Another Curtis Park Home Closes Despite Initial Seller Mistake

There are many valid reasons Realtors get paid so much.

I can tell my real estate clients that experience matters, and being a top producer makes a difference when selling, say, a Curtis Park home, but sometimes they wrongly believe the only difference between agents is the amount of real estate commission, so they don’t listen. They have to find out the hard way.

Never burn bridges, is my motto. I also don’t like to cross bridges twice, but sometimes we end up doing exactly that. I recall clearly standing on the front steps of this Curtis Park home with the seller and talking about selling the home. He asked how much I charged, and I told him my fee is 6%. Same fee I’ve charged for the last 40 years.

He balked and said he could hire a discount agent who would do all the same things for 4%. No, you can’t, I blurted. You think you can because they are telling you that story, but you can’t. You can’t hire a top producer with more than 40 years in the business, a Realtor who sells on average 1 to 2 homes a week because that kind of Realtor charges more.

I’m worth it, I promised. I will save your ass during the home inspection. A discount agent might not have the skills or experience to deal with inspection issues, and you’ve got an older home, too. You will fall out of escrow and you won’t close. You’ll make more money with me, even though you’re paying me more.

He hired that discount agent anyway. His escrow blew up and he didn’t close. So he called me back, and I listed his home, and it closed this week. The buyers purchased the home in its AS IS condition and paid another 4% over list price. I’d say I did a good job for this seller. If you want to sell a Curtis Park home or a home anywhere in the Sacramento Valley, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.