Email ElizabethBreaking Bad Sacramento Short Sales
As AMC’s ground-breaking television drama Breaking Bad has done for science, short sales have done for certain Sacramento real estate agents. Given some of us sudden respect. Short sales have made other agents want to jump on the same bandwagon, but you know, the key to success in anything is thinking things through; yet, to accomplish that directive, one needs a solid basis, a foundation to process those thoughts, and therein lies the reason as to why some agents in the real estate business tend to struggle.
I recall when Breaking Bad first came on the air some 5 years ago. My husband, who is somewhat nerdy and OK with that trait, pointed out the numbers on the elements used in the beginning of the show were incorrect. Now, that is not something I would know. I barely recall the Periodic Table from school. Science was not my strong suit — my passion was English. Back then, we had attended an About.com conference held at the New York Times which, at the time, owned the company. I write the homebuying website for About.com in my spare time, apart from selling real estate in Sacramento. Writers from all over the country attended this particular conference, and we were excited to meet a science writer with whom we could discuss Breaking Bad and the mistake in the elements.
Except this person had not watched the show. He seemed a bit embarrassed to talk about it. Lots of people have never watched this show, until Netflix made previous episodes available. Last night was the final episode of Breaking Bad. Part II of Part 1 of the end. I stayed up past my bedtime to watch it, too. We usually record the show and watch it at a time that is more convenient for us, like before my bedtime. But sure enough, if we did that, somewhere along the line we would read about the finale. So, after much discussion, we concluded it was necessary to stay up and watch it.
In case you haven’t seen it, I’m not gonna spoil the ending for you. Except to say . . .
Hey, are you interested in another short sale near Elk Grove? I have a new listing coming on the market this morning. It’s a 4- to 5-bedroom, with 3 baths and a pool. List price is $279,000. The sellers are properly positioned for smooth short sale negotiation, and I anticipate a closing before the end of the year. Call your Sacramento real estate agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916 233 6759.
Do You Need to Call a Sacramento Real Estate Agent?
A Sacramento real estate agent who works on commission most likely will always find a way to accommodate the time schedule of a potential client. Once you become a client, though, all bets are off. Just joking! The point I’m trying to get to is that real estate agents tend to work many hours of the day and just about all days of the week, if the job requires it. This is not so with other people who work in Sacramento real estate such as title officers, short sale bank negotiators, escrow officers — salaried employees.
I realize that some clients feel uncomfortable calling a Sacramento real estate agent in the middle of the night, but it’s really OK to call and leave a message. Trust me, I am smart enough to turn off my cellphone at night, so a voice mail or an email will not wake me up. A seller from San Jose called a few weeks ago and asked if it was OK to call on a Sunday, adding his wife had suggested he wait until 10 AM. I love his wife. But if he had called at 8 AM and I answered my phone, who would be to blame for that? Is it his fault for calling or would it my fault for picking up the call?
If my cellphone is turned on, I am in business. I try to always answer my phone. I can tell the people who are anxious because they will call back again and again, hoping I will hang up and stop talking to the person who is occupying my time. I know who they are because I have Caller ID, not to mention, my Jawbone talks in my ear and tells me who is calling.
I’ve heard that some agents are irritated if they are working late at night and call another agent, but that other agent is not working and doesn’t answer the phone. An agent can’t be and should not be on call 24 / 7. Nothing is so incredibly urgent at 9 PM that it can’t wait until morning. I’d like to tell those agents that the world doesn’t revolve around them, but they’re probably too busy staring in the mirror and plucking nose hairs.
If you need to talk to a Sacramento real estate agent, give Elizabeth Weintraub a ring. I love to chat with clients. My cell is 916 233 6759. I answer my phone. I respond to text, too.
September’s Closed Homes in Sacramento
Sitting in front of my manicurist yesterday, she asked how many homes in Sacramento I have sold this week. Sold is such a misunderstood term. To some people, sold means going into contract, which is coming to an agreement on price and terms between a buyer and a seller, subject to certain conditions and contingencies. But that’s not really a sold status, that’s a “maybe” status, it means the sale is pending. The likelihood is it will close, but there are also ways that it could do what we Sacramento real estate agents call “fall out of escrow.”
If a home falls out of escrow, it’s not like tumbling out of bed or falling down the stairs. It’s more like cartoon characters blown up by TNT.
To me, sold is when a home sale closes. This means the documents are recorded at the Sacramento County Recorder’s Office, title is formally transferred. Deeds do not require recordation to be considered delivered and title transferred to a buyer, but title insurance companies require recordation to issue a title insurance policy. Technically, recording a deed means the public has been given constructive notice that title has changed from the grantor to the grantee. There is a new buyer.
I have a pile of those folders of closed homes in Sacramento on my desk right now, awaiting disposition. The electronic files are easy to file but the hard-copy folders containing paper documents, paper is such a dinosaur, need to be filed into a cardboard box and stored. I had to redesign and configure an entire wall in my garage with shelving units to hold the storage of these boxes.
