Email ElizabethTop Producer Sacramento Real Estate Agents and Objectivity
I have often said that if a client works with a top producer Sacramento real estate agent, the client never has to worry about her agent’s objectivity because objectivity is first and foremost. It’s very easy to keep a clients’ interests at the forefront of every transaction when an agent’s income is not affected by whether it closes. I can see some agents reading this blog now and exploding. They might think it sounds like I’m saying agents who don’t do a lot of business will compromise their ethics, and that’s not what I’m implying.
At least not consciously. I don’t believe a real estate agent looks at a pending escrow and contemplates what will happen to the agent if it doesn’t close. Agents are not necessarily counting on every transaction to close in order to pay their mortgage payment or maybe they are, I don’t know. I just know there is no conflict when finances are not a concern. When you’re busy all the time, the money just appears like magic. There is no wondering if you’re doing the right thing when advising a client because you know in your heart that you’re putting the client’s needs first. There is no internal struggle.
Besides, you’re too damn busy to think about yourself. All you have time for is your client’s wishes and desires.
I can recall an instance in the mid 1970s when I was interrupted and asked how long it would take me to finish an appointment with a client. I had been behind closed doors talking with an elderly client for several hours. My answer was it would take as long as it takes. I’m still the same way today, 40 years later. I give my clients all the time they need to make a decision, and I don’t push or shove them into anything they’re not ready to do. I lose some clients this way because I don’t always follow up with them; I figure when they’re ready they’ll call me back — some do, but some get sidetracked.
If sellers want to sell their home, fine, I’ll sell it. If they don’t want to sell, fine, I won’t. If the buyer makes a demand that the seller doesn’t agree with, the seller can cancel and I’ll endorse that decision — if that’s what the seller really wants. Because if the seller doesn’t care if it closes, I surely do not. If the seller wants to close, I’ll do whatever it takes. It’s very easy to be objective. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that clear objectivity might be a reason why some people struggle a little bit with trusting a real estate agent and sometimes squint at agents out of the corner of their eye.
Sure, I get paid but it’s not my focus. I hope nobody ever looks at me with one eye closed.
Why Your Mortgage Lender in Sacramento Matters
Out of the 7 closings this Sacramento real estate agent is working on this week, only 2 transactions, according to the mortgage lenders, are closing are time, which makes closing delays pretty much par for the course for this week. Why? Because of the mortgage lenders. A few of the escrows are delayed because the buyers could not qualify for a conventional loan and were informed at inception that they should choose FHA but instead opted for conventional. Or, at least that their mortgage lender’s story and the guys are sticking to it. In others, everybody else thought somebody else was doing a job that nobody else was doing. Total cluster-you-know-what.
It’s also possible that the buyer’s agent felt the buyer didn’t stand a chance in hell of getting an FHA offer accepted upfront so the agent wrote the purchase contract with conventional terms and obtained the preapproval letter showing conventional financing, figuring who gives a rats if the transaction doesn’t close on time. But most buyer’s agents aren’t that devious. I suspect the truth of why some mortgage lenders can’t perform lies somewhere in between.
When a buyer runs past the closing date, the contract has expired. The seller has the option to cancel the transaction. The seller is not obligated to give the buyer more time to close the escrow. A lawyer might argue on behalf of the buyer and say the buyer invested money for the home inspection, paid for a pest inspection, perhaps other reports, and showed a good faith effort to close. She might say it’s not the buyer’s fault that things were delayed in underwriting or the mortgage lender messed up.
But that’s a tough argument if the contingencies haven’t been released, and the seller might believe the buyer is in breach of contract. The seller might give the buyer a Notice to Perform and then cancel. And let’s face it, many first-time home buyers barely have two nickels to rub together, and they can’t afford to hire a lawyer. So, they better choose a mortgage lender who can properly advise them and then follow that advice.
Here is my advice for home buyers today. For crying out loud, mortgage lenders all have access to pretty much the same ol’ bag of money, and you’re not gonna save 1/2 point here nor there, so pick the mortgage lender in Sacramento who can perform. Pick the company that won’t lead you astray. Pick the loan officer who will have your back. Don’t go with the guy who dishes out apologies when you’ve lost the house.
