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Why Agents Can Not Fill Out Real Estate Disclosures For Sellers
Real estate agents are not allowed to complete seller real estate disclosures.
Even in today’s world I still need to explain why I cannot complete the California real estate disclosures for my clients. Because they don’t know the reason. In fact, some Sacramento Realtors don’t know, either. Not everybody knows that when I was first licensed by the state of California to sell real estate in the 1970s, I had also enrolled in law school. I am intrigued by law still; it’s fascinating. Although accepted into law school, I did not go. As I sat in the conference room filling out my paperwork, a law student stopped by, poked in his head and hissed, “Don’t do it.”
True story. Although that wasn’t the reason I decided against a second career in law. Basically, I couldn’t live on the salary of a lawyer, and that plan was simply to supplement my real estate income by doing legal things for my real estate clients like divorces, wills and estate planning. Turned out I didn’t need supplementation, so I dropped out. But it doesn’t mean I don’t have respect for the profession because I do. I pay attention to the new lawsuits that pop up in real estate, and many cases focus on real estate disclosures. A properly prepared real estate disclosure can be the catalyst for a dismissal.
I am also cognizant of the fact that I am not a lawyer. Nope, didn’t finish law school, didn’t get a law degree and I am not licensed to practice law. Completing real estate disclosures is not a real estate function of a Sacramento Realtor. Can’t so much as touch my pen to that paper. Even when I am tempted to speed things up or make the process easier for all of us. And an agent can be tempted when she is working with an elderly client who might have difficulty reading or writing or maybe struggles with DocuSign.
It is why I invested 2 hours yesterday to verbally “walk” a client, question by question, through completing the forms over the phone. This client recently sold a home in the Bay area. His Bay area agent had filled out the disclosures for him, he insisted (which probably did happen, not all agents are on the ball). Well, if anything, this client will remember that this Sacramento listing agent did not, LOL. Although, I spent several hours explaining what the questions were, why he needed to answer them, and we discussed each question over the phone. I am hopeful he has a sense of relief now that he has completed his real estate disclosures. It is his house. He is the individual who needs to disclose.
This will probably be a seller who will never get sued. Lots of sellers are never served with a summons, even in our litigation-prone world of real estate in California. Non-disclosure or inappropriate real estate disclosures are often the source. If you eliminate that from the equation, odds are in a seller’s favor. This does not mean that I can assist another seller through his own set of real estate disclosures if I do not represent that seller. THAT, I’m afraid, would be practicing law.
About Being a Sacramento REALTOR First
This Sacramento Realtor receives a lot of unsolicited mail at the office.
Because I write a daily Sacramento real estate blog, which often contains consumer awareness information, exposes criminal wrong doings, real estate scams and the slippery slope of masked intentions behind the ways some companies try to take advantage of Realtors, I seem to have built a fan base across the country as a compassionate Sacramento REALTOR who leads a double life as a consumer advocate. This means people send unsolicited letters and packages through the U.S. mail to my office, sometimes anonymously, like I’m going to take issue with other evil doings and write about it.
First and foremost, my job in Sacramento is that of a Sacramento REALTOR. I list homes and sell those homes, and my Elizabeth Weintraub team member agents show homes. We hold open houses. We network with other California agents, employ extensive marketing, hire at our expense professional photographers, consistently create new techniques to sell Sacramento real estate and, well, the list goes on and on. The point is I am a Sacramento REALTOR first. A writer second. And, although I am paid to write content about homebuying for About.com, that is not my primary occupation and my writing is not pro bono work.
Some of the stuff I receive in the mail is interesting but that’s about as far as it goes. To write about any of it, I would need to be fair, to call the offender to report that side of the situation and, frankly, I’m not about to do it. So please stop mailing me stuff, well, unless it’s Kistler chardonnay. I will accept any free contributions of Kistler Vineyards chardonnay to our wine collection that anybody would like to send for nothing in return.
