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Developing Patience to Deal With Sacramento Real Estate
Sewing a dress doesn’t necessarily teach a person patience like Sacramento real estate does.
Somewhere along the line of getting older I managed to develop patience, most likely in the midst of believing I had no patience. I once tried to teach myself patience in my younger years, long before I became involved in Sacramento real estate. Back when I worked as a title searcher at First American Title in Boulder. My plan was to sew a dress. OK, it wasn’t bad enough that I once had run a sewing machine needle through my finger and out the other side when I was up past midnight, frantically trying to finish a stupid three-cornered scarf for my 8th grade Home Ec class, and that was the last time I ever attempted to sew a thing. But let’s just say I felt that patience was not my strong suit when it came to sewing.
If anything could teach me patience, it would probably be sewing a dress. It’s not like you can look at a swath of cloth and it will immediately materialize into a dress, unless you’re working in Photoshop. In the real world, you have to drive to a store, pick out a pattern, buy sharp scissors and that rippy-outie-thingamagig for tearing out the threads you sewed in error, plus the material. Just to cut out the pattern and pin it to the material is a major feat, then you have to carefully cut the cloth before any of the real fun begins. Lots of patience prior to final product.
Even today I still tell people that I have no patience. However, I have a lot more patience than I give myself credit for, and if you’re in the same boat, you might be the same. Oh, I remember those job interviews from 40 years ago when you were expected to come up with a negative about yourself. I could never think of anything, primarily because I don’t go around focusing on bad things about myself, so I would use patience. Yup, I’ve got no patience, I would say. I mean really, who does?
I’m discovering that wasn’t necessarily true. For one thing, I bought a new car last October and I still don’t have it. It’s a 2016 Mercedes GLA, and the sales guy said he would interrupt a vehicle scheduled for assembly, slip in my custom order and it would be ready by the time I came back from vacation in Cuba in early January. Except it’s still not on the assembly line. We also bought a house we can’t live in because it’s in Hawaii. See, new car, new house and I don’t have either.
As for that dress I tried to sew. Let’s just say it ended up in the trash can because I sewed it inside out. The real lesson is sewing doesn’t teach patience. Patience teaches one not to sew.
I am in the midst of working on a bunch of listings for Sacramento real estate. Many homes are just not ready to go on the market yet, and that’s OK. I’ve got a lot of patience to wait until they are ready. I’m in no rush. My time is the seller’s timeframe. My professional strategy is to make a splash with a new listing. Every detail in place. Patience helps me to accomplish that goal.
Even Real Estate Agents Hire Real Estate Agents
Cattleya orchids are the showiest and the type of orchid most people think of.
Even real estate agents hire real estate agents. Well, I like to say the smart ones do. The dumb ones, the doofuses who think they have to squeeze every dime out of a transaction just because the are legally entitled to, obviously don’t. And to be fair, for some of the agents, it’s not only greed that motivates them to try to represent themselves when they should not, it’s because they don’t value the experience and knowledge local Realtors bring to the table. They don’t value other Realtors because either they possess low self esteem or they wrongly believe all Realtors are the same; hence the doofus label.
You know the type of real estate agents I’m talking about. The ones who hold a license in a completely foreign locale and probably don’t much practice real estate, but by golly they have a real estate license so they expect to collect the full commission on the selling side when they do half the job of a local agent. Their poor clients don’t know any better because, hey, Uncle Bobby can dust off his California real estate, let’s hire him. Although agents who are a REALTOR® could be guilty of violating the Code of Ethics by trying to provide professional services for which they are unqualified but rarely are they prosecuted. That’s why many real estate agents hire real estate agents.
Of course, when my husband and I needed the services of an out-of-area agent in Big Island, we hired Hawaii Broker Hella Rothwell. She brings an interesting mix to the fold. Ten years in the real estate business, and she holds a broker’s license in both California and Hawaii. But she also has a lot of personal experience in Hawaii and has lived in the islands for decades. What she lacks in specific local knowledge is supplemented by determination and her commitment to finding the answer.
Most agents ask for a referral fee when they refer a client to another agent, and it crossed my mind that if I had asked Hella she probably would have reciprocated, but in reality, expecting a referral fee for referring yourself is tacky. When real estate agents hire real estate agents, they do not expect to receive a commission. Not only does Hella get all of the selling commission, but she should probably get paid extra to have to put up with me. To say I am a fairly demanding individual is like saying it rains a lot in Sacramento in the winter. She’s a lot like me in some ways. We are both not materially motivated and we don’t focus on individual financial gain in our businesses. I said thank you to Hella for her services by taking her to dinner at The Fairmont at Brown’s Beach House.
It never occurred to me that she would send me anything. A few days ago, a package arrived from FedX. She had read my blog about the orchids in Cuba. She wanted to cheer me up, especially since I had come down with a cold. Closing on our house in Hawaii had been sort of anti-climatic. It’s not like I could run over and move in. But now, every day when I enter my kitchen, I am greeted by orchids in bloom. Thanks, Hella!
Photo: Cattleya (pronounced KAT-Le-Ya) from Hella Rothwell by Sacramento Realtor Elizabeth Weintraub
How Badly Has TRID Delayed Home Sale Closings?
Every buyer getting a mortgage loan today needs to conform to TRID.
TRID is hardly the OMG everybody feared. Although mortgages have become much more complicated as time marches on. Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, I used to process mortgages as a side business for some of my real estate clients. That meant I collected the application and financing documents, prepared a quick disclosure and collected a fee. Not so anymore, and it seems so long ago that the type of process I just described is like third-grade handwriting, a thing of the past. Nope, today the entire system has been overhauled in a major upheaval in an attempt to better disclose and simplify. It’s called TRID. The new TILA RESPA Integrated Disclosures.
