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Good Customer Service From a Sacramento REALTOR
On a real estate agent community website yesterday, an agent asked what makes good customer service. Some agents said under-promise and over-deliver. Others admitted it varies from each client’s perspective, while a few went off on whether customer service should be good or like Tony the Tiger says, GREAAAAAATTT.
I find this to be an interesting question because I’ve always employed just one tactic to provide good customer service: Keep the client happy. It seems so simple but it’s not. First and foremost, a Sacramento REALTOR needs to figure out what will make the client happy. Levels of happiness and the types of actions that make a person happy vary across the board. While one client might be happy that a REALTOR answers her phone, another might expect that phone to be answered on the first ring and disappointed if it takes 7 rings before the REALTOR picks up.
A potential seller who has several homes she wants to sell down the road and I talked yesterday about her listings, objectives, and how I work. She doesn’t like pushy agents who force an agenda or those who will say anything to close a transaction because they’ve got a mortgage to pay. Most of us don’t like high pressure sales or dishonesty.
I explained that her schedule is my schedule. If she is not in a rush, neither am I. If she wants to accept only an offer at X price, regardless of how long it takes, that’s fine with me because it’s what will make her happy, providing that X price is attainable. I’ll tell her if it is or if it isn’t. She can count on me to perform.
She’ll never wonder what’s going on in her transaction because I will tell her. Email, text, phone, pigeon carrier, whatever she prefers. Just joking about the bird. I will send a drone, heh, heh. Communication and keeping clients informed goes a long ways toward client happiness. I also know that when a person has a question, typically that person wants an answer and doesn’t want to wait forever to get it, which is why I try to always immediately respond. I hear more and more clients tell me that a fast response is what makes them happy.
Every client is important to this Sacramento Broker. I want that 5-star review and will earn it. Call Elizabeth Weintraub, Broker, #00697006, at 916.233.6759.
Hiring Friends or Relatives as Real Estate Agents to List a Home
This week has been busy fielding calls from sellers, many of whom either live in Davis or Elk Grove. When sellers call me to talk about selling a home, I first try to find out why they want to sell, who else they are talking to, and whether they have a price or timeframe in mind. I spend a great deal of time figuring out whether I should work with them or do much more than put together a comparative market analysis. Sometimes, by the time they get me on the line, they’ve already decided to hire friends or relatives as real estate agents.
It’s not that I don’t want to help people because I do. I love selling real estate, and sell millions every year. It’s my career. I’m devoted to it and focused on Sacramento real estate. The reason I do so well in real estate is because I spend my time working on listings that the sellers want to hire me to sell. I don’t spend a lot of time working on listings when sellers just want free advice or a second opinion, and they’ve already decided to hire somebody else. I’m not in the “free advice” business, even though that might be how some sellers view our industry. I work for my clients, those who hire me.
So, that can be a dilemma when sellers call me, this not realizing on their part that if they aren’t actually considering hiring me, they shouldn’t call. This isn’t Better Call Saul, you know. I often ask if they have another agent in mind and sometimes they don’t. Like this guy who has a home in Elk Grove to sell. We hit it off, and I offered him an appointment to sign documents after we discussed a reasonable price and why that price would work. He hesitated making the appointment and promised to call me back that afternoon. When he didn’t, I called him the following day. That’s another reason I am successful, because I follow up.
The story I got was his wife has a friend at work who sells real estate. When I asked if she was a part-time agent, the guy said he did not know, probably, but he would ask. Hmmm, the agent works with his wife. This guy has his choice of hiring a full-time professional agent with decades of experience and absolutely thrilled-to-the-bones clients. Or, he can hire a part-time agent with some day job whose track record he doesn’t know and whose ability to negotiate could be questionable. I offered to look up this agent’s performance and send him her stats, but he didn’t know her name.
Well, either that or he’s decided if Mama is happy, then everybody is happy — and the truth is I don’t need to take every single listing in Elk Grove. I’d rather work with the sellers who are eager to work with me. No need to be upsetting marriages. Besides, like he closed out the conversation: when it doesn’t work out, he’ll call me. And he very well might. I have a feeling he knows where he is heading. I’m often agent #2. If there has to be 2 or 3 agents, as there often is with friends or relatives, I’d rather be the last one.
