Email ElizabethWhat Does it Cost Sellers to Close Escrow in Sacramento?
Before listing, most people want to know how much it will cost sellers to close escrow. That’s a pretty loaded question because the largest expense is not always the commission. The way it works is you generally get what you pay for. If you want a top producer to focus on your home and maximize the profit potential, you will pay more in a commission, but you net more than the difference paid. For example, when top producers like myself charge 6%, we also pay attention to ways to reduce closing costs. On top of trying to attract multiple offers to increase the price. If we weren’t worth it, sellers would not pay it. They see the value. I show it to them.
So, actually the commission is not the biggest expense. The biggest expense is hiring a cheap agent who doesn’t know what he or she is doing. Or falling victim to the home inspections’ scam of a bloated request for repair. This is when the buyer bids over list price and then tries to grind down the seller after inspections reveal, guess what? That the house is like every other house of its vintage and has a few defects. Inexperienced agents can’t really explain repairs to buyers, and inexperienced listing agents are no better. Many just tell the seller to pay the buyer’s demands. That’s the extent of their so-called service, but that’s also why those listing agents don’t make the big bucks. Not like this elite club of top producers who get paid more because they are worth it.
Otherwise, to figure out how much it will cost sellers to close escrow in Sacramento, a seller would also need to add back all the money the seller didn’t lose after inspections. In addition to adding the higher list price because we grabbed a buyer from the Bay Area. Those sorts of specialities performed by top producers.
But an easier way to compute how much it may cost sellers to close escrow is to take the sales price times 7% and deduct that number. Then deduct the unpaid balance of your mortgage. What’s left is your net profit, assuming you have hired a top producer to list your home. If you haven’t, you can probably deduct another 5% to 10% for inexperience. If you have hired a top listing agent, then your net profit is 93% of the sales price, less your existing mortgage balance. My wacky way produces a result within $500 or so with this off-the-cuff method.
Of course, the sellers I work with get an estimated closing statement upon demand. But if you wanted to figure this on the fly, that’s how you do it. If sellers prefer a breakdown of itemized deductions, as a former escrow officer, I can certainly explain each item.
It reminds me of selling real estate in the 1970s. Yes, I am that old. I started in real estate when I was five, LOL. With seller financing — and I was a huge proponent of seller financing / creative financing back then — I often sold homes for a mere 7% down. Because that amount covered the seller’s closing costs and commission. Sellers carried owner financing for the balance. I can even see those days coming back.
California Garage Door Openers Must Work in a Power Outage
An interesting item tucked away in the local section of the Sac Bee yesterday says California garage door openers must work in a power outage. Automatic garage door openers not operating during a power outage has spurred this effort to save lives. Apparently, during the 2017 wildfires in California, 5 people died because they could not get their garage door open after losing electrical power. This is a new law governing garage door openers sold after July 1, 2019. The new Senate Bill 969 passed the Senate 39-0 and the House 65-7. Our governor signed it into law on September 21, 2018.
Who knew? I sure didn’t hear about this. You’d think that the California Association of Realtors would have published information about this upcoming change. Well, of course, there is still time; but after a bill is signed into law, it’s kinda late to oppose or offer additional insight. The whole reason CAR exists is for political adversary.
Still, it will be a difficult law to impose because it will take a while for things to shake out. The law states a garage door opener sold after July 1, 2019 must include a backup battery. It is the backup battery that can then take over during a power outage and supply power to the garage door opener. I can see it now, nobody will test their backup batteries and they will run out of juice without anybody knowing it. However, the civil penalty is $1,000 if your brand new garage door opener does not work with a backup battery.
Sure, some people will say, hey, can’t you just yank the red cord? That disconnects the garage door opener and frees it so you can manually lift the door. Although the problem with that is some older people cannot manually lift their garage door. If there was ever a reason for seniors to hit the gym, this could be one motivator. I know the day is bound to arrive when I won’t be in a position to open a garage door without help. Unlike my broker friend Barbara Todaro in Massachusetts. She is my heroine.
