Which Gender is Better at Selling Sacramento Real Estate?

The gender better at selling real estate is often said to be female.

I never much thought about which gender is better at real estate, a woman or a man. Have you? Because we’re all just people. Let me share what happened at a listing appointment several years ago, I turned to the sellers and said, “You know who I feel sorry for?” And Mr. Seller said, “Me?” Then, his wife said, “No, must be me.” Well, the truth is I have empathy for all of my sellers. Selling a home in Sacramento can be stressful, although I try to make the process easy and pleasant. Moving is still difficult.

But the person I feel sorry for is the person who has a phone number that is very similar to my phone number. I met her once. I even showed her property because we got to talking. It’s hard to talk to me and not talk about Sacramento real estate. This person’s phone number is one digit different from mine. A digit that is very similar in size and shape to another digit.

This person has gone so far as to put a recording on her answering machine. It says: do not leave a message for Elizabeth Weintraub because this is not the phone number for Elizabeth Weintraub. Yet, agents leave a message. That’s because agents hear: Leave a message for Elizabeth Weintraub. They think I have a secretary.

This unfortunate recipient of my phone calls called yesterday to complain that agents are calling her at least 2 to 3 times a day. They all swear they found my phone number in MLS. It’s impossible, though. That’s because MLS distributes information to listings directly from an agent’s profile. My profile has the correct phone number. I copied the page of my profile and emailed it to this person. I sent her a copy of my listing, which clearly reflects my correct number.

If agents routinely reached the wrong phone number for me, they would call and tell me. I have not received one phone call from any agent about this. But I feel sorry for this woman who ends up with all of these misdialed phone calls. Misdialed. Is that a word anymore? Phones don’t have dials today. Every so often, I get a call for her, but it’s rare.

My solution is to offer these buyer’s agents $100 for a copy of that listing with her phone number. That’s because it doesn’t exist. And I don’t care how much these agents swear up and down her phone number is in MLS because it’s not. I don’t know if it’s because most real estate agents are over 40 and that’s when vision starts to go. Or, is it something else?

As I prepared to leave my listing appointment many years ago, Mr. Seller said, “You know why I chose you to be our Sacramento Realtor?“ No, my quirky sense of humor? My expertise and education? You like my hair? In part, Mr. Seller said it was my 40-plus years in real estate that impressed him. Also, didn’t hurt that after he made his decision, he called a friend to ask which agent that friend would recommend and his friend said without hesitating: Elizabeth Weintraub.

But a factor I hadn’t counted on was he chose me because I’m female. Yup, because I am a woman. He figured one gender is better at selling Sacramento real estate than another. That seemed a little sexist.

He said, “Women care. Men don’t give a” . . . er, a flying fig. Well, I’m not going there. No gender wars for me. It is something to think about.