Call Elizabeth Weintraub, Broker #00697006, at 916.233.6759.
Elizabeth Weintraub Top 1% Agent for 2018
This top 1% agent for 2018, namely yours truly, is not in this photograph as more beautiful women are. And why not? Josh Amolsch, Elizabeth Weintraub Team exclusive buyer’s agent (on the left), accepted the award on our behalf because yours truly is still hanging out in Hawaii. Oh, don’t worry, I’m finally coming home to Sacramento next week. Three and a half months of running amok on the Big Island is coming to an end.
In the middle, we have Sparkles (fits her personality to a T), who is the sister of the drop-dead gorgeous woman on the right, Victoria Gerassimenko. This summer, Victoria and Josh are getting married, and I could not be more excited for them. In fact, my own sister is a bit peeved with me, I suspect, because I had to switch around travel arrangements to make sure I would be available to attend their wedding in Lake Tahoe. Which meant my sister had to change her travel plans to come to Sacramento from Minnesota. I can hope she forgives me.
Last year was a bit tough in Sacramento real estate. We faced escalating prices, softening demand from buyers, and higher interest rates. Yet, we still placed as the top 1% agent for 2018, and I am proud of that fact. It is due to our well-oiled machine that keeps right on ticking when others drop the ball. I’ve got the best team members in the entire world, and I thank my lucky stars every single day. They are not just team members, they are my friends.
Here, from the left, is Dan Tharp, mortgage loan officer from Guild Mortgage, Shaundra Bradley, our wonderful transaction coordinator, and Josh Amolsch, exclusive buyer’s agent extraordinaire, accepting the top 1% agent for 2018 from the president of Lyon Real Estate.
Thank you, Dan, Rose, Shaundra, Josh, Vika, Sparkles, and everybody else who showed up on Friday to support the Weintraub Team at the Lyon Awards. I really enjoyed the hello video from Josh, too. Made me feel like I was there even though I’m relaxing on my lanai. Mahalo!
How to Sell Your House in the Fall Sacramento Market
If you’re looking for tips to sell your house in the fall Sacramento market, you’ve come to the right blog. I routinely sell a couple of homes a week on average so I manage a wide range of transactions. This gives me a unique perspective of the housing market in Sacramento. Because believe you me, I have been sailing high on the seller’s market in Sacramento for the past 7 years. It’s a little bit of a bummer to watch the tables turning, but that’s the cycle of life and of real estate. Gone is the “seller’s way or the highway.” New is: how can we help the buyer to purchase this home?
Does this mean multiple offers are a thing of the past? That’s what sellers want to know. The truth is there will always be multiple offers for beautiful and stunning homes or for severely underpriced homes. There will be no multiple offers anymore for the stuff that is in between. We have a lot of stuff, much inventory on hand that lies between gorgeous and cheap. That land known as average run-of-the-mill homes at a decent price. Or, otherwise referred to as: ain’t gonna sell come hell or high water. Because buyers today do not want an average home at a decent price.
In fact, I would say there is a huge disconnect between how sellers and buyers view the market. For starters, buyers are not crawling all over each other anymore to buy a home. They don’t want to overpay and are a bit uneasy purchasing. They will check with everybody within earshot for advice. To capture today’s home buyers your home needs to almost be perfect. This means no leaky roofs, busted water heaters, no black mold in the bathrooms, nor peeling and separating laminate floors, and certainly no creepy carpeting.
Sellers, if you want to sell your house in the fall Sacramento market, be ready to negotiate on price. It doesn’t matter too much your sales price. It can be right on the nose or lower than the comps. Whatever it is, if there is one little drawback to the house, you can bet a buyer will hit that price. That means if your home is worth $415,000, for example, and you want to sell at $415,000, it needs to be perfect. If it’s not perfect, a buyer might offer $395K. And after the home and pest inspection, the buyer will want more money or repairs. Buyers are driving sales.
