The Sacramento Story of Selling a Highwater Bungalow in Midtown

Just before I went to Hawaii for 3 weeks in March, I got involved in selling a highwater bungalow in Midtown. The seller called to ask if I would stop by his home to visit. He explained that he had been interviewing other Sacramento real estate agents, including a discount agent who works for peanuts. For some reason, he wasn’t happy with the selection or maybe he just wanted confirmation that he was one the right track. You never really know as a Sacramento Realtor whether the seller is interviewing you because he actually wants your opinion and to possibly hire you. He could just want to feel like he’s completed due diligence but has already settled on a different Realtor.

But I see these as opportunities to showcase what I can do and explain my skillset. Typically, even if the seller might have originally considered a different agent, they do decide to hire me afterward. So it’s not a waste of my time. I like meeting new people and talking about what I can do to help sell their home.

The trouble with this particular story of selling a highwater bungalow in Midtown is the fact all of the other agents gave the seller much lower estimates of value. They were off by $40,000 to $50,000. That’s enormous for a small one bath home under $500,000. My job, the way I saw it, was to convince the seller I was correct and everybody else was wrong. Which is kinda hard when you don’t even know the person you’re talking to.

It’s a risk, the seller could think oh, she’s crazy, or she’s just telling me that to get the listing. Because they don’t know me, either. They don’t realize that is not something I would ever do because it’s unethical and lacks integrity. Now, I don’t know if another agent could sell the home at the same price that I suggested because I use different marketing than many other agents. But I know what I can do.

I suggested he call my stager and do a scaled down staging and make a few repairs, and then I left for Hawaii. My team member put on a lockbox and let the photographer inside. Once in Hawaii, I uploaded the photographs and set the listing to go live in MLS at a predetermined time. Ten days on the market resulted in our offer. From a brand new agent who could not get his digital files to work correctly. He was so frustrated that in inadvertently sent me his buyer’s email addresses by mistake. He tried a number of times to get the paperwork signed and could not.

Finally, I put his buyer’s email addresses into DocuSign myself and sent off the paperwork for signature with a CC to the agent to receive the executed version. I know I’m not supposed to do that, but I just did it. Just lucky I guess because the agent was grateful. I do what it takes. Then I helped to guide the agent through the steps of escrow. He did a fabulous job, too. The buyer’s agent told me yesterday this was his first transaction. Like I didn’t know it, LOL. Hey, everybody is new once.

My seller made a lot of money, much more than he ever thought possible. $50,000 richer than he would have been with some other agent. Even though his home was built in 1910 and the reports were what I called “grim,” the seller did not make any repairs, not give credits, nor renegotiate. I guess selling a highwater bungalow in Midtown really doesn’t get any better than that. I’m so glad he chose me. I know he is feeling it as well!

1500 24th Street, Sacramento, CA 95816 sold at $485,000 and closed April 30th, 2018.