Are you wondering how will this new law making garage door openers work in a power outage will affect a Sacramento Realtor? It won’t at the moment. However, next year, if a seller replaces her garage door opener after July 1, 2019, it better utilize a backup battery. Or, unless a Realtor is selling a home built after July of 2019, which could happen in our Sacramento resale market a year from next summer. This is one of those new law changes we need to be aware of and make our sellers aware.
This new California law that garage door openers must work in a power outage made me think about 1996, when my husband and I built a 24 x 24 garage. With our own two hands. One of the most enjoyable times of my life and, based on his “I hate wood” mentality, the worst for my husband. Yes, this is a photograph above of me pounding 2x4s.
Why Buyers Should Hand Pick a Sacramento Buyer’s Agent
We’ve heard all the silly reasons why buyers don’t believe they should pick a Sacramento buyer’s agent, and those are not valid reasons. Ninety-nine percent of the time, buyers are better off sticking with their own representation to buy a house in Sacramento. Because they don’t know the real estate business from the inside out. Which means they sometimes resist the concept and do not want to pick a Sacramento buyer’s agent. If they truly understood how Sacramento real estate works, they would be clamoring for an agent to assist.
Instead, they think they can go to the listing agent. Or worse, I’ve heard buyers tell agents that yes, if they buy the house, they will use the agent who showed it to them. But they don’t know why they should pick a Sacramento buyer’s agent. They’d like to use any warm body who is available to open a door. And therein lies a major mistake on the part of home buyers. In today’s world, buyers with representation get better service, better protection and better negotiation over the any-warm-body-will-do mentality. Because choosing any warm body is more likely to mess you up than to offer service. There are thousands of warm bodies who are licensed to sell real estate in Sacramento, and most of those have little to no experience.
Let’s talk about going to the listing agent. I know what buyers are thinking. Buyers wrongly believe the listing agent will be so utterly greedy that she will do whatever is necessary to double-end the transaction (earn twice the commission), even if it means breaking fiduciary. Part of me wants to ask why would a buyer want to hire an unethical greedy agent to commit this crime for them? It is a crime. It is against the law to break fiduciary. When presented with a legal way to buy a house and a way that could get you sued by working with an unethical agent at best and criminal element at worst, why? Why take that risk? Why wouldn’t you want to instead hire the best negotiator you can get?
It doesn’t cost a buyer anything to hire a Sacramento buyer’s agent. Exclusive buyer’s agents represent buyers as their sole business model. Imagine how beneficial an exclusive buyer’s agent can be with all of that specialized experience? No distractions. They only represent buyers. No sellers. Imagine that wealth of knowledge and experience?
Of course, some buyer’s agents create bad experiences for buyers, I understand that. They don’t communicate well, don’t stay on top of new listings and rarely put the buyer’s interests above their own. However, a top notch exclusive buyer’s agent, especially from the Elizabeth Weintraub Team, is always on the ball. If you’re in the market to pick a Sacramento buyer’s agent, you may as well pick one of the best. We insist on fast communication, and we will email, text or call you immediately. Our clients receive top priority in our daily activities. You will never wonder what is the next step because we are already 3 steps ahead of you.
Go ahead and give us a try. You’ll be writing a 5-star review for us when escrow closes. To get started, call top producer Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759 for your personal consultation.
The Best Colors to Paint the Interior of Your Sacramento Home
Are you wondering about the best colors to paint the interior of a house in 2018? You’ve come to the right place. Sellers choose colors that are comforting, supportive of their life style and reflective of who they are as an individual. When a Sacramento listing agent marches into the living room to announce that the seller’s choice of color will cost them hard equity when selling, sellers might not agree. And, it’s OK if they don’t agree. Perfectly fine. Nobody is forcing them to make repairs to enhance their value. If a buyer writes a lower offer because of the paint colors, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
Sellers, due to their emotional attachment to the home, don’t always see things as clearly as a Sacramento Realtor. Still, the best we can do is inform, educate, and let the sellers make the choice that best fits for them. We can’t make that decision for them.
