Free House in Tahoe Park and $375,500 for Two Cats

These cuddly kittens can help you get through buying a house in Tahoe Park.

This is a true story about a free house in Tahoe Park and $375,500 for the two cats who live there. I had to battle to obtain this listing because this seller had 3 referrals to 3 different Sacramento Realtors. People presume because I’ve been in the business for more than 40 years that it’s always a cakewalk for me, easy to get listings, and I’m telling you it’s not. I make listing presentations just like anybody else in Sacramento real estate. I don’t use formulas, prepared sales pitches or anything like that. I just talk to sellers, share my knowledge and tell them what I will do.

When the seller selected me, I was ecstatic. You never lose that feeling of excitement no matter how long you have been in real estate. Plus, I really loved her house in Tahoe Park. Experienced Realtors, in touch with how a home feels, can pretty much tell within minutes of entering a home whether it will be a likely candidate for multiple offers. Not every home fits that bill. This home had a few things that were drawbacks, too, like no remodeled kitchen, no central air conditioning, no master suite, but it had plenty of other features I could work with.

We talked about the price of the house in Tahoe Park. My elderly seller had done her research and was willing to sell for much less than my recommended price of $369,000. I felt we were pushing the envelope at $369,000 but that’s my job. To get the seller a top selling price. She also showed me her two kitties for adoption in Tahoe Park. Where she was moving, into assisted living, she couldn’t take them, and this was a sudden, unexpected move. Broke my heart when she said she was taking them to the Sacramento Animal Shelter. In fact, she had gone to the Animal Shelter that morning but by sheer luck it was closed.

The cats lived in the sunroom in the back yard. They are indoor cats. When the listing hit MLS, an inspiration hit me. I asked the seller if she would mind if I told agents that we would give priority to purchase offers from buyers who agreed to adopt the kitties. She was all in. Thought it was an excellent idea. If the kitties had thumbs, they woulda been raised. We received three offers for this house in Tahoe Park.

One buyer’s agent appeared very upset, however, and demanded to know how could we say that offers to adopt the kitties received priority! That was ludicrous. The agent complained to her broker. Came back to announce that neither her broker nor any of the other real estate agents in her office had ever heard of such a thing — making the adoption of the cats part of the purchase offer — and her buyer adamantly refused to participate in such a wild-haired scheme. So, there!

People. What are ya gonna do?

The other two purchase offers both contained provisions to adopt the kitties. One set of home buyers offered to build a catio for the kitties. They wrote a very sweet letter. The seller read all of the offers, all of the letters, thought about it overnight and chose the right buyers for this house in Tahoe Park. The winning buyers paid $375,500 for those two kitties and got a free house in Tahoe Park. We closed escrow this week.

It doesn’t get any better than that! This is why I sell Sacramento real estate.