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How to Customize Sacramento Listings to Reach Targeted Buyers
The Weintraub cats snoozing on a Sunday afternoon, Jackson, Tessa and Horatio.
To customize a Sacramento listing, especially to target certain buyers, you’ve got to know your audience. That’s the first rule of listing customization. When I walk into a home for a listing presentation, I pay close attention to the way the home is decorated and to the people who live in it. I am replacing the people who live in it with new people. And for most practical purposes, the new people generally tend to share things in common with the existing homeowners. People who are alike gravitate toward certain products.
Once you know your audience, that is the buyers you want to target, you can design a marketing campaign to reach those people. It can be simple things from the way the home is presented in MLS, to the words chosen to describe it and the places where buyers find the home. Or, it can be more complicated and marketed to specific mailing lists. Each listing I take is different because the people and the homes are different. I think about the preferences in music, books, TV Shows, extracurricular activities of my targeted buyers.
I would like to believe that all Realtors will customize Sacramento listings, but I know they do not. Some walk through the home and shoot vertical cellphone pictures. I don’t know how they sleep with themselves at night. As hokey as it sounds, each home has a certain feel to it. My plan is to turn that emotion into buying verbiage. To present the benefits in such a way my targeted buyers feel they absolutely must go see the home. I stand in the home and absorb it.
The second way to customize Sacramento listings is to find that one thing that propels purchasing buyer. There is always something. For example, it’s a known fact that buyers generally know whether they want to buy a home within the first 3 seconds of entering the home. It’s my job to find what they spot or feel during that first 3 seconds and transform that energy into clarity for them. I don’t want buyers to second guess. It should be right in front of them. Easily understandable.
There is always a way to make things work. The third way to customize Sacramento listings is to get rid of the things that interfere with the first two rules. When we decided to adopt a third cat in our household, we needed the perfect cat that would blend in with our existing two cats. Our adoption wasn’t just about Horatio, we had to take Tessa and Jackson into consideration. But, hey, that thought process paid off. Look at how well those three cats sleep together now.
If you’re looking to sell a home in Sacramento, why not call a Sacramento Realtor who treats each listing as a precious commodity that deserves her 100% attention? Put 43 years of experience to work for you. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.
One Year to Close Chase FHA Short Sale in Carmichael
Chase FHA short sale in Carmichael closed 12 months from listing.
Whose problem is it when a Chase FHA short sale takes more than a year to close escrow? I get so many calls from home buyers wondering why is that Carmichael short sale still for sale month after month, and I feel like telling them to go look in the mirror. Yet, this home I only sold 3 times, so that’s about right, on average it works out to about 4 months for each buyer. I am one of the few agents in Sacramento who will handle a short sale, which is why I have sold more short sales than anybody over the past 10 years.
That’s because I don’t need it to close in 30 days or 60 days to pay my bills, like some agents. If the lender messes up, I can fix it; plus, I’ll still stay dedicated to the transaction. I don’t bail when the going gets rough. If the buyer cancels, I’ll find another buyer. I don’t give up. I don’t take no for an answer. There is always a way to close a transaction, even a Chase FHA short sale.
We listed this home a year ago. Got a buyer, all documents submitted to the lender right away, and we received the Approval to Participate in the FHA short sale program in record time. Things were looking up. We postponed the trustee’s auction a couple of times and were on the verge of getting the approval letter when the buyer suddenly canceled after 6 weeks. And that’s when the file started to go head downhill.
Sold again immediately to a set of investors represented by their mother, a real estate agent. We burned through 5 negotiators for this Chase FHA short sale when things became very twisted and convoluted. Just as we were about to receive approval, the negotiator at Chase realized the buyer’s agent was related to the buyer and she denied the file. The solution, of course, was for the buyer to be represented by another agent, but the mother said no way, Jose. If I can’t get paid, we’re not closing.
Yeah, way to win Mother of the Year award.
