Email ElizabethIs Your Home for Sale at Too Low of a Price?
Sellers are often amazed when they immediately receive an offer after going on the market in Sacramento. Part of that amazement comes from not fully realizing the reach and breadth of our MLS and Internet marketing. Everything is instant nowadays. People have no patience for anything. They want it now, and two hours ago would be even better. However, when you consider the fact that we are now in a seller’s market — which means buyers are camped out in your back yard, lurking around the corner, ready to jump out at you when you take out the morning trash and shout SURPRISE, here is a full price offer plus a little bit more — it is not really amazing at all to get a fast response on your home for sale.
But there will always be sellers who genuinely believe that if they receive an offer as soon as the home goes on the market, they must have priced it too low. I don’t know where they get that idea. They could have priced that home in Sacramento at such a high price point where it won’t ever appraise until Honey Boo Boo grows up to become president, god forbid, but buyers still might make an offer on that home for sale. The price of a home can make or break a transaction, and homes that won’t appraise are unlikely to close escrow.
But then a seller will have the right to march around and tell all her friends that she got a whopping offer for her house but the appraisal just messed up everything. That appraisers don’t know what they are doing. And some of them don’t. That’s part of the problem, too.
I tell my sellers to respond to offers within 2 to 3 days. Buyers don’t like to wait more than a day or two at the most. It’s possible that subsequent offers might be higher but they might not. The best offer is not always the highest. Sometimes the best offer is your first offer and sometimes it’s not. There is no hard and fast rule for offers on a home for sale.
But just because you received an offer right away doesn’t mean you’ve priced it too low. It means you have priced it just right.
Two New Home Listings in Sacramento
Before I tell you about new home listings, let me share that I am sitting here in the waiting room in the basement of Mercy Hospital in East Sacramento. The hospital has WiFi. I am thrilled. My husband is here for a routine procedure, and I am not allowed to tell you anything about it. In fact, I’m not even sure he would want me to say that we are at the hospital. He says under no uncertain terms am I to say anything about his medical health, his checkups, his medical history or any kind of procedures that he may or may not be having.
Unlike woman, you know. We share everything with people. We go into excruciating detail. You wanna see photos? We’ll show you photos. Nothing is all that sacred. When the nurse poked her head through the door to inform me that my husband was comfortable and I could visit with him at bedside, I had my yogurt on my right, my cellphone at my left, my diet Pepsi on the chair rail and my laptop in my lap. Nope, I’m good. She picked up the Sacramento Bee from the floor and said he preferred to read the newspaper anyway and, besides, she looked at me sideways with that kind of smirking grin like she knows something I don’t, and added: “You’re addicted to that thing anyway,” and she marched away.
It would seem that my husband can talk about me and my quirky habits, but I am not allowed to discuss anything about him. Therefore, I am not going to talk about why I have to sit in the hospital waiting room as I type my morning blog, I’ll just get right to recent events.
I have two new listings that came on the market this morning. There is also an article that I believe will be published in the Sacramento Business Journal tomorrow that should feature some kind of insight from me and a photo of me with my Fair Oaks seller in his kitchen. It’s something about the market and the direction it is heading. I don’t really recall the interview because I talk to so many people every day. I just hope I said something intelligent that was selected for print and not one of my more doofus types of statements. I hope one eye doesn’t look bigger than the other in print, which sometimes happens to my eyes in photographs. Makes me look like an orangutan.
My Fair Oaks seller’s kitchen is beautiful, though. He just installed new granite counters, to complement the rest of the remodeling. The home is beautiful, but it’s the magnificent view of the forest in the back that will cement the deal for you. It will be open on Sunday from 2 to 4 PM. The address is 4552 Wawona Circle in Fair Oaks, and it’s offered for $359,000.
My second new listing is at 2636 Dobbins Way, just north of El Camino near Business 80. It’s located in a pocket of newer homes on a quiet cup-de-sac. The home features 4 bedrooms, 3 baths and was built in 2006. Best of all is the fabulous price of $159,000, and there is no HOA! It will also be held open on Sunday from 2:00 to 4:00 PM. If you would like information on new home listings, just give us a ring at 916.233.6759.
