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.