Probably the worst color to paint any room in the house is a brilliant white. It tends to kill the space. Especially if other colors are missing in the room. The result can be bland, dead, non-exciting. Reminds me of the people in white on the HBO series, The Leftovers. My team member, exclusive buyer’s agent Amy McMullan, says: “You can paint walls gray, throw up subway tile next to a hardwood floor and you can sell that all day long to Sacramento buyers.” We know because we’re out there in the trenches.
When my parents were raising their children, they had specific ideas of colors for each room. My parents’ best colors to paint the interior were 1950’s pastel. Pink for the bath, living room was green, kitchen yellow and bedrooms brown, blue or rose. Then, the 1960s and 1970s fell into place and everything was more vibrant. Orange became wildly popular. Over the years, white faded in and out until it finally vanished about 20 years ago. Taupe or light brown, coffee and cream dominated after our horrible hunter green and mauve stage of the early 1990s.
Today, gray or greige (a grayish beige) are the colors of choice. However, light tan is still popular. If you like, you can read an article by Zillow boasting how 7 colors made certain houses fetch higher sales prices. Be aware that much of the data is more general, not local to Sacramento. When you’re wondering about the best colors to paint the interior of your house, it should be a decision based on what local buyers want. Ask your Sacramento Realtor.
Sacramento Agents Should Never Ask if a Home Buyer Has an Agent
When agents ask if a home buyer has an agent, it is the worst thing, pretty much, an agent can say. Sacramento agents inquire constantly whether a home buyer has an agent. Although, from the day an agent receives her real estate license, it is drummed into her head by trainers, brokers and managers, to qualify all potential clients. The standard way agents are taught protocol is to ask if a home buyer has an agent.
I hear agents ask this all of the time. Very common question. But what a freakin’ stupid question.
Let’s look at why an agent asks this question. Especially when working with internet buyers. Because I know some of you might be thinking, hey, whose business is it anyway? Why should I disclose anything about my personal situation? What right does this agent have to know whether I’ve been talking to anybody else? OK, valid points. However, the reason agents ask if a home buyer has an agent is due to the Realtor Code of Ethics. The Code says we as agents cannot interfere with another agent’s client.
If a buyer is already working with an agent, we are not allowed to try to swipe that buyer. By merely expressing our opinion about how we might handle a delicate situation differently, we could be accused of trying to sway a buyer who is already spoken for. Agents are instructed over and over to drop the conversation, wish the buyer well and to NOT interfere when buyers tell us they have an agent.
But most home buyers do not realize why we ask that question.
Further, how do you think a person feels when agents ask if a home buyer has an agent. At first blush, they might not even know what you’re talking about. Which can make them feel inadequate. Upon pondering, though, undoubtedly it occurs to them they are being asked if they have an agent. Well, who doesn’t have an agent in this day and age? Everybody has an agent. If they don’t have an agent, what does that reduce them to? I’ll tell ya. A loser. With a capital L engraved on their forehead. Who wants to be a loser? Nobody, that’s who!
So stop being those guys who ask if a home buyer has an agent and start asking a different question. Change the dialogue instead to a discussion. Maybe they have an agent who isn’t working out for some reason. Maybe they are very unhappy with the way their search has been moving along, and offers have been rejected over and over. An agent doesn’t know until an agent digs deeper.
Enough already, then, what is the question to ask? I’ll tell you. I know you thought I’d never get to it. The question to ask is: Wouldn’t you like to work with an experienced agent? Don’t make the buyer feel awful that she has no agent. Don’t put her on the defensive. Put a positive spin on the question and turn it into a conversation. If the buyer already has an agent, this is when she will say, “Oh, thanks, but I already have an agent.” Or, not. Maybe she will say, “Yes, I would love to work with YOU!”
Wouldn’t you like to work with an experienced agent? That’s your new question to ask. Try it. You’ll like it. And so will your clients.
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