The buyers canceled and we found new buyers and put them into escrow. Submitted all of the paperwork. Then, for some unknown reason out of the blue, Chase decided to approve the first set of buyers as long as the mother substituted a new buyer’s agent. The mother finally gave in, hired another agent, unwound the cancellation and we got approval. Eureka. The poor buyers whose offer we submitted was ignored by Chase. How do you like those apples? Chase approved the wrong file.
We moved through the home inspection and were getting ready to close when the investor buyers and their mom for unknown reasons abruptly canceled. Maybe their mother found them a deal she could get paid more on? Stranger things have happened. I went back to the second set of buyers who were shoved aside by Chase to ask if they were still interested. Their agent said far as he was concerned, they are still in contract. So we moved ahead with them.
Just as we were ready to fund, the negotiator at Chase noticed the buyer’s lender and the buyer’s agent had the same address. So he denied the closing. Conflict, he said. Chase gave the impression it did not want to approve the short sale, but I knew they would. The bank was just inept. So the buyers hired a new buyer’s agent and prepared again to close. This time the negotiator objected to the seller signing on the wrong line and asked to have the arm’s length resigned.
But you know, it closed yesterday. At the 11th hour. Just before the expiration. It closed at the same price we started at a year ago. So when you see a short sale has been on the market for a long time, this is probably what’s going on. If you need a Chase FHA short sale to sell, I’m the Sacramento Realtor who can get it done. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.
A Sacramento Realtor Never Loses That Personal Touch
This Sacramento Realtor offers a personal touch from start to finish.
Sometimes, if you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself, to lend that personal touch. That kind of reasoning can hold you back from obtaining monumental success, however. Because most of the truly successful people in the world who catapult themselves to the top of the money heap rely on somebody else to do the job for them.
They delegate. They choose wisely. They let go and learn how to accept, if necessary, mediocrity. Because nobody is ever gonna do the job the same way as you would. That’s just fact, Jack. Yet, there is no mediocrity in my world; I won’t allow it. My standards are high.
Remember way back when they used to say the most important person at any given company was the receptionist? In some ways it was even true. First point of contact. Impressions formed. But today most of those people have vanished. We have voice mail. Nobody answers their phone. And many executives don’t even have a secretary anymore to rely upon. It’s a miracle anything ever gets done correctly in our isolated, assembly-line and remote-controlled worlds.
Which is why my clients like the fact that some of the more important aspects of real estate still retain a personal touch by their Sacramento Realtor. Every client deserves my individual attention. Yeah, the problem with that kind of attitude is I will never close 1,000 homes a year in Sacramento. In fact, I may never close 300 homes a year. But when you figure most real estate agents close only 3 to 4 homes a year, my present production level tends to blow people away.
I expect to be good at my job. I strive for excellence. My personal touch is involved in every aspect of listing and selling a home. I don’t agree to accept mediocrity, and that’s what passing the buck means when it comes right down to it. Besides, some of us are Type A personalities and we can’t hand over the keys to our business to anybody else. We want to be the driver, sick little puppies that we are. We’re the kind of people who live to plan and carry through our plans.
If you can believe it, I often spend hours pouring over photographs for my listings. I inspect the 20 to 30 angle shots of the pool, hoping to capture the light just right. I considered the close-ups, adjusting the focus on objects in the distance, making sure fence lines are level both horizontally and vertically so it’s pleasing to the eye and not out of balance. I compensated for the shadows and brightened dark areas. I agonized over photos of the front of the home.
Nothing I hate more than having a concrete mess as the main focus of a home. Too many driveways dominate photographs online.
In the end, my goal is thrilled clients. When they’re happy, so am I. Because if your photographs don’t look good online, your home doesn’t look good online, and it’s not in my DNA to let that happen. When you hire Elizabeth Weintraub as your Sacramento Realtor, I personally oversee every aspect of your transaction. You get that personal touch, no matter what. Call 916.233.6759.
How Fast Can Realtors List Houses for Sale in Sacramento?
The timeframes for listing houses for sale in Sacramento vary among Realtors.
