Email ElizabethShould You Arm the Alarm When Home Selling?
Sellers want to arm the alarm. Always. Especially when they are putting a vacant house on the market. They want security. What they don’t always consider is the fact that they are not the people coming and going. Sellers might be very comfortable with where their alarm is located and they know how to easily disarm it. But agents do not. In fact, buyer’s agents, regardless of experience and dedication, often panic when presented with a security alarm.
Many agents are nervous enough trying to impress buyers with their showing abilities and neighborhood knowledge. Agents spend time looking for the lockbox, getting it open, trying not to lose the key. Jiggling that fussy door lock, open the door and BEEP BEEP BEEP. That familiar sound. OMG, where is the alarm code? Where is the alarm panel located? Will the alarm go off? Will police come?
I just got an email from my security alarm company for our house in Hawaii, and they are offering an upgrade to their service. Apparently, many customers were complaining that 10 seconds wasn’t enough to leave the house; they preferred 30 seconds. I dunno. You open the door and go out. How hard is that? But I always arm the alarm when I leave the island. Not so much while I am there. When you can hear your neighbor across the way clear her throat, those neighbors will hear an intruder.
But when a home is for sale, if the seller elects to arm the alarm, there is a strong chance an agent will set it off. Not on purpose, mind you. Agents are not as stupid as you might think. OK, not all of them. They just tend to panic at the sight of an alarm.
Once I leapt over a gate keeping the dogs at bay and put my life and limb on the line by climbing into their territory just to search for a security alarm. I, myself, have never set off an alarm. But that doesn’t mean other agents won’t. It can cost $100 or more for a false alarm.
I distance myself from this type of occurrence with my sellers. Of course, I explain this can happen, but I also am not responsible for the ability of other agents to disarm the security system. As long as they are fine with that unintended consequence and will relieve me from liability for false alarms, then, by all means, arm that alarm.
The Difference Between Real News or a Con Job
Do you know the difference between real news or a con job? Are you being solicited as a consumer or are you receiving important information? In our Sacramento Bee on Sunday, my eyes fell on an article about 5 things that make you money when selling a home. None of the things in that article made any sense. Five bullet points and the middle point talked about a new roof, naming a certain roofing company. A new roof won’t make a seller more money. It’s a maintenance item not an improvement. A few more paragraphs down, the roofing company website was noted. This was not an article. The piece was an advertisement.
They are getting so clever and slick with this stuff. OK, says I, instead I will read my new RisMedia magazine. Except half of the articles in that magazine are written by third-party vendors who would LOVE to do business with Realtors. In fact, the entire slant of many so-called informational articles are about why the reader should purchase the author’s service or product. Makes me wonder if the magazine charges the vendors who supply it with content.
It’s bad enough there are news stations in this country where you can’t get the news. You would think it would be news because they call themselves a news station. But it’s not. You know how you can tell whether it is real news or a con job? If it is real news, the reporter will give you the facts without personal commentary. If it is not real news, the reporter will share what the reporter thinks about it. This is not real news because reporters are independent third parties reporting the hard, cold facts. Not opinions.
When they share opinions, they are no longer reporters. They are television personalities with commentary. Like Geraldo.
I have a strong aversion to being sold stuff and having it disguised as real news. I like to tell myself that I know the difference between real news and a con job, but that line is constantly blurring. Makes me wonder if children today will know the difference when they become adults. They don’t read newspapers. Only skim headlines now.
Common nature for many people to have an agenda. Just saying, I’m not gonna go into what you should think about the news, but at least try to get your factual news from a reputable source. If you hear a talking-head on television sharing an opinion, flip the channel until you find a real news station. Can you imagine Walter Cronkite inserting his own thoughts into a news story? That would be ludicrous.
Similarly, if you’re looking for an agent to help you buy a home in Sacramento, do not ask the listing agent to represent you. Hire an exclusive buyer’s agent who will represent only your interests and not that of the seller. Don’t get ripped off. You owe it yourself to hire your own buyer’s agent. It costs the same, and the specialty services offered by a real-life buyer’s agent will blow you away. We have expert buyer’s agents on the Elizabeth Weintraub Team waiting to hear from you. Call 916.233.6759.
Story of Buying a Home in Roseville After an Open House
If you’re interested in buying a home in Roseville, you’ve come to the right place. In fact, a charming first-time home buyer recently called about buying a home in Roseville. He moved to Sacramento exactly one week ago and already found his dream home. At least he thinks it might be. He seems to like the amenities, layout and location. His question to me was should he buy it? Is it too soon? Do people actually find the home they want to buy by stumbling into an open house?
