Email ElizabethThere Are Enough Crooks in Sacramento Short Sales
We have enough crooks in Sacramento short sales that we, ourselves, don’t need to add to the mix, whether we are a seller, a buyer or a real estate agent. I tell my short sale sellers that they need to keep their noses clean. Don’t do anything that the lender can later construe to be mortgage fraud. Because if a seller is dishonest, the bank can reverse the release of liability for that short sale and pursue a seller for the remaining balance, which is the whole reason to do a short sale in the first place. To get that release of liability.
I realize that sellers are upset with their banks, and they hate the fact they’ve been strung along for years paying on rotten loans that they can’t afford but that is no reason not to level with the bank during a short sale. Sellers also tend to worry that if they don’t make up some facts to color their financial situation the bank won’t approve the short sale. What they don’t realize is the banks typically prefer a short sale to a loan modification.
If you’ve been in the middle of a loan modification or attempting to obtain a loan modification and been turned down, you’re probably a prime candidate for a short sale. Especially if your bank is one of those institutions established for the sole purpose of picking up worthless mortgages. The bank might expect you to short sale.
Sometimes sellers want to say, for example, that they live in the property so they can apply for a $3,000 relocation incentive. If they don’t live in the property but instead live elsewhere, that could be mortgage fraud if they lie about it. Collecting $3,000 under false pretenses could cause a bank to withdraw the release of liability on that short sale after it closes. The bank could also demand the return of the $3,000, and then prosecute the perpetrator for a million dollars-plus. Mortgage fraud is a federal crime.
California Civil Code 580e (effective 2011) gave sellers the protection and the release of liability in a short sale, but it also takes it away if the seller commits mortgage fraud. If you’re contemplating such an act, you might want to ask yourself if the consequences are worth the risk. It’s not a harmless act of omission. The bank will track your credit card purchases, examine where your credit card statements are delivered and check to see if cable TV is still in your name. Don’t move in furniture because the BPO agent will open the refrigerator and check to see if the washer and dryer are connected.
You either live in the property or you don’t. Don’t mess around.
When a Seller Wants the Best Sacramento Real Estate Agent
When flipper investors call to lament that they just can’t find a Sacramento real estate agent to work with and are horribly unhappy with the agent they’ve got, I know something is seriously wrong, and it’s not necessarily the agent. My radar detector goes off. You can’t turn around in a crowded Corti Brothers without rubbing elbows with a real estate agent. Even using Guassian distribution, one is likely to end up with an agent who can, under most circumstances, eventually sell a home.
Nope, these flipper dudes are looking for something else. It’s not a top-producing agent who is their heart’s desire, either. They don’t want to hire an agent anywhere near the rankings of the best Sacramento real estate agent they can find. They don’t put a lot of credence in superior skills or experience, although they probably should and are making a big mistake that way.
Many flipper dudes don’t really respect real estate agents. Some agents don’t care about respect and say they will laugh all the way to the bank, but I’m not one of those.
I think these flipper guys understand the concept of highest sales price and bottom-line net profit, but the bulk of the information that is centered between those two points seems lost on them. As is an agent’s ability to overcome challenges, strategically market homes to targeted audiences and avoid problems before they pop up. None of that really matters to investors like this, which is why they are often penny-wise and pound-foolish, but that’s another story.
Such a flipper called yesterday and began his sad story of not being able to find a Sacramento real estate agent, of being awfully miserable with the one he has, and how his partner is disturbingly impatient. He rambled on about how he and his partner love to fix up homes in such a manner that a buyer would never even realize they were being flipped, which he presented as a huge benefit for us agents. What?
In the interest of eliminating needless chatter, I cut to the chase to say that my experience shows that many flippers don’t really value the services of a top producer and generally want to discount her fee by 1%, so perhaps I was not the agent for them. I am a full-service agent who earns the commission she deserves. Yes, I am saying that when selling a home valued at $300,000, the flippers will let $3,000 get in the way of hiring one of the best Sacramento real estate agents.
