Should You Buy a “Coming Soon” Home for Sale in Sacramento?

There are Sacramento Realtors who would not dream of using a Coming Soon marketing strategy on homes for sale in Sacramento, and then there are Realtors like me who think this is the greatest thing since the legalization of gay marriage. Coming Soon marketing works very well in markets of limited inventory. It probably won’t get the results a listing agent wants in a market that is saturated because let’s face it, if you can buy that perfect pair of red shoes in any store at any mall, they aren’t all that special anymore.

Ever since Zillow allowed Coming Soon signs and my own brokerage, Lyon Real Estate, created marketing materials for Coming Soon, I’ve immediately jumped on that bandwagon. It’s paid off handsomely. My sellers often receive multiple offers and they tend to sell at top of market. Of course, there are rules an agent has got to follow and one of those very important rules is you can’t actively market the home during the Coming Soon phase. Which means you can’t show it nor can a seller accept an offer. But you can do all kinds of other things short of blasting laser beams into the sky or hiring half-naked women to parade up and down on the sidewalk, handing out flyers.

Coming Soon drives excitement. Soon as you tell somebody they can’t have something, it’s become exclusive and they want it. They will drool over it. They will stay awake at night thinking up ways to get it. It’s an obsession.

Bear in mind here that the objective is to get one strong buyer. It’s always a welcome opportunity if we have more than one buyer who wants the home and we can engage in multiple offers, but it’s not the end of the world if we snag one fully committed and qualified buyer who ultimately pays list price. In fact, I’d say we’ve done a superb job.

If you spot a Coming Soon sign on a home or in Zillow, for example, the first place you should go is to YOUR OWN AGENT. You might think why would you do that? Your agent doesn’t know anything and the agent who has the listing does. The fact is if you have an agent, you should work with that agent and don’t try to go around your agent. Listing agents are not required to talk with buyers who have their own agent and, in fact, they could be accused of interfering with that buyer, a violation of the Code of Ethics. A smart listing agent will send that buyer right back to their own agent.

Your own agent, believe it or not, can help you to buy a Coming Soon listing. Because you won’t be able to buy it until it comes on the market. You can be first in line, though. If you don’t have an agent and you call me, I’ll help you to work with a team member on the Elizabeth Weintraub Team, and you can still be first in line to buy that home. We can help you to do everything that you need to do to pull the trigger on an offer the second that home hits the market. So, call us at 916.233.6759. Or, call your own agent. Be first. Increase your odds. You can buy that Coming Soon listing.