My manicurist was astonished when I told her I do not know how many homes in Sacramento I have sold this week. I don’t sit here and count them. In fact, if I ever have to count the number, I’m in trouble. My focus is not on how many homes I have closed. My focus is on keeping the escrows I have pending moving along smoothly and putting more homes into contract.
I mentioned to her that my husband is leaving shortly for a Boy’s Week vacation. This woman knows me pretty well as she’s been my manicurist for almost 10 years. She asked who will cook for me? That’s a good question. She suggested I consider take-out. But that would involve thinking about what I want to eat, finding a restaurant, calling and placing an order, getting in my car and driving to get it. It’s much easier to just throw a hot dog in the microwave.
I ask you, is there anything more pathetic than a microwaved wiener? It splits, gets grease all over and shrivels. It’s not the same thing as a grilled hot dog. Plus, it’s sizzling hot, having been cooked from the inside out. However, I am saved from this grueling tragedy because my husband is precooking meals for me. He knows where I prefer to keep my focus, and that’s on selling homes in Sacramento.
The Sacramento REALTOR with the Highest List Price
Do sellers always pick the Sacramento REALTOR who proposes the highest sales price? Not if they’re smart they don’t. They should pick the REALTOR they most trust, like and who has the experience to do the best job for them. But what if they do take the REALTOR with the highest price and that REALTOR just happens to be me? That’s what happened this summer, and I wasn’t feeling really good about the fact that price might have been the main reason I was chosen to list that pool home in Carmichael.
I’m not underestimating my experience because I’m certain my decades in the business was a motivating factor, but I had the sneaky suspicion that if I had suggested a lower sales price, that seller might not have elected to list with me. It doesn’t mean I will sell out my ethics or tell a seller a price that I don’t think the seller will get just to obtain that listing. That’s not how I work. I do try to get the seller the highest price possible, though.
The thing is home pricing is so variable. There is no single list price, actually. There is a price it should be listed at, which is not necessarily the price a seller expects to get. There is a price a buyer might offer, which is not necessarily the price at which the home may appraise. There is market value and there is appraised value, and the two are not necessarily the same thing. It’s more of a strategy, mixed with science and emotion.
Much of my pricing is based on how the home feels emotionally to me. I know that might sound a little new-agey and touchy-feely, but buyers make offers based on emotion. I try to look at the home through the buyer’s eyes, and then I turn that feeling into a dollar figure, followed by a way to justify that price to an appraiser. It’s a different approach than most REALTORS use, and it’s been very successful for my sellers.
There were REALTORS in my real estate office who thought we had priced that Carmichael pool home too high. It didn’t have upgrades. It wasn’t remodeled. Some of the appliances didn’t even work. Other REALTORS at the listing presentations had suggested sales prices that were tens of thousands of dollars lower than mine. My suggested sales price was the highest. From a sole listing viewpoint, the price didn’t make sense. From a buyer’s viewpoint, though, it did.
We sold that Carmichael pool home at list price. It closed last week. So, while I always tell a seller do NOT pick the REALTOR who gives you the highest price, in this particular instance they might have just done that and it was not the wrong thing to do. Still, I hope they chose me for my willingness to always do what I believe is best for them and not because my suggested list price was the highest.
I don’t intend to beat out a competing agent by suggesting higher prices during a listing presentation. I do what I believe is right.
Sacramento Home Sellers Dump House at Huge Loss
Impatience lost a couple of Sacramento sellers $50,000, and I don’t have the heart to tell them. These sellers don’t read my blog, and I doubt they know anybody who does, so it’s not like I’m breaking the news to them in this manner. Besides, it wouldn’t have changed anything for them because they had already made their decision; they just apparently didn’t have the heart to tell their Sacramento real estate agent about it.
Instead they elected to remove their home from the market so they could refinance. At least that was the story. One can’t get a loan on a home if it’s for sale in Sacramento. Maybe they started out thinking about a refinance and then some EP (equity purchaser) guy called? Maybe that EP guy was a client of another agent whom he wanted to cut out of the deal or maybe the guy just regularly combs the canceled listings, calling sellers, trying to strip out every last dime of equity and leaving a few scattered pennies on the table? Hard to speculate, and it doesn’t matter.
The situation is the sellers grew impatient. Their home wasn’t selling fast enough. It was due to price, like most homes that don’t sell fast enough. The price needed to be a little bit lower but the sellers continued to hold out hope for their price until they just gave up. Out of the blue. What I know is they asked to cancel the listing because they planned to refinance, and the next thing I saw they had suddenly sold their home at a gigantic loss. It’s called a For Sale by Owner.
The new owner then put the home back on the market for $50,000 more than the owner had paid for it. Along came a buyer who contacted me. The buyer contacted me because I sell a lot of homes in this particular neighborhood in Sacramento. My buyer bought it. That $50,000 is going into the pocket of the EP guy. Telling my former clients that they messed up would be pointless and mean. But it’s not pointless for readers of this blog. It’s a good example of what can and does happen.
If they had only waited for the fall market in Sacramento and continued to list with their Sacramento real estate agent.
Yoda says: Patience you must have, my young padawan.
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