He seemed somewhat miffed that I would dare to be so abrupt with him. Well, what if you were selling 10 homes a year —he tried to entice. What? He must have thought he was talking to a brand new agent who was starving for business. Had he not conducted any online research or even glanced at my website? I sell so many homes a year the numbers make my own head spin. Let’s see, he already told me his partner was incredibly impatient and he’s shown himself to be clueless. Not a good combination for this agent.
And that’s when I realized how incredibly and unbelievably fortunate I am. It took me 40 years to get to this spot in my life, but it’s such a relief to be able to pick and choose my clients. It’s not really the money. It’s the self respect and the opportunity to conduct business the way I choose, with integrity, honesty and to the best of my ability.
When To Ask an Agent About the Real Estate Commission
When the first question out a potential seller’s mouth is how much is your commission, that sends an agent a subtle message that either the caller has never sold a home or thinks the only thing that matters, i.e. differentiates agents from one another, is commission. I deal with both of these issues in my own way. Which means I address it head on and early and first, because any misconceptions about how a Sacramento real estate agent operates needs to be cleaned up immediately if I am to proceed with the conversation. If the caller is searching solely for a discount agent, they have misdialed.
This is not to say there are not people who shop for a real estate agent the same way they shop for a new pair of shoes. They want to find those Tori Burch boots on sale, but that’s not gonna happen. If you want the hottest new boots from Tori Burch, you pay the price. If you want a knock-off, you go to Wal-Mart. When callers initiate a discussion about commission, they sometimes are very astonished at my take. I make them laugh, like this guy yesterday who chuckled: Well, you are persuasive.
Because I believe it. I believe my words because my experience backs them up. I do tend to get my clients more money, and they do tell me I don’t get paid enough when they pay full commissions. I keep them out of trouble. I don’t let buyer push them around and rob them of their hard-earned equity.
After I got this guy howling in fits of laughter yesterday, then he drops the bombshell to say he needs to do a short sale on both of his properties in Davis. Holy toledo. I exclaimed, You hit the jackpot with me. Because he did. There is not another real estate agent in a 7-county area in Sacramento who has sold more short sales than I have over the past 8 years. I am still the top Sacramento short sale agent, even though short sales are no longer in vogue. For the past few years, I have continued as a top producer who mostly sells regular listings. I’m about as well rounded as you will find for an agent who started in the business in 1974.
And the place for the discussion about real estate commission in a short sale is no place. There is no reason to highlight commission and argue ad nauseum. The bank will authorize the amount it will authorize and, in almost every instance, it is full commissions. Because our American banking institutions realize that a good real estate agent is worth a full commission. It’s not like the commission comes directly from the seller. It is paid from the proceeds of sale, and it is money the bank doesn’t receive. Banks care more than anybody about bottom-line profits, yet they authorize a full fee. Imagine that!
If our banks believe real estate agents are worth a full commission, why doesn’t everybody get with the program? Why are there still people out there who who are shopping for a discount agent when they really need a full-service agent to sell their home? It’s because they don’t know any better and nobody has ever shown them otherwise.
What a Sacramento Real Estate Agent Can Do That You Cannot
Everybody likes the convenience of looking at stuff online but when it comes to an important matter such as buying a home or selling your house in Sacramento, the smart consumers call a Sacramento real estate agent. That’s because everybody needs a real estate agent, whether or not they realize it. You need a professional who is active full-time in the business, has access to information you don’t and can tell you things you don’t know. You don’t know it all online. Ever. It’s an illusion if you think you do.
Take it from somebody who has been down that path. The local Goodwill in Sacramento has a plethora of designer shoes donated by me, for example, that hurt my feet. They looked gorgeous online at Nordstrom but those Jimmy Choo sandals were painful, regardless of how many pieces of mole skin I glued. You can’t even buy socks online and hope to find conformity among multiple packages. Because things are manufactured in lot numbers, mostly in China, and even though a piece of clothing might originate from the same manufacturer, identical size, same material, it will fit differently when plucked from random shelves.