Sacramento Sellers Hounded By So-Called Short Sale Agents
I don’t ordinarily like to expose or discuss the underbelly of the real estate business, but I will if I believe it has value to the consumer. There are some agents who talk trash about other real estate agents just to make themselves look better by comparison, which is kind of scummy and throws a person into the same camp. But there are good and bad professionals in any business, anywhere you look. Sometimes, it just might seem like there is more disparity in real estate. Perhaps because there are so many of us — something like one out of every 35 people in California holds a real estate license.
Take one of my new clients, for example. While talking to this seller last week — who is about to embark on a short sale — he told me something must have happened recently to trigger all the calls from short sale agents. He said his phone had been ringing off the hook with offers of “assistance.” He was very surprised at the nature and tone of some of those calls and wondered how they got his number. The sad thing is, nowadays, falling behind in your mortgage payments can trigger such a flood of harassing soliciting calls.
First, nobody should attempt to do a short sale by hiring some agent who calls out of the blue or shows up on their doorstep. You should get your short sale agent from word of mouth or through research. Ever since the booming end of the colossal short sale era in 2012, agents have been frantically trying to grab that elusive golden ring of short sales. Even if they have no idea what they are doing or they have attended a half-day class and are now calling themselves an “expert” in short sales — how is a seller supposed to know if they are fakes?
Second, a seller should not be forced to do a short sale, pushed into a short sale or talked into doing a short sale. If a seller doesn’t want to do a short sale, why should that seller be harassed called by other agents who are trying to get some business? Agents typically don’t go around calling complete strangers and pushing them to sell. But some agents will do it to a seller who has an underwater home.
The way they get the seller’s phone number is by subscribing to a service that provides it or by getting it directly from the bank. Some banks such as Wells Fargo and Chase Bank have been reaching out (ack, I hate that term and look, here I am using it) to real estate agents and promising them short sales in exchange for a little mortgage business. They give the agents a list of sellers who are in default (behind in their payments), and agents cold call this list and try to persuade a seller to list with them as a short sale. It wouldn’t be so bad it were only one agent doing this, but it’s dozens of them and. in many cases, these are first- or second-year agents without a lot of experience. Because veteran real estate agents typically do not cold call.
The other way they find out is by asking a title company to provide them with a list of homes in preforeclosure or by subscribing to a private service that provides them with this very public information, or going to the office of the county recorder to find the information in person. Some agents belong to a program called HR 3648, which I suggest you steer clear from. A nonprofit director called me the other day to say she received a letter from HR 3648 that made it look like it was part of Keep Your Home California.Org. I did a search on that website and could not find Program 3648. No surprise.
If you’re looking for an experienced Sacramento short sale agent, ask for a referral, and you might very well be referred to me. I have a lot of previous satisfied short sale clients, hundreds of them. You can research my professional stats, or you can just call Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916 233 6759, Lyon Real Estate.
What You Need to Know About The Short Sale Approval Letter
Bank of America broke out its Cooperative Short Sale program in California about 3 years ago. Since then, many short sale agents have taken advantage of the fact that they can get their sellers preapproved for the program prior to going on the market. Preapproved is probably not the right word, although, that’s pretty much what happens. Preapproved suggests that nothing can go wrong, and things can go wrong.
For example, a preapproved Cooperative Short Sale seller last year lost her chance to close on a short sale because Bank of America assigned the loan servicing in the middle of her short sale. The new lender did not participate in the cooperative short sale program, so she was denied. She was denied because under ordinary circumstances, this seller had too many assets and her disposable income was too high. There was no hardship.
Some sellers think that they when they receive the Buyer Acknowledgement of Interest that they will receive a short sale approval letter before submitting an offer, but that’s not how the program works. First a seller will receive the BAI, and then a valuation letter. The valuation letter assesses and predetermines the minimum approved listing price. If that price is reasonable, you’re in luck. If it’s not, you’re kinda hosed. Most of the time, though, unless the investor is Fannie Mae, that price is reasonable.
Then the home goes on the market at the preapproved sales price. Generally, the seller does not submit financials nor a hardship letter unless the investor specifically requests it after the offer has been submitted. The short sale approval letter arrives after Bank of America has approved the purchase offer and the buyer. The buyer is named in the short sale approval letter and generally another buyer cannot be substituted.
