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Working With Sacramento Buyers Nobody Else Will Help
Working with Sacramento buyers nobody else will work with is rewarding.
Every agent on the Elizabeth Weintraub Team works with ultra high-end buyers but we also end up working with Sacramento buyers nobody else will help. It’s part of our mission to focus on client-centered goals and not ourselves. Everybody on the team is onboard with that statement. Being human, we might moan a little bit when we get that tiny paycheck but we rejoice at the joy it brings our clients. And it all evens out in the end.
I’ve noticed, however, that some agents act like prima donnas. I recall once telling a buyer’s agent she would have to crawl through the bathroom window to show a certain listing I had, so wear pants. Every agent I gave those same showing instructions to refused. But this particular agent said OK, and she put the transaction into escrow and closed. I took her to lunch.
You do what you’ve got to do. That’s what makes real estate so much fun. You never know what type of person will call or need our services. Working with Sacramento buyers nobody else will help is rewarding. And it’s not just the price points for these particular buyers. Some of them possess some sort of fairy-tale ideas about how to buy a house. Many agents would say forget this hassle. But we welcome it because it gives us a chance to explain and educate. We don’t shy away because a buyer holds a different point of view from the real world.
People don’t know what they don’t know. Especially when we’re working with Sacramento buyers nobody else will help. I listen to them tell me they want to buy a foreclosure because they found a cheap foreclosure on Zillow and, when they finish, I educate. I am very aware that these are also people who get sucked into seminars by speakers who don’t do what they preach.
Two of my five husbands were seminar speakers and I am quite familiar with the dog-and-pony shows. I know exactly what kind of underhandedness goes on. So when a buyer nobody else wants to work with calls me, I don’t put them down for their beliefs or belittle their ideas. But I do set them straight. I take the time to turn them around. To explain how things really work and how we can help them. Because we give a damn.
That’s what Sacramento real estate is about. It’s called conversion. It’s about sharing a top producer’s knowledge and experience to help clients achieve their goals. If we can change the way they attempt to do this along the way, why, I think I’ve done a good thing! It’s not about expressing: forget you. You’re too much trouble. It’s about listening between the lines and turning dreams into reality.
Overview: Sacramento Real Estate Market Report October 2017
County of Sacramento Real Estate Market Report October 2017
The Sacramento real estate market report October 2017 shows inventory declining and new listings falling but with a twist. Last month, pending sales spiked, despite the lower level of homes to buy. Like flying into Sacramento airport, we are beginning our seasonal descent. Is this a good time to buy, you might ask? Darn tootin’ it is. Because prices are not falling. Homes prices are rising. Our median sales price in Sacramento County is now $350K.
All across the board, pending sales are up. Below are the pending statistics for the Sacramento real estate market report October 2017 from Trendgraphix.
- Pending sales are up 18.2% over September
- Pending sales are up 14.7% over last year in October
- Pending sales are up .4% over same quarter last year
- Pending sales are up 3.1% the first few weeks of November vs October
In my own Sacramento real estate practice, I’ve encountered a big uptick of activity. I was so busy in October that I did not realize until the announcements were made by Lyon Real Estate how well this top listing agent and her team of 3 buyer’s agents performed. Lyon Real Estate ranked Elizabeth Weintraub in the top 3 agents for the month of October. In all of Sacramento County, year-to-date for number of homes sold, Weintraub ranks #3. We’re smokin’ hot at the moment.
The first couple weeks of November were relatively quiet and then all of a sudden, BAM. Offers began rolling in. I received 3 offers on one listing, 1, 2, 3, at or over list price, hot-to-trot buyers, fireworks going off. Then suddenly, spittooey. They all fizzled. Like the buyers slipped and fell into a bucket of ice cubes. Or, they woke up with a bad hangover. Before I had time to contemplate what happened, the volcanoes of Sacramento real estate market erupted again. As a result, last weekend I put 6 listings into escrow.
There are no dull moments in the Sacramento real estate market report October 2017. Buyers are clearly saying: hey, let’s close escrow before the end of the year! If you’re expecting to buy or sell a home, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. We’ll get the job done. Put 43 years of experience to work for you.
Tips for Relocating to Sacramento and Buying a Home
Relocating to Sacramento is hard enough without worrying about your Realtor.
