Email ElizabethTurn a Sacramento Short Sale Into an Equity Sale
The Sacramento real estate agents who are only in the real estate business to make money will never know how truly wonderful it feels to help our sellers and buyers accomplish their goals. Those kinds of agents are missing the motivational aspect of this business, the driving force that makes agents stay in Sacramento real estate for the long haul. On top of which, I believe they have their priorities turned around. It really is true that if you do what you love, the money will follow. That’s not just a hokey thing people say to sell books, it’s real. An agent should focus on the client and not on the end result. That belief is how I became a top producer.
This Sacramento REALTOR doesn’t have to look any further than her own back yard for evidence. For example, I was watching people stroll by a restaurant in Midtown the other day during lunch at the Bento Box over on 16th Street. A young woman got out of her car wearing a T-shirt that said Can’t Buy Me on the front. I thought hooray for her! No trendy designer logos for her. No Ralph Lauren or Tommy Hilfiger or Hollister. She would never sell out. As I was silently rooting for her nobleness, she walked into closer view and I could read the rest of it: Love was printed at the bottom. Not being a guy, I suppose she doesn’t understand. Not being an older woman, she truly doesn’t understand. Many of us would like that diamond ring.
My clients from Orangevale probably felt like I handed them a diamond ring last week. I called them after escrow closed to confirm that it had recorded and their transaction was over. We talked about how they had initially thought they were going to do a short sale for their home in Orangevale. You probably won’t find an agent who knows more about short sales in Sacramento than this agent. But I’ve also been selling traditional real estate for almost 39 years. After I looked at the comparable sales, part of me had agreed with them. But another part of me could see that if I was able to just push that sales price about $10,000, they could probably sell as an equity sale. What? Turn a short sale into an equity sale? You betcha.
I offered that option, and we opted to go that route. An equity sale. A regular real estate transaction. Yes, let’s turn a short sale into an equity sale.
The real estate market in Sacramento has calmed a bit since July. It’s slower and more reasonable. I say it’s just the lull before the storm that will hit after Labor Day. What you read in the paper happened months ago and is not today’s market; it never is. But even during this slower period over the summer, I was able to sell that home in Orangevale for all cash at the list price. After running the numbers for an estimated net sheet, I suspected that some of the bank payments might add up to more than the sales price. It’s better to make sure the buyer could cover those costs before going into escrow, so we drew a counter offer. It basically said the buyers would pay all of the closing costs and back payments in an amount not to exceed a certain price. That “certain price” was padded enough to allow for any hiccups.
Sure enough, it closed. The additional funds needed were about 1/3 of the estimated amount, which made the buyers ecstatic and the sellers relieved. The sellers were able to pay back all of their delinquent payments and pay off the loan. They stopped the foreclosure proceedings and avoided a short sale. They turned a short sale into an equity sale. The time period between when we put the home on the market and when it closed was about 2 weeks. The sellers couldn’t believe how fast it happened. This is what happens when an agent focuses on a resolution.
If you’re looking to buy or sell a home in Sacramento, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916 233 6759. Your home might be worth more than you think. You might be able to turn a potential short sale into an equity sale.
A Tip for Sacramento Real Estate Investors
At least a couple of times a week, this Sacramento REALTOR receives an email from a potential investor or investment group, wanting to buy homes in Sacramento. Many of these Sacramento real estate investors are investment LLCs are based in Sacramento. The managing partners and owners generally hold an active real estate license and are typically members of MetroList, our local MLS. This means they have the ability to look up homes to buy to their heart’s content . . . so, why do they email this real estate agent?
I imagine there are several possibilities. Some Sacramento real estate investors desire preferential treatment, they expect to be pushed to the front of the line in the event of multiple offers. An agent can’t grant that kind of preference because it’s against the law. To sweeten the deal and tempt agents who are, let’s just say perhaps lacking in ethics training, investors might offer to let the listing agent represent them in a dual agency situation and collect up to twice the commission. Although, they would not admit this to anybody’s face.
One investor went so far as to send me his list of “preferred” agents so I could look up the identity and records of all the real estate agents who were most likely to throw their sellers under the bus to work with him. Every one of those agents double-ended deals with that investor. Nice going. I’ll be on the look-out for those guys.
A better way to buy homes in Sacramento for an investment portfolio is NOT to try to bribe real estate agents. Although, I bet a few investors are reading this and sneering at the moment, while a few others are drawing a circle with a big red X over my face. A better way to buy homes in Sacramento is to follow the listings of the agents who tend to list a lot of property.
How would Sacramento real estate investors do that? It’s easy. Sort of like Twitter. Just set up a hotsheet search in MLS using that agent’s identification as the parameter — which is noted on every listing and can also be located under the Search tab for Agent / Office. Then, when that agent lists a new property, bingo, the MLS will email it to the investor who set up the search. I suspect a few Sacramento investors already have hotsheets set up for my Weintraub listings because some of them call me within minutes of a new listing hitting MLS.