In California, a deficiency judgment is not permitted, and by agreeing to do the short sale, the bank waives any right to pursue a deficiency judgment. If the property is a personal residence, odds are the seller will qualify for relief from paying any taxes on the amount of the mortgage that was forgiven. Talk to your personal accountant and seek legal advice before starting a Cooperative Short Sale so you feel comfortable moving forward. Do not ask your Sacramento short sale agent for legal or tax advice.
The short sale approval letter will arrive somewhere between 10 days and 4 weeks after the offer is submitted to the bank. The letter will most likely give the seller 30 days to move, so a seller might want to start making plans to relocate when the home goes on the market, especially in our fast-moving Sacramento seller’s market. Sometimes extensions are granted but not always. Sometimes, instead of granting an extension, the bank makes the seller start over with the short sale and will order a new valuation, which could increase the value for the buyer, if the buyer elects to wait. It’s not a good idea to ask for an extension because it is risky.
Bank of America will also require that the seller have no preexisting relationship with the buyer. Can’t have done business with the buyer or know the buyer or be related to the buyer. Selling to a friend could be fraudulent if the bank doesn’t know about it. If the bank proves mortgage fraud, it could overturn the deficiency waiver, so it’s just not worth it to try to manipulate the stipulations. If you know a person whom you believe has committed mortgage fraud, you can notify the bank anonymously at 866.880.1232. There is no reason to gamble with your short sale.
If you’d like more information about a Cooperative Short Sale in the Sacramento metro area, call your Sacramento short sale agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916.233.6759 for a confidential consultation by phone.
The One Tool a Sacramento Real Estate Agent Needs
Besides a charming personality, which certainly helps a Sacramento real estate agent to get along with people, the number one tool an agent needs is a cellphone. But it goes beyond that. You can’t just buy a cellphone and stay in business. To stay in the business, you’ve got to actually answer your phone. It sounds so simple, so easy to do that people might scoff at this and believe anybody can answer the phone, even a trained monkey can answer the phone, and they would be wrong. There are many real estate agents who don’t answer the phone.
I know this because when potential clients call this Sacramento real estate agent, the first thing they say is: “Am I talking to a real person?” or “I can’t believe I have a live person on the phone.” For that reason alone, I’m getting the business and not some other agent in Sacramento. I’d like to think that people are working with me because I’m witty, fun to be around, smart, I’ve got years of experience, and I care about them, but no. They work with me because I answer my darn phone.
Yesterday, I held 6 open houses in Sacramento. It’s hard enough to believe that I have six homes for sale in Sacramento that have not yet sold, but five of those have not been on the market for very long. It was National Open House Weekend. It was also Lyon Real Estate’s Extravaganza Sunday. Ordinarily, open houses do not sell houses but they don’t hurt the sale process, either. It’s good to let people know the inventory is there.
Two hours before an open house was scheduled to begin on a brand new listing that just hit the market on Friday, the agent called to say she was sick. Because she was so ill, she couldn’t hold open the house. My commitments conflicted with the Open and could not be changed, but I would be danged if I would let down a client to whom I promised the home would be open. None of my Elizabeth Weintraub Team members could do it because they already had open houses scheduled. If push came to shove, I decided, I would find a way to be in two places at once. But first, I called my back-up open house agents, those who are eager to meet and greet the public.
I called 21 real estate agents. Of those, 3 answered the phone. A fourth called me right back because she was with a client at another open house and could not answer her phone. Another returned the call a few hours later when she noticed that a person had hung up who had called her, and she wondered who it was. I left messages for four of them and not one returned my call. The 3 who answered the phone had other commitments themselves that afternoon, but I noted the fact that they answered their phone. If I’m ever in this pickle again, they are the agents I will call.
The fourth agent who was busy with a potential client is the agent who agreed to hold the home open. She finished her early open house just as mine was about to start. She rushed over and there were already people on the front porch waiting for her to open the door. I will call her again, too. She has all the marks of going far in this business. In my book, she’s my go-to open house agent. The one you can count on in an emergency. When you need something done, you call a busy person. When that busy person answers the phone, you’ve come to the right place.
If you’re looking for a Sacramento real estate agent, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916 233 6759. I’m a busy agent who answers her phone.
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