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Why Do Sacramento Realtors Try to Wear So Many Hats?
Often I wonder: why do Sacramento Realtors try to wear so many hats? But then I think back to when I started in real estate in the 1970s. I wore every hat I could get my hands on, and some hats simultaneously.
One hat in particular that I really adored and lost somewhere was a wide brimmed black felt brimmed with pheasant feathers. The side of the hat sported two long pheasant feathers, so if I happened to be sitting close enough to another person, like, say, planted on a barstool, I could slap the person next to me in the face with my feathers simply by innocently turning my head. So you know (don’t you), how much fun I had with that discovery.
Topics like dual agency and agents who work with both types of clients came up today while talking to a buyer who found me online. She had been looking at homes for sale in Sacramento and Placerville, and decided it was time to talk to a Realtor. I was the first agent she found, and of course I answer my phone.
Because I don’t work with buyers directly, and refer all buyers to an appropriate exclusive buyer’s agent on my team, I did not want her to feel like I wasn’t interested in her. Why do Sacramento Realtors try to wear so many hats? I had to explain that we do not. Our team each wears his or her own hat.
Do you realize what kind of superior skills can be developed by working with the same type of person over and over? It’s mind boggling, that’s what it is. For example, a Sacramento listing specialist comes to know listings inside and out, and forms an intimate relationship with sellers. By focusing on one particular aspect of real estate, we become true experts, in every sense of the word.
Clients don’t get that from agents who try to wear too many hats. Most agents work with both sellers and buyers. Some even try to sell mortgages, too. Further, the scary fact is the majority of agents in Sacramento sell 2 or 3 houses a year. That is why Sacramento Realtors try to wear so many hats. Because they don’t do enough business to support themselves in real estate by focusing on one single aspect.
So they become a master of none.
The buyer who called seemed very excited to speak with Barbara Dow from the Elizabeth Weintraub Team. Barbara is a few years older than I am and still going strong as well. We’ve been working together for a long time. When I explained how Barbara works solely with buyers, and is an exclusive buyer’s agent who is dedicated, the buyer sighed in relief. She had never considered finding an agent who only works with people like her.
An agent whose life mission is help her buyers find the perfect home in the best location at the best price. Barbara’s years of successful negotiation strategies help her to guide buyers in the right direction. She is a walking, talking gold mine for buyers.
If other agents would just pick a specialty and not try to be all things to all people, consumers would probably be better off.
By the time I ended our conversation, about 30 minutes later, the buyer said, “I am so lucky to have found you.”
How to Find the Perfect Home in Sacramento
Today I am honored to bring you some extraordinary wisdom about how to find the perfect home in Sacramento, written by our exclusive buyer’s agent, Josh Amolsch. This is from an agent who shows on average 40 to 50 homes a week in Sacramento. He is not some retired agent who works only on referrals or an agent who sells a measly 1 or 2 homes a year. Josh is an agent down in the trenches who works every day, 12 to 14 hours a day.
How to Find the Perfect Home in Sacramento
by Josh Amolsch
The traditional and overused Sacramento Realtor marketing gambit is that they will “help you find your perfect home”. Well, I am here to explain why perfect homes are a fairy tale. A perfect home does not exist. But the good news is you can come close. The truth is even if I gave you a million dollars to build your own home from the ground up, afterward, there would be things that you wished you had done differently.
We too frequently hear from folks that a home will not work for them because of one or two features that they don’t like. One thing we can’t fix is the location, which is why location is always the most important aspect of a property. Aside from that, most characteristics of a property can be altered and renovation loans can make a so-so home a wonderful home that you will love and be proud of. It takes vision, and a little work, but anything worth doing or having requires effort. The key is to make the numbers work. Fortunately, we are entering a market in Sacramento where the numbers are starting to working for you.
Another factor is feelings can change from day to day and trends change from season to season. The point is to focus on finding a home that is about 80% what you want. Not about the 20% you don’t want (80/20 Rule). Even more astonishing is the fact the 80% homes are more plentiful. Why? Because most buyers won’t accept the 80% home when they are trying to find the perfect home in Sacramento. Their limited vision gives you a leg up on the price. Less demand = better deal for you.
This is how investors operate and become rich. Well, your riches can be in the form of a terrific home that you got for a good deal and added value to. Any outdated features can be fixed before you even move into the home. Walls can be knocked down to make the living spaces more open, can lighting can be installed. In fact, you can likely be living in your newly purchased/renovated home much faster than waiting for that “perfect” home to come on the market which, as we know, isn’t really isn’t perfect anyway.
Remember, perfect homes don’t exist. But wasting time and money chasing a fairy tale does exist. I encourage you to talk to your lender about a renovation loan. The best lender I know is Dan Tharp along with the renovation specialist Howard Nordberg. These two are industry diehards, local to Sacramento, and the best in the business. You can tie in the renovation loan with your new mortgage and close both at the same time.
The market is softer right now, so we can very likely get you into a home for under the asking price, giving you (and your contractors) the opportunity to renovate the property to your SPECIFIC needs. Much closer to your desired home than you will find just by waiting for the “perfect” home to come onto the market.
Maybe something close to the “perfect” home will come on the market, but by then, interest rates will have gone up even more (Fed Reserve Meeting Schedule) and prices will have gone up more. The market is not going down in Sacramento. We can talk about this one on one if you would like. Call Josh Amolsch at 916.224.2756.