If their offer is the best for the seller, the seller takes it. Sometimes, the early bird gets the worm. Investors don’t have to resort to under-handed tactics to buy homes in Sacramento.
Which reminds me, there is an article published today in the Billings Gazette (Montana) about investment groups. The reporter interviewed this Sacramento REALTOR and used my comments in a sidebar. You might be interested in reading Investors Hunting for Gold in Billings Real Estate Market. That advice applies nationwide.
Why Agent Feedback is Crucial to a Sacramento Agent
One of the services I provide for my sellers are listing updates with agent feedback. Nobody wants to list her home for sale in Sacramento and then hear nothing back whatsoever from her Sacramento real estate agent. A seller who never receives any communication from her agent might think her agent isn’t working on selling that listing, when little could be further from the truth. The agent could be working her tail off but just not pulling up any buyers. Some agents think if they have no news or no good news, then a seller doesn’t want to hear about it, but a seller wants to know everything.
Every night, before I leave my home office — way before my husband starts hollering at me to turn off the computer because dinner is ready — I check my home showings for the day. Each lockbox has a serial number engraved on it, which I register for each listing. As a result, I can lookup an online report to see who has accessed my Weintraub listings. The report tells me:
- The time the agent opened the lockbox to get the key
- The name of the agent’s broker
- The agent’s email address
- The agent’s office number
- The agent’s cellphone number
It’s also a helpful report if an agent has accessed a pending listing that should never, ever, be entered without express permission from the listing agent. Yet, some buyer’s agents will not bother to read MLS showing instructions or they figure the listing is vacant so it doesn’t matter. It does matter, and this Sacramento real estate agent will follow up to get agent feedback. My sellers deserve it. This is why in some areas of Sacramento where this kind of unauthorized activity is notorious, I might suggest a seller not allow a lockbox or I might remove it when the homes moves into pending status.
Every night I email agents for agent feedback to ask what their buyers thought of the home they toured that day. I offer my assistance. I try to find out if the agents have any questions or if their buyers have questions. I’m looking for positive and negative feedback, because my seller wants to hear all of it. And then I send the feedback to the my seller, even if it’s feedback I am afraid my seller might not want to hear.
Based on the agent feedback, we can make adjustments, if necessary, to the listing. It’s not always the sales price, either. You can bet that I will take a positive feature and run with the benefit when buyers gush over it. If there is a negative aspect, I’ll offer a solution.
If you want to buy or sell a home in Sacramento, call your Sacramento real estate agent, Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759, Lyon RE. Put 39 years of experience to work for you.
The Land Park Chihuahuas Go Home
Even the most optimistic people in the world like this Sacramento real estate agent can have a day when her belief in a positive outcome begins to wane. Take those darn Chihuahuas from Land Park, for example. I’d say please, take those Chihuahuas from Land Park except that my husband and I were successful. Yay! I had almost given up hope. We began calling rescue groups as we passed Day 7 of the lost Chihuahuas, when we found the owners of those lost dogs! Just minutes before a representative from a Chihuahua rescue group from Elk Grove was due to show up on our doorstep and take them off our back porch.
Just for the record, as some Chihuahua rescue groups were unaware, dogs taken to the SSPCA or the Animal Shelter stand about a 50% chance of being killed. These are NOT no-kill shelters.
Tracking down the owners was due in part to a client of mine. I’ve been running into my real estate clients lately in the oddest places. You know how sometimes you don’t expect to see anybody you know, and therefore you don’t recognize them when you spot them in a place where you don’t expect them to be, right? I’m not talking about a brothel or the police station, either. I mean, like, oh, say, a waiting room at Ellison Ambulatory on the hospital campus at U. C. Davis.
I was waiting for my physical therapist yesterday when a hospital employee strolled in front of me and began a long conversation with two patients. She was saying, NO! You don’t take off your leg. Never. Do I take off MY leg? Does your wife take off HER leg? You can’t help but look up when this kind of conversation takes place right in front of you. It was a huge argument. I found out that an artificial limb costs $80,000. As the discussion continued, I realized I knew the people standing in front of me. They were former clients to whom I had a sold a home near Land Park a few years ago.
Finally, I couldn’t stand it any longer and I spoke up. I said, “Would you like to hear my opinion?” But they did not recognize me. Which was too bad because I had a pretty good opinion about the matter. The hospital employee realized she should probably not be standing in public having this very vocal conversation with these two patients, but that didn’t stop her.
In this very same lobby hangs a photograph of a hospital employee who died a long time ago. It is a memorial to this employee with a plaque under the photo. I asked the receptionist behind the counter if it bothered her to have a photo of a dead person looming over her desk or if it was OK because the death wasn’t recent. I was curious. That’s when I found out this particular memorial for this individual is hung in many departments in U. C. Davis. That seems a little creepy to me, but maybe I’m just overly sensitive. But then I don’t work at U. C. Davis and I don’t have a little sign in front of me that says if I’m talking my lights will be illuminated. Although, as a Sacramento real estate agent, I guess I’m free to wear a reversible sign around my neck that says “out of service” when I’m talking on my Bluetooth.