You would be amazed at how fast Realtors can list houses for sale in Sacramento. Well, maybe not all Sacramento Realtors, but this agent is organized. If you call me in the morning, I can research the comparable sales for your home, draw the paperwork, run over to complete my visual inspection and shoot professional photographs, and your home can be in MLS by late afternoon. It’s not the way I prefer to list houses for sale in Sacramento, but sometimes sellers need an emergency listing. I accommodate.
Chuckle as you may, but emergency listings happen more often than most people probably think. Some pop up out of the blue. I may never have spoken to the seller before the day she calls. She might need an appointment in a few hours. Or, I might be working with a seller for months and months before he is ready to go on the market but when that moment arrives, it needs to be right now. No problem.
I don’t always have the luxury of time. Ordinarily, it may take me several hours to prepare a comparative market analysis, depending on where the home is located and other factors such as condition, upgrades, market temperature, demand and positioning. If I have my druthers, I often hire a third-party photographer with more time and better equipment to deliver HD photographs. That appointment alone can take several days to obtain. Then, there’s also the preparation time to tweak and deliver the photos to my email. The average time involved in listing houses for sale in Sacramento is generally a week.
But if you need your house on the market immediately, I can do that, too. In fact, I talked with a seller last night about listing her home in Roseville. Laid out how the process works, how long it will take to sell, and let her know I can still score a four-color online and inprint Sac Bee ad in our Open House Extravaganza for this coming weekend. We could be on the market by Thursday night. Set an appointment for 4 PM today to prepare an inspection, attach a lockbox, sign paperwork. This seller should be in escrow at least by December 20th, by my calculations.
Just as I was beginning to implement my organizational chart, the seller emailed to say they were not selling the house after all. Well, that’s OK; when she changes her mind tomorrow, next year or 10 years from now, she knows where to find me. Elizabeth Weintraub is not going anywhere. If you need an emergency Realtor for listing houses for sale in Sacramento, just call 916.233.6759.
Sacramento Seller Dumps Discount Agent for Elizabeth Weintraub
A discount agent cannot possibly deliver the same quality of work as a 40-year veteran in real estate.
Sacramento sellers who don’t know any better might wrongly believe a discount agent is a better choice when it comes time to sell a home. I write about this topic from time to time because it can come up during a listing presentation. A seller might act, for example, like he only wants to hire this experienced Sacramento Realtor, but when I get over to the home, complete my visual inspection and shoot photographs, that’s when the bomb goes off.
Oh, they say, forgot to mention we are talking to a discount agent, and he will do everything you will do for less money. Um, no, he won’t. He might say he will, but he won’t. Nobody can do what I do except for me. And then I have to explain in detail what kind of magic my particular skill-set brings to a transaction. How a monkey can pop a sign in the yard, but it takes experience to go from a signed contract to closed sale. Why would you want a cheap agent?
Many discount agents are paid a salary by their broker, and there’s a reason they can’t make it on commissions.
Apart from that, who will negotiate the request for repair and deal with unreasonable home buyers? Who will vet the buyer and the buyer’s agent? Does the discount agent even know the Realtors who work in this area? How can a newer agent anticipate problems and head them off before they happen when there is no magnitude of experience?
The seller shook his head and said he didn’t know which agent to believe, but he would choose the discount agent. We’re all the same to him, even though we are not. He would do it to save on the front end, and then he will lose even more on the back end. He’ll be in the negative with a discount agent. That’s a lose / lose proposition in my book, but the seller’s choice to make.
He listed with the discount agent, much to my dismay. I saw the listing was still pending after 5 weeks, which is never a good sign. Then, out of the blue, yesterday the seller called and asked if I would pick up the pieces of his broken listing and start over with him. He needed to learn the hard way. We all have our own way of learning the lessons of life, and it’s OK. Of course I prefer to be hired as the first agent, but I have no real objection to being the second or third agent.
Either way, I will sell the home. And I will never say I told you so. I’ve listed his home in Curtis Park, and we’ll be live on the market next Friday.
If you would like to make the right decision at the beginning, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.