Besides, I have enough of my own crazy stuff to discuss. Like next month I plan to write about a wild scheme I discovered going on right here in my own back yard, perpetrated by one of those individual brokerages; like if I’m gonna find a problem with an agent, that might be the place to look, at the guys who are unsupervised, versus the larger brokerages, which routinely update agents about real estate law and procedures. If you think I am unfairly pointing to the one or two-person operations as problematic, I can tell you I used to work in those ranks, so I know first hand. Further, full disclosure, not every single mom-and-pop shop is that way.
When I started in real estate in the 1970s — yes, that’s not a typo — I worked for almost 9 years at my own company, which I immediately bought after obtaining my own broker’s license from the broker, an electrician by trade, IIRC. I erroneously believed that holding a real estate broker’s license meant I could do just about anything my mind could conceive. That real estate practice, looking back, often bordered on practicing law. I’m lucky I emerged a better agent from that period, to say nothing of the fashion, egads, those shoulder pads and hairstyles . . .
The Best Day to Write an Offer on a Home in Sacramento
Presenting an offer on a home in Sacramento on Sunday might increase chances of acceptance.
Looking for the best day to write an offer on a home in Sacramento? It occurred to me this morning that I have not yet purchased airline tickets to Portugal and Spain for our fall vacation — because the best fares for international travel are typically 150 days to 225 days prior — which naturally made me start thinking about the best day to write an offer on a home in Sacramento. I usually prefer to postpone reservations for connecting flights because the airlines tend to alter a few weeks prior and it’s a fight to get back your original schedule. Sacramento is unfortunately a lousy origin for connecting flights, too, but regardless, I need to get cranking on those reservations now.
Timing is often crucial and knowing the right time can increase your benefits.
Of course, we all know the best day to go on the market in Sacramento, at least from a top listing agent’s point of view, and that day is Thursday at midnight. The best day to buy a home in always, hands down, right around Christmas time. The worst day to close on a home is the Friday before Memorial Day Weekend, primarily because everybody and their uncle is closing on that day so the chances of screw-ups are increased, plus buyers often pay a premium to movers then due to high demand. But when is the best day to write an offer on a home in Sacramento?
I propose that day is Sunday afternoon. For starters, many agents don’t work on Sundays, often for religious reasons some of which involve the adoration of rolling green hills and tiny little white balls, others go out of town, which means fewer offers and less competition in our hot seller’s market in Sacramento. The open house is most likely finished, and even if a buyer came through that open house and intended to buy the home, that buyer probably wants to sleep on it — the old snooze you lose scenario.
Further, the seller is most likely relaxed. Phones are probably not ringing, bosses aren’t demanding deadlines, kids aren’t screaming for dinner, it’s just a nice quiet Sunday afternoon — which in reality can be sort of a depressing time for some people. Especially for single people, I hear. Not in a Kris Kristofferson Sunday Morning Coming Down kinda way but just alone, isolated. A buyer could definitely brighten that type of seller’s afternoon by choosing Sunday as the best day to write an offer on a home in Sacramento! Imagine the elevated mood.
I know when I call sellers on a Saturday, for example, to discuss purchase offers, some home sellers might say they can’t talk because they’re working. What a coincidence. So am I, I might add. Yet, when I call on a Sunday afternoon, sellers are generally much more receptive to long discussions about the pros and cons of an offer and they tend to work with the offer. Especially if there have been no other offers during the open house.
Now that I stop to ponder, I put more listings into contract on a Sunday than any other day, so I’m fairly confident that Sunday could be the best day to write an offer on a home in Sacramento. What do you think?
Tips for Sacramento Realtors Who Meet With the Appraiser
Sacramento Realtors who meet with the appraiser are often disillusioned.
It only gets better from here on out, so here goes my first tip for Sacramento Realtors who meet with the appraiser: DON’T. The appraiser does not want to meet with the listing agent and most certainly is not interested in the buyer’s agent’s opinion about world politics, either. The appraiser is at the home to do a job that is best done without a yakking agent bending her or his ear. They’re just too polite to say it.
