Couple of Weeks Ago This Sacramento Top Producer Had Zero Listings

Yes, do you believe that a couple of weeks back, this Sacramento top producer had zero listings in active status? Could not recall a time when I had no active listings because all of my listings had sold. Usually it goes in cycles. But I always seem to have at least a handful of listings in active status, so it was strange to look at MLS and see everything pending. There was a big push in Sacramento right after the Fourth of July, and a bunch of homes went under contract. But going under contract and closing are not always synonymous with each other.

Which brings me to today as I have 6 listings. You might see only four because two listings are going live in MLS this week. But I see six. I listed 2 more homes last week and two homes this week. The missing two homes are back-on-market listings. Released by potential home buyers who didn’t really want to buy, regardless of their initial intent. One property was re-listed to reset the days on market. The other wasn’t on the market long enough to accumulate much time.

Usually this time of year things begin to heat up for this Sacramento top producer. Because we’re getting close to Labor Day. Right after Labor Day, we enter our fall real estate market in Sacramento. This market lasts until just before Thanksgiving. That’s not say that November and December cannot be busy months because they can. We sell real estate year-round in Sacramento.

But August is a tricky month. Families often go on vacation. Get ready for back to school. Preoccupied. And it’s generally quite hot. I read that since 1941, every day in the months of June, July and August has had a 100-degree day. In fact, when I first came to Sacramento, it was in August of 2002. Bloody hot and miserable, what kind of people live in this extreme heat, I wondered? Yet, here I am 16 years later, and to my amazement, a Sacramento top producer.

Now, I’ve had years in the 1970s / 1980s when the month of August has been my very best month for real estate sales but lately it’s a bit quieter. Some of this could be due to the wildfires in California, with the Mendocino fire being the worst ever in the state. It’s super smokey and hazy in Sacramento. You can smell the smoke when you go outside. Plus our market is beginning to transition to a different cycle. Shifting markets often adds a bit of confusion.

Still, going from zero listings to 6 active listings over the course of a couple of weeks presents a new challenge. That challenge is how to slip them into escrow while maximizing seller profit, which is always my game plan. Because I’ve given up trying to get 3 cats to pose together on my desk.