In all of my years of working with and referring business to Dan Tharp, this mortgage lender in Sacramento has never disappointed.
A Few Words About Targeted Marketing
Regardless of what anybody says, I don’t believe that people like to be sold to, much less manipulated by advertisers. I read a spokesperson’s comment for either Facebook or Google — don’t recall which, they are so similar these days since both want to control the world — who said that people want their advertising better targeted to themselves. Yeah, right. People don’t want targeted advertising, you stupid jerk, get your head out of your butt.
Sure, it’s worse when the advertising doesn’t fit your parameters whatsoever, but it’s still highly irritating when the advertiser is trying to manipulate and trick you into buying a product you have no need for at all. And that covers most useless crap that is sold today and pretty much explains advertising, targeted or not.
I get emails from companies trying to sell me industrial plumbing supplies, meant for commercial buildings. That’s as welcome as an ad for baby food or birth control. People ask why I don’t carry loyalty cards, and the reason is I don’t want nor appreciate targeted marketing. I also don’t care if things I regularly buy are on sale because I’ll buy it locally to put money back into the neighborhood, regardless of price.
Many older buyers are like me. Younger buyers are much different. In fact, Honda, the car manufacturer, can’t reach its targeted audience anymore, which is young people, because kids don’t watch TV or read newspapers in print. As a result, Honda has decided to sponsor music concerts, which isn’t nearly as annoying.
But I still walk around with a big fat bullseye imprinted on my forehead simply because I am a real estate agent and a high profile agent in Sacramento at that. It means that mortgage lenders and other real estate companies continually use targeted marketing, calling to set up a special coffee date. I never met up for coffee when I was dating, for chrissakes. I made the guys meet me wherever I went, Home Depot to buy a weed wacker, getting my oil changed, whatever. Online companies call because they can’t find my email anywhere. Go ahead, you try to find my email; it’s not out there.
Anybody is free to send me an email through a variety of portals, but if it’s advertising or spam it is deleted before my eyes skim past the subject line. I really miss the days of when slamming down a phone carried a message. Clicking off by tapping the disconnect button doesn’t have the same satisfaction. There is a downside to it, though. The other day a guy called who sounded just like a telemarketer. After I asked: please don’t call me again, and when the phone was about to go dead, just before it disconnected I heard him cry, no, wait, wait, I’m an agent.
Fortunately, I have redial and CallerID.
If you’re looking to buy a home in Sacramento, you can contact the Elizabeth Weintraub Team. We won’t pressure you or try to sell a home to you. We are providers of new listings as soon as they hit the market — as a real estate agent is your best and only real source to receive current homes for sale in Sacramento. If you want to tour a home, you can let us know.
When Home Sellers Hire the Second Listing Agent
In my real estate business, which covers the Sacramento Valley over four counties, it seems more and more sellers are calling me to ask why their real estate agent can’t sell their home and asking me to be the second listing agent. In fairness to my fellow real estate agents in Sacramento, some of those situations are not always the first agent’s fault. Or, it could be simply a personality clash between the parties. Whatever the reason, the fact remains I pick up a good number of listings and sell them when other agents cannot. It goes in cycles but this year that number seems to be much greater.
Fortunately, as the second listing agent, I do sell those listings. And I sell those homes at top dollar; it’s not like I list them for less than the previous sales price, because usually the price stays the same. What I look for is what are the challenges to selling the listing. All listings contain some kind of challenge and there are no slam dunks in this business. It’s easy to pick out the attractive selling points but it’s much more difficult to address the challenges, isolate the drawbacks and make those bad things appear insignificant. But that’s a specialty developed through decades of experience, I guess. It’s why my homes for sale in Sacramento tend to sell for more money –well, that, and I tend to play well with others.
I just closed a home on Friday that had previously been listed by another real estate agent for 5 months without selling. The first thing I do is scrutinize what the other agent has done and then, as the second listing agent, I don’t do those things. That’s an oversimplification but my goal is not to duplicate failure. Looking up the first agent’s listings, it was clear that most of that agent’s inventory is languishing on the market for an extremely long period of time. You’d expect to see long days on market for a short sale but not in a bunch of equity listings.
