Have Sacramento Short Sales Dragged Down the Market?

People think that short sales are dragging down the economy in Sacramento and messing up neighborhoods, yet little is further from actuality. Sacramento short sales are turning around neighborhoods and revitalizing entire pockets of homes that have been drowning underwater for years and years. In some areas, especially among neglected, board-up homes, a short sale is a chance for that home to live again, to bring life to itself and make a welcoming home that will begin to build memories for some lucky first-time home buyer.

I am on the tougher end of the rope, the more difficult side of the transaction, because I work on hundreds of Sacramento short sales. I’ve heard it rumored that some real estate agents have pointed to me and scoffed to their clients, saying I can’t sell traditional homes, although it’s not true because I do. I sell a lot of traditional homes with equity in the four-county area. They seem to believe, whether it’s through spite, green-eyes or ignorance, that an agent who is very successful at selling Sacramento short sales should never sell a regular home, and that’s pretty insane. Just because they can’t do two things doesn’t mean they should point fingers at those of us who can do more than one thing. Besides, before short sales, I sold traditional homes for decades, and I still do.

A Sacramento Business Journal article quoted me last week as saying that selling a short sale is like selling 5 homes in one. And that is true. If I can sell a short sale, by George, I can certainly sell any seller’s home with equity. A short sale is 5 times the work, and much more complicated. Selling a home with equity is an activity I can almost do blindfolded. Trained monkeys can sell a home with equity in Sacramento in a seller’s market, with buyers camping out in your yard. But an experienced Sacramento real estate agent is the person who bring you the most money and the smoothest transaction, and that’s what every seller wants.

I spotted a new home listing this morning come on the market in Carmichael. It’s a home I sold for $100,000 a year ago as a short sale. It’s also a home that took me 12 months to sell. I listed it in May of 2011 and it did not actually sell and close until May 2012. Well, it sold a bunch of times, and buyers flaked out. That helped me to get the bottom line from the bank, though, and I told every buyer who called the home could be theirs for $100,000. I had buyers who walked away completely and then came back crying, others who walked when we wouldn’t take their offer of $98,000. You ask yourself: What is wrong with people? Why do they let their egos get in the way?

I can’t count the number of offers we received that were between $90,000 and $99,000 but these guys just refused to inch over and join us at the winning $100K offer price. It wasn’t a secret. They knew they had to pay $100K, they just wouldn’t do it. They walked away due to a $2,000 or a $5,000 difference. Doh, doh, double-doh. But persistence prevailed, I don’t give up, no matter what, and it did sell at $100,000.

This particular home just came back on the market at $229,900. And you know what? That’s a good price. Those sellers will get it. I just wish I had this end of the listing, too, where the living is easy.