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August Real Estate Sales
August real estate sales in Sacramento have been brisk. We are looking forward to seeing the August numbers. It has been quite a month. There are some clients that have been amazing to work with and just a lot of fun. Sometimes we are talking to clients at midnight, yes whatever it takes is our motto. We provide service, plus.
Yesterday, our assistant Adina, was working in Oak Park assisting with facilitating an alarm install on our new listing. Our gardener has been there cleaning the exterior up. Luckily, Adina has a neighbor who is a welder. The welder went over and fixed the iron bars on the gates to slow the break-ins. The bars had been bent back creating a large enough space to squeeze through.
Adina lives in Hollywood Park close to Oak Park, so she goes by every day to check the properties. Our handyman is going there this week to start the repairs. The sellers had experienced a few break-ins and the burglars damaged the interior. We have vendors for everything. Our specialty is preparing a home for the market no matter what condition.
This August we have been very busy getting properties on the market. In addition, we have several new listing opportunites we are working on. The temperatures have been soaring in Sacramento, so hot outside. High temps are sometimes tough to deal with especially if the AC isn’t working.
These same hot temperatures have some positive outcomes such as super sweet watermelons. The fruits are fabulous right now. Looking at the featured photo above, it really brought this August real estate blog, to life. The teal color and the watermelon were a picture-perfect choice for August. There are only 4 more days and we head into September.
If you want to buy or sell real estate please call Weintraub & Wallace Realtors with RE/MAX Gold. We can be reached at 916-233-6759.
— JaCi Wallace
Making Repairs that Payoff When Selling
Here is another interesting article written by Elizabeth Weintraub for another website, which I hope you will enjoy:
A seller who is putting his home on the market next week needed to get his home in shape to sell, but he had a few marks on his kitchen wall that required repair. He had tried to match the wall color in the kitchen, but could not find a good match. As a result, he ended up with two big splotches of brownish shades on his brown wall. He wanted to leave it that way. He was tired of making repairs and spending money to fix up his home before selling it.
Even though I explained to him that a buyer who is handing over more than a half-million dollars for his home will want it turnkey and ready to move into, the seller was adamant that he was not going to repaint the kitchen.
As a compromise, he is painting one wall a darker shade of brown. Because in a buyer’s market, if a buyer can easily spot defects in a home, the buyer is likely to pass it by in favor of a home that needs no work. Buyers are looking for reasons to eliminate homes from their home buying lists.
Read more about Repairs Before Selling.
For guidance on repairs that pay off, you can call us to give you guidance. Call Weintraub & Wallace Realtors with RE/MAX Gold. We can be reached at 916-233-6759.
— Elizabeth Weintraub
Zillow Listing Tool, Love It or Leave It
Zillow listing tool, love it or leave it? Love it or leave it is a TV show on whether to fix up your property and keep it or fix it up to sell and leave it. When looking to “leave it” you might be looking at homes to purchase as well as looking into what is the current value of your home is once fully remodeled?
The question here is when remodeling your home can Zillow’s artificial intelligence give you an accurate value on your fully remodeled home? The answer, probably not yet, but maybe someday. An automated value, the Market Analysis Zillow does is based on averages and mean values per a Sacramento appraiser. Remember the mean formulas from college statistics course? I took that course at Sac City College a long time ago, lol.
I read a blog yesterday about some interesting stats. When Zillow says it is only 5% off of the value they are referencing “the mean” that 5% off stat if correct, is approximately only right half of the time. The error rate could be closer to about 8%. That could be significant. $400,000 at 8% could be about $32,000.
No one is arguing Zillow is very user-friendly and the site has great information about schools and shopping, demographics of an area. Buyers go there, even when we put them on MLS direct searches. If agents want to receive leads, then Zillow may be a good way to go. Buyers often think Zillow is the MLS. They don’t understand that MLS is always the source of the listings for sale, these other sites simply download the MLS data.
For sellers, we recommend you always obtain a Market Analysis for your home. One subdivision to another can vary greatly in values. If you are still concerned about your home value, you can always hire a licensed appraiser. This will cost about $400-$600. You can obtain an independent valuation from a hyper-local appraiser, who knows your area.
If you desire more accurate estimates of value on your home, just call Weintraub & Wallace Realtors with RE/MAX Gold. We can be reached by cell at 916- 233-6759.
— JaCi Wallace
Tuesday, Time To Celebrate If Buyers Sign Docs?
Tuesday, time to celebrate If buyers sign docs? Whoa, slow down. So buyers signing loan documents to purchase a home and closing are two different things. Of course, many times closing escrow happens more often than not.
Ok, so what can happen to stop the recording and hold up a close of escrow? The buyer does a walkthrough of the property they are buying and guess what? If a property is a mess and the seller has removed items they were supposed to leave such as washer dryer and refrigerator, it may not close. This is just one scenario. A buyer only has to call escrow and say do not record and the entire process comes to a dead stop.
The moral of this story is to save the beers or diet soda toasts for when the escrow has officially closed. It is never over until it is over, is my favorite saying in coaching a Sacramento seller to set realistic expectations.
If you want to close escrow hire agents that ensure a seller will do what they promised to do. Just hire Weintraub & Wallace Realtors with RE/MAX Gold as we close our escrows when a buyer signs. When is it time to celebrate? When your funds are available to you in your account, this is is when we celebrate. Our Sellers understand the process and they want to cooperate and close, so call us today at 916-233-6759.
— JaCi Wallace
After Your Listing Expires
After your Listing expires, is a great article previously written by Elizabeth for another website. This situation described below happens all the time to agents when they expire out or cancel a listing to obtain a new MLS #. Why pull a new MLS #? By design to freshen up a listing with a price reduction, it sells homes. Enjoy, as it is a good read.
— JaCi Wallace
When a listing expires, all of a sudden, sellers start to hear from real estate agents. They will receive letters in the mail, telephone calls and a few aggressive agents may even show up on the doorstep, ringing the bell. All this activity might make a seller think, “Hey, my property is really hot!” But you might be better off looking in the mirror to find the reason your listing expired.
Because the first question a good real estate agent is going to ask is why are you selling? They want to find out your motivation. It’s not idle curiosity that makes an agent ask. Agents want to know your reasons to sell to determine whether you are truly a seller or a pretend “wannabe” seller. Since agents are paid on commissions, it doesn’t make much sense to work with a seller who doesn’t really want to sell.
If your motivation is in check, then there are six other factors to consider after your listing expires. We can explain and help.
Call Weintraub and Wallace with RE/MAX Gold, if your listing has expired and you want to relist. If you need real estate assistance, we are always here to help. Call Weintraub & Wallace Realtors at 916-233-6759.
Elizabeth Weintraub
Weintraub & Wallace