After the patients finished their conversation and began to leave, I yelled: “Goodbye, John” (not his real name). They kept walking. I followed it up with: “Goodbye, Susan.” Wait a minute. They paused. Turned around. “Do we know you?”
See, this is what happens when you change the color of your hair.
Even my former client who came by the house yesterday with the two Chihuahuas in her car almost didn’t recognize me when I opened the door. She lives a few blocks away in Land Park. Those darn Chihuahuas had escaped from my yard while I was filling their bowls with dog food. But my neighbor had recognized the dogs from a flyer we had taped to a lamp post and brought them back. She suggested we call a person who might know who owned the dogs, and gave us a phone number.
Sure enough, just before dinnertime, the owners of the lost Chihuahuas showed up. They even brought a photo to prove the dogs belonged to them. See above. Aren’t they cute? I did not tell the woman and her daughter that at this point just about anybody who said they would love those dogs could have them. I also put the mother’s cell phone number in my address book, just in case those Chihuahuas make a second appearance.
If you’re looking to buy or sell a home in Sacramento, please call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916 233 6759. You never know where we might meet up later.
Truth in Advertising for Sacramento Real Estate
Is there such a thing as truth in advertising — especially when it comes to Sacramento real estate? I have learned first-hand that there is a difference between saying my business as a Sacramento real estate agent has exploded 1000 percent and saying it has exploded like a 1000 percent, when my business suddenly grew by leaps and bounds a ways back. Not to mention, some agents get very jealous when an agent says things like that, especially if they aren’t doing very well themselves.
I want you to know it’s not a petty nature that brings up the new advertising that the franchisor of Century 21 is doing to try to attract agents/ franchise buyers. I don’t need any more agents on the Elizabeth Weintraub Team, I don’t care what Century 21 does, and there is absolutely zero conflict nor green eyes here. Just truth-in-advertising issues. The advertising efforts of Century 21 are targeting other real estate agents, so that might be the reason all in itself for no apparent complaints. The new Century 21 ads show a person who does not really look like a Century 21 agent, doing spectacular things such as SCUBA with sharks, scratching the chin of a lion, and the ads say: This is a Century 21 agent.
Except it probably is not. It could be Photoshopped, too.
You’d think if it was a real agent, it would identify the real estate agent, and the ad contains no identification. The ad also does not disclose in the small print that the person pictured in the ad is a paid model and not really a real estate agent. I’d say that kind of marketing violates truth-in-advertising and not only in spirit. A lawyer might argue: Do you really believe a Century 21 agent can tame a lion, come on? Still, Century 21 should probably not advertise in this manner. It sort of lacks truthiness.
It reminds me of what happened a couple of days ago when I was contacted by a “book agent” from Local Einsteins Books. She asked me to write a chapter called: What to Know About Buying or Selling a Home in Downtown Sacramento. Why not the whole city, I wondered, I sell real estate throughout Sacramento and beyond. On the other hand, it’s not out of the ordinary for me to receive a pitch from a publisher. I have written many magazine and newspaper articles as former freelancer, authored a book: The Short Sale Savior, and I am paid to write about Home Buying for About.com, which draws upon my experiences as a top-producing Sacramento real estate agent.
Something about this “book editor’s” approach set off alarm bells. I went to the Local Einsteins website. The website goes to great lengths to talk about how the publisher presents this opportunity to only 4% of the real estate population. A red flag. Simon and Schuster doesn’t do this. I suspected the company probably doesn’t pay, in fact, I wouldn’t be astonished if the publisher asks the agents to pay to be published — there are a lot of companies that make money this way, believe or not. If you want to take money out of somebody’s pocket with great ease and slip it into your own pocket, there is hardly a better market to target than real estate agents — real estate agents are so easily sold.
The “book editor” said agents who write for them get 30% royalties. But each agent writes a chapter, so I imagine the payment is pretty small. It’s probably based on net, so if there are, say, 10 chapters (10 agents), and if the book nets, oh, how about $2.00 after expenses, maybe that means 10 cents a book. If they sell 100 books, it could be ten bucks. Buttttt, she stuttered: the exposure ** the publicity ** your name in lights ** ! Yeah, right. Where? Have you ever heard of Local Einsteins before? Do they enjoy SEO — I couldn’t find it in Google. Yet, I’m sure there are no shortage of Sacramento real estate agents lining up to become a “published author” of a chapter in a book for Local Einsteins Books. It just won’t be this Sacramento real estate agent. I wish them well. Every company has to make a buck somewhere. It’s what capitalism is all about.
I run a small business. A successful business. No time for crap. If you’re looking to buy or sell a home in Sacramento, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916 233 6759. You’ll be happy you did.
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