I studied what I did not like about the photographs and marketing comments and eliminated those negatives from my marketing strategy. Further, the previous agent did not hold open houses. Some mega real estate companies do not support agent open houses. Lyon Real Estate, where I work, is a big proponent of open houses. It’s true that most buyers don’t buy directly from an open house but the publicity does help to sell that home. Lyon Real Estate is the market leader in the Sacramento Valley.
My charming group of dedicated real estate agents on the Elizabeth Weintraub Team worked diligently with me to sell that home. I kept in constant communication with the seller, advising her of our efforts. I’m happy to report that the home sold. For all cash. There was no appraisal to contend with, so the seller got exactly the price she wanted — which was excellent because the comparable sales were few. The home is situated on a busy street but I worked around it. It was also overbuilt in comparison to other homes in the neighborhood, but I worked around it.
Most of my clients call me first, thank goodness. But it’s OK if I am the second listing agent. It’s not that difficult to cancel a listing contract. If your home hasn’t sold and you’re shopping around for a new Sacramento real estate agent, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. I don’t mind being the second listing agent. I will get the job done for you.
The Sacramento Short Sale Closing Against the Odds
This was the Sacramento short sale that closed against the odds. If it wasn’t for the fact that I knew the buyer’s agent and had faith in her abilities, this particular short sale closing might never have happened. It’s almost as though we “willed it” to a conclusion, so closing occurred. Of course, having years of experience in closing hundreds of short sales helps — there is no denying that fact — but this particular short sale presented so many unique challenges. The sellers were very cooperative, too, which made the horribleness bearable.
The problem with this particular Sacramento short sale was not the fact there were two loans between Bank of America and Green Tree. I negotiate many short sales with two loans. Moreover, Green Tree is not a problem for me like it seems to be for other agents. After years of hammering, I’ve got the process down pat and know intimately how Green Tree operates. It also wasn’t the fact that there was a SMUD lien filed against the property. I know what to do with those, too. It was the condition of the home.
This is where many Sacramento short sale agents throw in the towel.
Half of the home was remodeled and the other half was not. Further, it needed a new roof because the existing roof was beyond its useful life. Did I mention the pest work? The conundrum: The seller is not responsible for the repairs. Buyers don’t want to do any work and they don’t have any money anyway. Toss into that mix the fact the bank wanted top dollar for this home — the same sales price as for a home in excellent condition — and couple that nonsense with there is really no arguing with the bank.
Unless there is strong argument, which is rare. Arguing with a short sale bank is usually a wasted effort because the banks just don’t care. The value banks typically want rarely reflect the BPO as much as it does the bottom-line net the bank could obtain through other financial options. The bank insisted on a crazy high list price, which I eventually convinced them to reduce. The buyers offered an even lower price, but they were willing to obtain an energy efficient mortgage (which involves a little known credit) and pay for other repairs.
I trusted the buyer’s agent to perform. This is where industry experience and networking pays off. We had the perfect match in this transaction. I had the sellers who needed to sell and she had the buyers who needed to buy. Challenges be damned.
The buyers didn’t have a lot of money, and we needed to rely on first-time home buyer loans and repair loans to help them to buy this house. Their agent is a pro at navigating the waters for first-time home buyers. Getting the approval from the bank for this Sacramento short sale was the first step. The second step was renegotiation with the bank. Yes, I know this goes against all that I preach about short sales and buying the home in AS IS condition without any further renegotiations but this was a special case. It wasn’t motivated by financial gain or greed.
I developed a strategy and presented a compelling case. We obtained the price reduction. The buyers got the home of their dreams. OK, maybe it’s not the home of their dreams right now, but it will be after the new roof is installed, the sewer lines are fixed, the pest work is completed and they eventually remodel the other half of the home. Sometimes, you’ve just got to have faith in the experience of your real estate agents to pull off what seems like an impossible transaction.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention. The sellers walked out of this with about $7,500 in cash from the bank. This was a sweet short sale, despite the additional work.
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