I love the idea that I can explore winter vacations online. But I would never book a trip without going through my travel agent. Sure, I can spend countless hours at TripAdvisor reading how much one guy loved a hotel and the next traveler two hours later despised it; I can go to another website to study traveler’s photos of hotel rooms and not the glammed up wide-angled and air-brushed shots. I can do a ton of homework about where I may want to stay at exotic destinations, but ultimately, I will rely on my travel agent. My agent has the knowledge, the connections and my agent has the deals.
When my husband and I decided to book a trip through the Alaska Inside Passage and chose our ship, we still called our travel agent. He said Alaska was not his specialty, and he referred us to an Alaska expert who booked our adventure even though I had already selected the travel dates, the route, the airlines and class, the ship and cabin. She was a gem. I noticed a week before our departure that the rates for the owner’s cabin had been lowered to the same amount we paid for a forward cabin. When I mentioned it, she called the ship and got us a lower rate. This travel agent called to confirm our return trip for us and discovered the route had changed, and we couldn’t get home as originally planned. She was able to reroute us and force the airlines to get us home on time. Invaluable.
Professionals don’t cost you money, they save you money. If you’re not a real estate agent, you don’t have all of the answers, but a veteran real estate agent does. You can’t even begin to predict what could go sideways in your transaction because you’re not in the business. Just when you think you’ve found the perfect home online, I might know what’s wrong with that perfect home and you don’t. Or, I might have knowledge of a home coming on the market tomorrow that you do not. And better, I know how to make sure you are the lucky buyer whose offer is accepted, plus I’ll do my damnedest to make sure you close without a hitch.
Nobody needs more problems in life. We’ve got enough just the way it is. Hire a professional Sacramento real estate agent.
Taking Along Sacramento Real Estate Clients on a Winter Vacation
Lots of people do their spring cleaning at springtime but this Sacramento REALTOR does hers in the fall, primarily because I need to be ready to hit the street running when I return from my winter vacation. I need a fresh slate in January, and to be ready to handle new listings and new sales. Every spring market is explosive. You might ask what happens to my existing business, the clients I am working with in November and will acquire in December? I’ll tell you what has worked for me over the years, and how I handle it.
First, not everybody knows (nor agrees with this practice), but I take my clients on vacation with me. Wherever I go, whether it’s French Polynesia, the Florida Keys or Viet Nam, I stay on top of my business. Nobody gets neglected nor forgotten. I still respond to email and take care of purchase offers and closings. In fact, one year on Christmas Day via spotty satellite from a remote Atoll in the Tuamotus at Rangiroa, I listed a home in Sacramento. By the time I flew to Bora Bora, I had sold the home and opened escrow.
I can always find an hour or two in every day no matter what to take care of my Sacramento clients. It doesn’t matter where in the world I am. Further, I enjoy the luxury of leading a dedicated team who support me. They are my rock and right hand.
Maybe it’s the way I was raised, but I feel a personal responsibility when I make a promise to clients that I will be their fiduciary and sell their home. It helps that I truly enjoy my job as well or I couldn’t do it while I’m on vacation. I know people think that is nuts, but it works for me. There is a stretch of solitude during the week of Christmas and a few days after that things are very quiet, and I unwind completely.
A winter vacation is the reason I work so hard like a well oiled machine in Sacramento real estate. To go away for a month. Yup, I work 11 months and go on vacation for another month. I am very selective of my clients but even more so come the fall months. Because the people I choose to work with are the individuals I will communicate with during my vacation. They have to be special. I have learned to take along only the people I like. That’s my secret for a happy and fun career.
The only thing I regret about this year’s vacation is the fact my husband has to stay home in Sacramento. He has a new job now and can’t yet take off 30 days for a winter vacation.
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