This is not to say that appraisers don’t appreciate information about the home that might not be evident from the tax rolls, MLS description or physical inspection because they do. If an agent or seller has access to crucial data that would make a difference in the appraisal, that information can be emailed to the appraiser or discussed over the phone. It won’t help to increase chances of a higher appraisal to deliver that document in person. I often engage in lengthy phone conversations with appraisers to ascertain their expertise in a given neighborhood and lend my advice but I would not show up on the front steps, back against the front door, arms splayed, to force a discussion.
Now, when I was younger and selling real estate in Orange County in the 1970s, I used to believe the hoopla and myth that it made sense to meet the appraiser. But those bellbottom-and-incense days are long gone and did not involve the appraisals laws we have today. Although I did spot bellbottoms with a twist, skinny thighs, at Nordstrom this spring. I won’t go so far as to say triple martinis and 3-hour lunches were not the norm or that some appraisers were crooked or on the take, but stuff was more relaxed during the Nixon-Ford-Carter era, let’s say. Yet, especially in Sacramento today, Sacramento Realtors who meet with the appraiser are often very disappointed that exuding their incredible charm, and that hand shaking, eyeballing and flitting about does not influence the appraisal value.
To give you an idea about how misled some agents are, there are buyer’s agents in Sacramento who believe it’s a good idea to send over to the listing agent the comparable sales, as they see it, along with a purchase offer. They have no clue how insulting they are, and what a bad impression they make. These are the guys who live in their own little fantasy drama where the world revolves around them and them only. The additional problem is they probably convinced their poor buyer to offer a price that won’t get them into escrow. And there’s often no changing those dual errors.
In real estate, there is stuff you hear that if it’s repeated enough times you might begin to believe. Then, there is the real world. The real world says Sacramento Realtors who meet with the appraiser are often wasting their time and, in fact, knowing some of them, they could be hurting their chances. Treating appraisers with respect is a much better path to follow. Allow the appraisers do their jobs in peace. Don’t invite trouble where trouble does not exist.
When Sacramento Home Buyers Get the Keys
When Sacramento home buyers get the keys is often a different day than signing.
Have you ever wondered when Sacramento home buyers get the keys? Precisely what constitutes recording? What is the shortest escrow period you can possibly have as a buyer? Can you give escrow a cashier’s check and close on the same day? Even many Sacramento real estate agents do not know all the answers to these types of questions because many have never worked in title or escrow. They don’t know how closing works.
Escrow is handled differently in northern California vs. southern California. This is one reason why some Sacramento agents dislike selling foreclosures when the escrow is handled in southern California. Not knowing local custom can mess up closings. Docs can be delayed too because we don’t have drones (yet) and must depend on FedX.
Buyers sometimes automatically assume that closing escrow is like buying a car. You hand over the check, sign the paperwork and you get the keys, right? But no. That’s not how it works when you’re buying a home. When home buyers get the keys depends on the official day of closing escrow. The official day of closing is always the day it records at the County Recorder’s office.
Signing loan documents is generally only the beginning of closing. There is an unusual situation called Table Funding that will allow signing documents and closing on the same day, but that is rare. I can’t even recall the last time I closed an escrow through Table Funding, and I close on average a couple of escrows a week.
Generally speaking, first you sign loan documents, then the documents are returned to the lender for a 24-hour to 72-hour review. Some lenders are faster than others. Ask your agent about this upfront when you’re choosing a lender, and not when you’re wondering when Sacramento home buyers get the keys toward the end. After review, the lender sends the title and loan documents to escrow for recording, followed by funding. As long as the cut-off time for receiving the funds is not after the last recording time for the county, the escrow can close that day, otherwise it will rollover to the following day.
Sacramento County, for example, is different than El Dorado County. You may experience delays in El Dorado County.
Home buyers cannot give escrow a cashier’s check on the same day of recordation. The check needs to clear the bank. Escrow will also not accept cash. Wire transfers can be delayed. Just to be safe, deposit your negotiable funds the day prior to recording. Then, after your agent receives confirmation from the title company that your documents have recorded, and it’s in line with the time of possession in your purchase contract, that’s when Sacramento home buyers get the keys.
