do for a living, I have refined my listings to an art, combined with science. Imagine doing the same sort of job every single day, you get pretty darned good at it. I don’t work with buyers, which makes me a true seller’s specialist. You don’t find very many seller’s specialists whose practice is limited to sellers in Sacramento.

When I first looked at the specs for the home and drew up my first Carmichael Realtors CMA, it was based solely on square footage and about the same value that Zillow gave to this home on Carmichael Creek, around $620K. But when I toured the home in person, absorbed its energy into my skin, stroked the antique fixtures, purred over the extensive remodeled work, it was clear that this home was worth more than the estimate provided by Zillow. Zillow is generally way off in one direction or the other. It also required a custom Carmichael Realtors CMA and not a cookie-cutter estimate.

In MLS, I poured over every home at similar square footage that had been remodeled in such a contemporary manner in Sacramento over the past 18 months. I scoured the sold comparable sales. Studied the photographs. And when I emerged from my Carmichael Realtors CMA, I put that estimate at $750,000. My sellers’ jaws dropped at the kitchen table. They could not believe it.

This is when I learned that all of the other agents they had interviewed for the job had given them an estimate around $650K. This did not fare well for me, I was thinking. Now I looked like a square peg in a round hole. There is a definite advantage in appearing like others and not the maverick that I am. But I was certain I was correct. I explained why, and assured them I was absolutely not throwing out a huge number simply to gain their trust and ultimately the listing.

Some agents operate that way, but I do not. I justified my numbers. I felt like during the time we were preparing the home for sale and shooting the photographs, including an aerial video, that the sellers were secretly wondering whether it was possible maybe a buyer would disagree. However, turned out I was 100% correct. We went pending within 4 days on market at my suggested price of $750K. The buyer’s appraisal also supported this value. The sale closed yesterday.

So I think the lesson here is to be careful whom you hire as your Realtor. Don’t just take any old agent’s word for your estimate of value. Ask how it was derived. Understand the calculations. Otherwise, you could be like these sellers. If they hadn’t called Elizabeth Weintraub, they would have lost more than $100,000 of hard-earned equity. If this isn’t scary, I don’t know what is.