Truth is yes, they do. All the time. Not overly commonplace but it does happen. I have lost count of how many listings I had to take because a seller happened to be on her way back from some weekend getaway and stopped by an open house. Then boom! The heart strings got plucked and, to her amazement, the buyer made a fast decision to buy a house. Next thing I know she can’t contain the excitement and calls. We need to list our house immediately because we just bought a house.
OK, says I to this first time home buyer, if you are interested in buying a home in Roseville in this particular subdivision, please know that many might promote solar power panels. I delivered my sermon on how not every solar-powered home is a home a buyer may want. As the solar-power companies have pretty much found a way to strip almost every financial benefit away from buyers. But I digress. Thing is he found a home he would like to buy.
The listing agent at the open house shared all sorts of private tidbits that, well, if it were my listing, I would not. My lips? Always zipped. I protect my fiduciary relationships with my sellers. It is the law. But this listing agent shared personal information. She disclosed the sellers’ pending divorce proceedings and insisted and they are very motivated. Seems she sold the house a couple years ago to the sellers. I explained that not every buyer’s agent can turn around to wear the hat of a listing agent. Don’t be too hard on that agent.
To me, listings are a specialty and many agents do not treat that function of real estate as such. Totally different approaches to seller representation.
This particular home has features the buyer is attracted to and it meets his needs. So, should he be buying a home in Roseville like this, or should he look at more homes? Not sure he realizes how lucky he is. Seems like kismet to me. Probably for his own peace of mind we should show him a couple more homes, but I bet he’s found the one.
The Fifteen Second Rule for Getting Ready to Sell a Home
Although I will explain the 15-second rule for getting ready to sell a home, it’s something that agents who have sold thousands of homes can also do for you. You don’t have to do it for yourself. But let’s say you have hired an agent who has not sold thousands or even hundreds of homes. Then, you might want to try this exercise yourself. Because the number one thing I see many sellers do when getting ready to sell a home is they take on way more work than they should.
Sellers tend to want to fix things that have bugged them for as long as they have lived in the house. Or, they don’t want to fix things that should have bugged them but now they are used to it. So, it’s not a big deal anymore but needs to be. Point is they do the wrong things and not enough of the right things. Sellers often do updates they think a buyer would like if they were the buyer. Problem is they are not the buyer, they are the seller. And they can only think like a seller.
The 15-second rule for getting ready to sell a home should help sellers whose agents are not in a position to assist. It is simply this. Walk into a room, stand in the doorway and give yourself 15 seconds to assess the room. Whatever jumps out at you as odd or weird, well, that’s something you need to fix. If you don’t see it within 15 seconds, you probably do not need to fix it because the buyer won’t spot it, either.
What a seller should not do is get up close and personal with every item in the home. The only thing that sort of behavior accomplishes is to push you toward an obsessive compulsive disorder. All of a sudden, you can’t stand the way your baseboards are painted. Or, you fret about a cracked tile in a corner. Or, you decide at midnight to install a new fence around the house. Those little things are niceties but unnecessary.
Some of my clients I work with for several weeks or even months to help them with getting ready to sell a home. Not every home needs a lot of work but do be ready to spend a little bit and make a few little updates to make your home sale-worthy. Especially if you have neglected a certain repair you know deep in your heart you should have tackled. It’s amazing what we can overlook when living in a home.
Even sellers on a budget can make small fixes that will greatly enhance the ability to attract top dollar. Just make sure they are the right updates and repairs. If you’d like to know how much your home is worth, call your favorite Sacramento Realtor with more than 40 years in the business. Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916.233.6759.
To the Sacramento Realtor Struggling Over a Buyer Broker Agreement
To the Sacramento real estate agent struggling over a buyer broker agreement with a guy I will call ZT, I’d like to assure you that Elizabeth Weintraub did not violate the Realtor Code of Ethics. Although, you also might want to think twice about working with buyers who call other agents to make disparaging comments about their own agent. Perhaps you would be interested in knowing that despite my repeated attempts to disengage with a random caller recently, he continued to berate your abilities and questioned your practices.
First, I am not working with that particular caller because he is obviously a home buyer. My team members work as exclusive buyer’s agents, and I solely represent sellers. Why did some stranger call me out of the blue? No idea how I got to be so lucky. It was a Wednesday night, busy day with meetings, lockbox retrievals, new listings. Getting ready for dinner and my cellphone rings. See, now I know why so many agents do not answer their phone . . . although the downside is not bad enough to change my practices.
