Show Sacramento Homes That Fit Buyer Requirements

Real estate agents who show Sacramento homes should try to match buyer needs.

How hard is it to show Sacramento homes that fit what a buyer is looking for? It can be somewhat challenging in our particular market at the moment because we don’t have enough homes for sale, especially in certain neighborhoods; yet, an agent should still use her noggin’ when showing homes, don’t you agree? Nobody wants to waste time looking at homes one would not in a million years buy, right? This is why not every agent in town can be an extraordinary homebuying agent. It takes a knack and experience.

This is not to say that a real estate agent might not explore / challenge and / counsel a home buyer about certain parameters, to make certain the agent fully understands the buyer’s needs. That kind of full service is what an agent is supposed to do. An agent might also try to expand the parameters in a tight market like Sacramento to determine whether a home in a nearby neighborhood might also work. The professional Realtors like those who are part of the Elizabeth Weintraub Team try to overturn every rock.

We consider every opportunity and will present those opportunities to the buyer with the caveat that it might not precisely fit 100% of the requirements. We want to show Sacramento homes that a buyer is likely to purchase. But we don’t just drag a buyer over to a random home to ask: what do you think? We discuss it first. We send listings and we call / text back and forth about the pros and cons. A fully informed buyer is a happy buyer.

I know how disturbing a buyer can feel when her agent decides to show Sacramento homes that are not a good fit. In fact, it reminds me of that commercial from years ago, put out by a brokerage we, in the 1970s, used to call the yellow-jacket real estate company. The commercial was a twist on a buyer’s disappointment who wanted a single-level home when shown all 2-story homes. Its point was those agents listen to buyers and will show Sacramento homes that fit what the buyers want. Because many do not.

I can’t count how many times I receive buyer feedback from buyer agents who tell me the home was not at all what the buyers were looking for because it was a) too small or b) not enough bedrooms or c) too old. It makes me wonder how upset the buyers must be. Those are all parameters clearly laid out in MLS, which means the home should never have have been on the agent’s list to show in the first place. I also realize that some real estate agents do not fully read the MLS.

A few days ago, an agent called to say she could not figure out how to show a home listed in Carmichael. As the listing agent, I tried to show empathy. I said, “I understand, it is really confusing for you.” And the agent replied: “Yes, those showing instructions read ‘no showings 4/8-11’ and you should really fix that.”