If you ask Dan Tharp at Guild Mortgage, he will tell you that his associate Kim Hedges coined the acronym: The Reason I Drink. I’m not so sure though that a bunch of other people didn’t all come up with it at the same time, it’s that self-explanatory and a good jingle. Maybe Kim did originate it, but I can tell you that in many ways, TRID has changed how we do business. Today, only the educated and systems-guided professionals are able to provide a streamlined process for TRID. Everybody else is left to fend for themselves. And that’s a lot of professionals.
A few weeks ago, Mortgage News Daily picked up a report from Ellie Mae that noted TRID caused the average closing time to increase to an average of 49 days, which breaks down to an average 3-day bump. My own mortgage loan in Hawaii delayed our closing by four days, and our MLO called the file a slam-dunk. So, go figure.
I’ve had several clients last December whose files were delayed, one by more than 30 days, but most of those were due to taking borrowers off title, adding borrowers to title, and general overall lender screw-ups that should have been handled way in advance of ever going into contract, but I digress. At least they closed in 2015, which was a saving grace.
Today, the best way to assure you’ll close on time according to TRID is to make sure your MLO and escrow company are in sync with each other. I hear there are some escrow and title companies who are still not on board with TRID, and a number of MLOs who don’t have the process down pat, either. You can rest assured that Daniel Tharp at Guild Mortgage has all of his ducks in a row. I never see any mistakes from him or his team.
Reasons to Validate Overpriced Listings in Sacramento
A luxury home on the water in Sacramento, by Elizabeth Weintraub.
A pile of newsletters travel through my email each week, many of which I do not open. I just look at the headlines. I send out my own newsletter every week to thousands and thousands of subscribers. About.com will not let me tell you how many subscribe to my homebuying newsletter, but it’s an astonishing number. I don’t know why people care what I have to say or why they even read it. Some send me emails that say they have no interest in real estate at all, they just want to see what I write. Which floors me.
Lately, the sentiment I see throughout the real estate industry appears centered on overpriced listings. Much of it is giving advice to sellers but mostly to their agents. This advice is do not overprice and do not take an overpriced listing. In some ways, this is very insulting, and I’m gonna tell you why.
The notion that we as real estate agents, for example, are the Know-all and Be-all in real estate is absurd. You heard me. Yes, we are real estate professionals but that doesn’t mean we know exactly how much a home should sell for. Because we don’t. We know the price that is likely to attract a potential buyer; we know how much previous buyers have paid for similar homes. We know what is in pending status and the inventory on the market now, but we do not have a crystal ball. We are also not appraisers, but that’s a whole ‘nother story.
As a listing agent, I can help a seller to choose a sales price, but I do not choose the price for them. I am a Sacramento listing agent who works at the discretion of the seller. The seller has a very high percentage stake in the sales price, more than 90%. My stake is a relatively small slice of the pie. My job is to sell the property. I market real estate to buyers. I am a salesperson. The day a listing agent forgets that is the day an agent should quit.
Agents: I say who died and made you ruler of the universe? I want to grab these people by their shoulders and shake sense into them. It is silly to proclaim to the world that you and only you know the magical list price number for a seller. You don’t. You don’t really know how much a buyer will pay until you try to get it. You don’t really know how much a home will appraise for until an appraiser appraises it.
I have sold homes in my life that never in a million years should have sold at some of the prices they sold at, according to regular comps. There are many ways to evaluate a sales price. I tend to get the price the seller expects. Because that is my job. My job is to sell real estate in Sacramento. I am very clear and focused on that job. If I believe I can sell it, I’ll take the listing.
I recently had another home in Sacramento appraise at a value that astounds the neighbors. It astounded me that a buyer was willing to purchase the home under the terms and conditions it required, including price. Not only was the buyer willing to pay that price, but the home appraised at that price. I listen to my gut instincts, but I also listen to the seller. Then I formulate a marketing plan, and I sell that home. Real estate is not a black-and-white business. It’s a moving business. Constantly in motion. Like the Everglades.
While Elizabeth is in Cuba, please enjoy this previously published elsewhere blog.
Should Agents Send Listings to Other MLS Agents?
Most Sacramento agents do not appreciate it when agents send listings.
Maybe some agents are living under a rock and do not have access to MLS? I don’t understand why some agents continually bombard me by sending spammy email flyers. Half the time there is no unsubscribe option. Isn’t that breaking some law? They think nothing of sending a listing to other agents.
Consumers, end users, need to see your flyers, not other agents.
Even if some agents are sleeping in their cars, they can still park in front of Starbucks to get free Wi-Fi. They can go to MLS. See, the thing is if I’m looking for a home like the one you have listed, Mr. Spammy Email Agent, I will find it by myself. I don’t need the email in my inbox. If I am not looking for a home like the one you have listed, I don’t need to know about it. If I don’t work in that area, I don’t care about it.
If you were to ask me about the homes in Land Park or East Sacramento and what’s on the market right now, I could tell you in a heartbeat. Because I study the market of homes in Land Park. Even if I’m not working with a particular type of buyer at the moment, I still list a lot of homes in Land Park and need to stay on top of the market. Besides, it’s where I live. Not surprisingly, I routinely receive phone calls from sellers who are represented by other agents or about to list with another agent who want to confirm with me that they are pricing their home correctly. Which means I probably know about new listings before they even come on the market.
So, please don’t spam me with your email flyers. I know the marketing company that sold you the program promised you that other agents are eager to receive your junk mail, but that’s just plain silly. Wise up. Think twice before you send your listing to other agents. Otherwise, an agent might spot your name and associate that name with a word: annoyance.
While Elizabeth is in Cuba, we revisit former blogs published elsewhere.