To the agent working with ZT, you may have an interest in the phone conversation that followed. He didn’t give me your name or I would have contacted you privately. Hence, this public blog. The truth is always the best defense.
The odd caller began the conversation by announcing, in a self-important sort of way that has no bearing on anything: I have a random question. This is when I felt like pointing out that perhaps he had mixed me up with the reference desk librarian at the Sacramento Public Library. So, I said, Hey, you have obviously reached random answer place. He did not get this.
Nervous laughter from the other side of the phone. This is when the ZT admitted he was working with an agent. I said: I cannot talk to you about your agent. He continued talking over me; apparently, he doesn’t trust his agent. Which is puzzling, but not my business. More than once ZT said he had bad thoughts about his agent. Why was he calling me? I’m not about to work with him. My caller ID reported his phone number, which ends in **78, came from Redding.
Bear in mind, I was about to sit down to dinner. I was not working with ZT, regardless. He will never become a client. Even if he wanted to fire his agent, which he did not, I would not work with him because I do not work with buyers. I couldn’t tell if he was trying to buy a house in Redding or in Sacramento. But none of that really matters except to the extent this conversation was returning zero financial reward to me. I am a top Sacramento Realtor who consistently seems to rank in the top 10 agents in Sacramento. Probably because I focus on business that pays.
The contention in ZT’s life seemed to be the agent working with him expects him to sign some sort of buyer broker agreement. He could understand a listing agreement but he does not know why he should commit to a buyer’s agent. That is a question for his agent, not a random stranger. After repeating myself over and over that I cannot interfere with another agent’s client, because the behavior is against the Realtor Code of Ethics, I could tell my words fell on deaf ears.
During the brief conversation, I explained my real estate practice to ZT. When I sign a listing agreement, it is a guarantee that regardless of who ultimately brings a buyer, I get paid for listing that home. A buyer broker agreement is no different. Buyer’s agents are not public servants. They do not work for free. Buyer’s agents deserve a commitment from a buyer and a promise they will get paid for services rendered.
Evidently, ZT mistakenly believes “all buyer’s agents are competing for his business”, like he was a LendingTree commercial. He said he used to work in sales for Skyslope. So, obviously he would know. Right? I don’t think so.
As the call neared its conclusion, I tried to disengage. ZT said he had one more question to ask. Bully for him. His tax dollars do not support me. This guy was some stranger who plucked my phone number from thin air to interrogate at dinnertime. Eight minutes on this wasted call already. No, I told him no, I addressed a question; this call is not an all-night marathon. I shouldn’t have even been on the phone that long, but sometimes I am too nice to people. As I reached over to push the hang-up button, he whimpered, “Please, pretty please.”
Click.
That might work on his girlfriend when he can’t get it up, but it doesn’t work on me.
Who would look up a question on WebMD and then track down the author of that article to demand answers? Without a working relationship, a normal consumer would not call a doctor or any other professional, much less a tattoo artist, and demand service. Because that kind of behavior would be disrespectful and pointless. Some people, though, believe the world revolves around themselves.
Case in point. Caught an Uber through Midtown yesterday after dropping my car at Midtown Autoworks for service. I watched a bicyclist on 15th Street suddenly decide to cut across moving traffic on this one-way street. He stuck out his arm in the middle of the block as though to warn traffic to stay away and not hit him as he peddled zigzagging across the street.
I mentioned that self-centered situation to Niko at Midtown Autoworks. This is what some people are like online. The conversation turned to why strangers enjoy spreading hate on the internet. Niko shared that some disgruntled Toyota stranger left a one-star review online because Midtown Autoworks does not work on Toyotas. They work on Porsches and Mercedes.
Don’t you agree that the integrity of online reviews is severely diminished when websites allow bogus reviews from strangers? Those are not reviews. That’s exactly what ZT did, though. Ran over to a website to rant and post a one-star “review.” Attempted to purposely disrupt and hurt my business. Such hateful behavior. Who does that? Because he did not appreciate the free information he received after I allowed him to eat up my time and resented the fact I decided to go. This is what we get trying to help some types of people.
So, if you’re the agent working with ZT, and you’d like to hear more about the conversation, you can call me. However, I also suspect the agent working with ZT would not have requested a buyer broker agreement if she didn’t think she needed it.
And this reminds me, I need to leave a 5-star review for Midtown Autoworks.
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