Email Elizabethchoosing a listing agent in sacramento
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.
The Standard Commission Rate for Sacramento Real Estate
Choose a Sacramento listing agent on experience and not her standard real estate commission.
It doesn’t matter if it’s the first words or the last, if a seller is basing her (or his) decision to hire a Sacramento Realtor solely on commission as a qualifying factor, that seller is missing out on several crucial opportunities. Some people don’t understand, and they will never understand no matter how many ways it is expressed, and I get that. They are looking for a standard commission rate for Sacramento real estate. I mean, they go into a grocery store to pick up a loaf of bread, and with all things mostly equal, typically will choose the bread that is on sale, even if it’s stale. But that method is the absolutely wrong way to go about picking a Sacramento Realtor.
For starters, the law says I have to explain that there is no standard commission rate for Sacramento real estate and all commission is negotiable, even though many top producers like myself set our own rates, and we don’t budge; we typically do not negotiate against ourselves. Because that would be stupid and senseless. We are not stupid.
Then, there are the middle-of-the-road agents who establish lower rates for themselves because they are not worth the higher rates. Who works for less if they don’t have to? Finally, there are the agents who routinely advertise they will list a home and charge an incredibly low percentage, maybe even just a flat fee to pop that baby into MLS, because that’s the best way they figure that they can grab a listing. Skim those price shoppers off the top and drop them into their pocket.
Personally, I wish more of those price shoppers would get skimmed off the top so they won’t call me. Instead, those Smart Car drivers (no offense, Margie), want to take their vehicles to the Lamborghini dealer for service. The problem with telling sellers that commissions are negotiable is we confuse the daylights out of these guys. They tend to insist we top tier agents discount our commission and, when we refuse, they get upset (enfadado). I do not overcharge. I charge exactly what I am worth and what the market demands of my services. Same commission for the last 4 decades. That’s the Elizabeth Weintraub standard commission rate for Sacramento real estate. Some sellers give me gifts at closing. They are elated (feliz) with what I do for them. Hundreds of satisfied clients speaks volumes.
Take the sellers from last month who thought their home was worth much less than the price I suggested, which was $15,000 higher. They talked to a handful of other agents and came away from those discussions convinced that they had to sell for less. Not only did they get more by choosing me as their listing agent, but I crafted a situation to receive multiple offers and drove up the price even higher. I defended them against mindless requests for repair. That $3,000 or so they could have “saved” by hiring a cheaper agent very well could have cost them $25,000 or more. Most people don’t think down the road. They don’t see the big picture. They misjudge an agent’s capabilities and individuality.
I work at the largest independently owned brokerage in Sacramento, Lyon Real Estate, and rank in the top agents over 7 counties. My experience offers more than 40 years in the business. Some of us agents are very different. If a seller expects instant communication, superior service and deserves top-notch negotiation skills, then a seller might pay a slightly higher fee than an agent with less experience would accept — but that bottom-line profit to the seller is almost always much greater than the minor variances among the standard commission rate for Sacramento real estate.
Sellers who shop price and dig around in the bottom of the barrel often invariably regret that approach. I am fair, honest and work hard for my sellers. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Don’t hate me because I can justify charging a bit more than the discounters. I am worth my commission and you are worth it, too. Encantado!
When Listing a Home in Sacramento is Begging for Trouble
One way to turn down listing a home in Sacramento is to suggest a FSBO to the seller.
There is no law in the universe that says a Sacramento Realtor must work with every single person who calls her about listing a home in Sacramento. Let me preface that by saying I work with all kinds of people and do not discriminate against anybody for any reason. OK, I would not represent Rush Limbaugh but just about anybody else, and even politics don’t typically enter into the equation. My job is to represent the seller, sell the home and make the seller happy, and THAT I can do very well. Totally crazy people, though, I can’t fix or workaround.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve represented some loopy individuals over the past 40-some years. People who could barely function or communicate. People who sit in the dark, rocking back and forth and sing to themselves. No problem. I still do the best job I can for them. But the super mean and the uber crazy I refuse, regardless. No exceptions.
I had a creepy feeling last summer when I listed a home in Sacramento. In retrospect, I should have called the previous agent. I was in a rush, so I just listed it. The seller sat too close to me on the sofa, and he muttered weird things that made my stomach churn, but did I get up and leave? Just one more thing to sign and then I could go. He was probably one of the harmless nut-jobs, I told myself.
Well, I had it listed for about 24 hours before the seller blew up. He skidded off the deep end, whipped off a stream of threatening text messages for no particular reason, so Lyon canceled the listing for me. Other agents obviously see that withdrawn listing in MLS. A few listed after me and some lasted a week or so. I’ve had a few calls about it since then, and I’m always honest with the agents who call to inquire because they see the red flags in the history.
I blocked him from my cellphone but he still sends creepy test messages now and then.
If you’re an agent who spots a long history of withdrawn listings in MLS, especially with some entries listed only for a few days, it’s a sure sign that there is something wrong, and it’s not the agents who make a living by listing a home in Sacramento. I called an agent yesterday to talk about a previous listing she had a few years ago, and she was gracious enough to speak freely with me. It bothered me that she withdrew the listing at the height of the spring selling season. I had an uneasy feeling after talking with the prospective seller for a few minutes, so I checked it by calling her last agent.
The agent mentioned in passing it must be nice to have so much business that a listing agent can afford to turn business away. It’s not that. Truly, it’s not, even though it might seem that way. It’s that life is short and then you die. To work for a seller by listing a home in Sacramento for that seller, I guess there’s got to be common decency and respect, and it seemed to be a one-way street on my end. This particular seller admitted she was not motivated. She has her own ideas about how to sell –very strong but inaccurate beliefs — and she did not listen to half the things I tried to share with her. Her home is weird; it will be very hard to sell.
I don’t turn down challenges because I thrive on challenges; I live for challenges, but this one I will let go. Too many negatives. I will probably encourage her to try to sell it as a FSBO. See how she likes working with herself. I imagine she won’t get along.
An Accepted Purchase Offer in Sacramento is Only the Beginning
When buying or selling a home in Sacramento, the parties often don’t realize that it’s hardly over when both sides sign an accepted purchase offer; in fact, the process is just beginning and anything can go wrong. This is where FSBOs (For Sale By Owners) tend to struggle and where real estate agents with less experience can mess up as well.
Think of this point in time as that scene in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy, all freshly scrubbed and sporting her sparkly ruby slippers, is merrily laughing and singing with her gangly companions, setting out from Munchkin Land to skip down the Yellow Brick Road, just before Glinda vanishes in a puff of twinkly fairy dust. Everybody is happy and excited, looking forward to arriving in the magical Emerald City. They have no idea what lies in store for them.
And neither do most Sacramento home sellers and buyers.
This is when your Sacramento real estate agent can make a world of difference to you. Selling a home in Sacramento is a lot more than just finding a buyer. It means qualifying the buyer, thinking ahead and predicting what could happen, and taking steps to prevent the trees from strangling you and throwing apples at your face. It means fighting off the winged monkeys.
And, if it’s necessary, making it snow.
Keeping everybody on the path to closing. And happy. It’s not the money, either, because a commission check can lose its luster fast if the seller or buyers are unhappy when it’s all over. This is no easy feat. But it’s what I do every day, and I believe I do it well. Going into escrow is just the beginning. If you’re looking for a veteran Sacramento real estate agent, please call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916 233 6759.