If you’re thinking about relocating to Sacramento, you’ve definitely come to the right place. As a new buyer to the area, you owe it to yourself to find exclusive representation through a knowledgable agent. It’s a little bit harder than you would think to do it on your own. Further, there is no need to subject yourself to that kind of misery when you can align yourself with an expert for free. The problem is everybody and his uncle claims to be an expert in real estate. So, how can you tell if you’re talking with an agent who will make relocating to Sacramento easy and fun for you?
For starters, listen to your gut instincts. If something makes you feel uneasy or uncomfortable, that could be a red flag. If you ask questions and receive no satisfactory answers, that’s also a red flag. Bottom line, you’re probably not buying a home in Sacramento unless you accept representation by an agent. Since you deserve the best (and I believe you do) then you should read on to find out what you can expect.
I talk with a lot of buyers in the beginning stages of relocating to Sacramento. Generally it’s because they call on a specific home and my name pops up. My name pops up even though I might not be the listing agent. I enjoy extensive exposure online, pretty much unparalleled as compared to your average Sacramento Realtor. One fellow called and insisted on buying a home in a “safe” neighborhood. Even after I explained that agents cannot violate Fair Housing laws nor steer buyers. On top of which a safe neighborhood is a subjective term, he tried to rephrase it another way as in: “would you live in that neighborhood.”
Jokingly, I told him not to ask a Realtor that question because agents will tell him every neighborhood is a good place to live. Because it is for somebody. And you’ll find some suburban people afraid to go Downtown Sacramento because they will run into homeless people. Yet Downtown and Midtown Sacramento are both super hot neighborhoods where people move into and don’t leave. Highly desirable, even with a rather visible homeless population. I referred him to the sacpd.org website where he can poke around on crime maps to his heart’s delight.
Another relocation buyer today called about buying a home in Elk Grove. Her husband just got transferred here. I list a lot of homes in that neighborhood, so I know the builder’s reputation and the individual models. She had been working with an agent on the coast south of San Francisco and thought she should ask if that agent will work in Elk Grove. I told her that’s highly unlikely an agent would drive for three hours to work in a neighborhood she doesn’t know, through a Board she doesn’t belong to, because we would not compromise our integrity in that fashion.
Little-known fact, if the Bay Area agent does not pay dues as a member of our MLS she has no commission protection. Further, the buyer deserves local representation. But she gets kudos for talking to her previous agent about it. Definitely. We value loyalty as well.
The Elizabeth Weintraub Team works in a four-county area. We’re one of the few groups of buyer’s agents in Sacramento who possess intimate knowledge of many different areas. We are perfect to help those relocating to Sacramento. We can talk your head off about various neighborhoods, recite historic facts, accurately explain architectural styles, disclose unusual factors affecting the neighborhoods, and we are excellent negotiators.
To get a feel for us and what we can do for you, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. You can choose anybody, why not choose one of the time proven and trusted best? We are Sacramento’s relocation experts.
The Fourth of July at Squaw Valley and Kailua-Kona
The Fourth of July at Squaw Valley, starring Victoria Gerrassimenko.
The Fourth of July at Squaw Valley sounds like a perfect place to be this time of year. Josh Amolsch from the Elizabeth Weintraub Team and his girlfriend, Vika Gerrassimenko, were on vacation at Lake Tahoe and spent the 4th of July snowboarding. It was warm there, too, although not as warm as where I was in Hawaii.
I mentioned to Josh that I might be too old to try snowboarding. While I can live vicariously through Josh and his 4th of July at Squaw Valley, it’s not a sport I will ever take up. I can paddleboard, though. Put a plus check mark in the sport box for me. Learned how to paddleboard in Hawaii. They say women make better stand-up paddleboarders because our center of gravity is lower, so we can more easily maintain our balance.
Paddleboarding, for me, almost didn’t happen. I tried a bunch of times, and I could not stand up. My husband wasn’t faring any better. He headed to shore. I almost gave up, but then I said, you know, I’m gonna give this one more try. And voila! I stood up, and ever since, I’ve never had a problem.
Josh Amolsch from the Elizabeth Weintraub Team celebrated the Fourth of July at Squaw Valley.
