What Sacramento Listing Agents Know for Certain

Sacramento listing agents often joke that all we have to do is go out of town for the weekend to get offers rolling in, and this last weekend trip from Sacramento to see Aimee Mann was no exception. I managed to put another two transactions into escrow for Monday morning. It’s always a good way to start the week. It seems to complete the circle of life of Sacramento real estate, meaning new escrows on Monday, new listings on Thursday and closings on Friday.

Lest anybody who reads this thinks that the circle of life of Sacramento real estate is an easy feat to pull off, let me be clear that this market is a lot tougher for Sacramento listing agents than previous years. It seems like there is a lot more work involved. A few years ago we might get one or two offers, take the best one, and call it a day. Today, if a seller wants market value, we might end up negotiating 5 to 7 offers over the term of 30 days or longer. The first offer doesn’t always work out.

Sacramento listing agents can’t be 100% certain that a buyer will perform no matter what we do. The listing agent can call the lender directly and interrogate but that’s no guarantee. The buyer’s agent can swear up and down that the buyer will close, but that’s no assurance, either. Half the time the agents don’t even know the buyers, they met them briefly at an open house, at the bar or maybe during “floor time” — perhaps bumped into them at the grocery store.

Then I get the buyer’s agents who want to know what my sellers will do. Heck, I don’t know. I’m not inside their head. I’m just the Sacramento listing agent who knows if the buyers sign an offer at the list price, we’ll take it. Don’t call and ask what will my sellers do because I don’t know. No other listing agent likely knows, either, if you want to know the truth.

And if we do have an inkling, we’re not allowed to tell ya.