If you’re not prepared to negotiate and give in to buyers, then your home should be in brand new condition. Completely remodeled, new appliances, flooring, paint and lighting. We don’t write the rules of Sacramento real estate, so don’t kill the messenger. This is just the way it is in our present real estate market. You either work within the confines of the market or you can just not sell your house. Your listing agent is not a magician. She can’t manufacture demand that does not exist.
Just a quick run in MLS shows over 3,374 residential listings in Sacramento County. That’s a big uptick from our August 2018 Sacramento Housing Report. Although, we’ve had that kind of inventory in 2014, when we had more buyers. Now, only 1,594 sales have closed over the past 30 days, and a mere 1,188 are pending. We are slowing down instead of going like gangbusters as we have in previous Septembers.
I met with sellers yesterday who need to do a bit of work before selling. They have a list of projects from me. If they don’t do the work, then they need to drop their expectations on price by about $30,000 to $40,000. There is no way around this. It’s not like a seller can simply wait a few months for the market to improve. The market is not about to improve for sellers so no amount of waiting will pay off. Don’t kick yourself that you didn’t sell early spring. Spring has come and gone and next spring won’t be as pretty. Don’t lament the past. Deal with the here and now.
If you were waiting for the perfect time to sell your house, when all the stars were aligned, anytime within the past 7 years would have been a good time. However, if you want to maximize profit potential today, the best way to sell your house in the fall Sacramento market is to rely on the advice and negotiation skills from a strong listing agent. Since I fit that bill, I offer my services to you. You can call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759 and put 40+ years of experience to work for you.
Elizabeth Weintraub Still Lyon Real Estate Top Producer Recipient
Top 1% at Lyon Real Estate, Elizabeth Weintraub is in front row wearing pink.
Holy cow, I can’t believe how busy I’ve been that I have spaced out making a formal announcement in my blog about two recognitions I received last week as a Lyon Real Estate top producer. The first recognition was for 15 years at Lyon Real Estate. This place is the longest I have worked anywhere in my life. No joke. I got my start in real estate as a title policy typist in 1974, so that gives me 44 years in this business. At the time, it was just a job to get me out of the mountains in Denver and back into civilization.
From there, I marched into my boss’s office. Stated I would go stark raving mad if I continued to type title commitments. On a typewriter. With carbon paper. He told me if I expected a promotion to go across the street to a different title company. That attitude, of course, led to long lunches while I interviewed at other companies. My boss broke down and promoted me to title searcher. I aced that position and abruptly moved to southern California, where I entered the world of escrow. Eventually as a certified escrow officer specializing in creative financing, which led me to get my real estate license.
It was a roller coaster ride through many different ventures in real estate. For a while in the 1990s, I ran a company called Equity Enhancement in Minneapolis. Prior to the inception of home staging. While in the process of buying and flipping homes, I also helped other agents by advising sellers on prep work. I also did the work suggested myself. Yup, I painted, hung drywall, installed new light fixtures, fixed broken dishwashers, you name it. I could do it. I also worked a couple of other jobs in marketing so I could qualify to take out loans to do my real estate.
But it wasn’t until I landed in Sacramento that I really focused back on client-centered real estate. I started working with buyers from the seminar business as first-time investors in the late 1970s. And now I work with sellers. A complete 180. My office recognized me last week as a Lyon Real Estate Top Producer because it named me the #1 agent in the downtown Lyon Real Estate office for 2017. This is an honor I have held for so many years now I’ve lost count. Some other deserving agent is sure to take over that position down the road.
Interesting enough, when I moved to Sacramento in 2002, I wasn’t focused on real estate. We were buying our home in Land Park, where we still live today. I sat in the lobby of the downtown office telling my husband that that this is the place where I would work. Even though I had no concrete plan about staying in real estate, really. And sure enough, not only do I still work at this office after 15 years, I am now a Lyon Real Estate Top Producer. This is in addition to winning the #2 Award at Lyon Real Estate for the entire company a few weeks ago.
I wonder if this qualifies as being an adult?