People give up on things too easily. You can get anything you want through perseverance. That’s a fact, Jack. You gotta really want it though. I did not want to learn how to ski. That’s what Josh said he sees old people do, instead of snowboarding, they ski. I tried twice and it was one time too many. But that’s because I did not want to learn how to ski. I tried to do it to appease a couple of men, because they wanted me to do it. Which is stupid, stupid, stupid.
The first time was with my third husband. I have wedding photos showing me wearing a Southern Belle white wedding dress, accentuated by ski boots. I fell down a number of times. Wasn’t even drunk but wish I had been. I tried again with another boyfriend who was an enthusiast, and let’s just say when my cat Brandon urinated on the bag holding his skis, I should have taken that as a sign. I was young and foolish. I may still be foolish but I’m not young anymore.
Vika Gerassimenko snowboarding on the Fourth of July in Squaw Valley.
Then you look at Josh’s girlfriend, Victoria. I swear, she cannot take a bad photo. The woman is beautiful. And smart. She could stumble off a red-eye flight and still look gorgeous.
So they spent the 4th of July at Squaw Valley snowboarding. It was warm enough to wear a swimsuit, which apparently some people did. Look at Josh in shorts in the photo up above.
Below is my photograph of my 4th of July in Kailua-Kona. Our vacation house sits just up the hill, a straight line from the beach at a higher elevation. When the fireworks went off, I had a front row balcony view. The finale was pretty cool, but it’s hard to take photos of fireworks with an iPhone. Where that lower pink light explodes, that’s into the horizon of the ocean.
Fireworks in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, on the Fourth of July.
The Elizabeth Weintraub Team Dined at The Kitchen
Elizabeth Weintraub, Dan Tharp, Amy McMullan and Josh Amolsch on the patio at The Kitchen
Despite promises from the staff that we could light things on fire, the Elizabeth Weintraub Team dined at The Kitchen Restaurant Thursday night without getting into any trouble. We didn’t light anything on fire. Nobody arrested us. We weren’t thrown out for bad behavior, and just because we clean up well doesn’t mean we aren’t pioneering troublemakers at heart.
The thing is we work long hours and keep intense schedules. We text and email each other throughout the day and occasionally have time for a brief phone call, but we don’t spend nearly enough time together. There’s got to be more life than constant work, so we all decided to take a little break and have some fun. I could not think of a better place to go for dinner and be entertained than The Kitchen Restaurant. We took a vote and decided it was time that the Elizabeth Weintraub Team dined at the Kitchen Restaurant together.
Initially, Amy planned to bring her boyfriend and Josh would bring his beautiful girlfriend, Vika and maybe Dan Tharp would bring his wife. Barbara Dow had other pressing family matters for the month to attend to that prevented her presence. Or, she would have been there because she never misses an event. Then Amy’s boyfriend couldn’t come, and Josh’s girlfriend had to work, and Dan’s wife was unable to go, but that didn’t stop us.
Actually, it turned out well as other family members who happened to be in town came instead. And the interesting thing I knew the date rang a familiar bell when I made the reservation and had overlooked the fact it was also my husband’s birthday. That worked out rather well, in retrospect. So we all went. It wasn’t just the Elizabeth Weintraub Team dined at The Kitchen, it was Amy’s parents and my husband, too. We just go with the flow, and the evening was enormous fun.
We ate for more than four hours! Sampled wines and rye whiskey. Some of us, I’m not saying who, it wasn’t me, even had seconds. The roasted asparagus and handkerchief pasta was simply delightful. It paired superbly with a 2015 Arbe Garbe white blend from Sonoma, made from grapes I’ve never heard of but now must possess. My favorite dish was the butter-poached beef tenderloin, because everything tastes better with truffle butter and morel mushrooms, paired with a 2015 Troika Grenache from Mendocino County.
Expensive? Yes. But we are worth it. We work 7 days a week for our real estate clients, often 12 hours a day or more. Sometimes, you’ve just gotta celebrate. I consider myself lucky to work with such a great group of people who all like each other. It’s not just a job for us. If you’re looking for a group of Sacramento Realtors who make up the best real estate team in Sacramento to help you sell or buy a home, give Elizabeth Weintraub a jingle at 916.233.6759.
The Kitchen Restaurant in Arden Arcade after all the customers have left.
