Selling Homes in the Sacramento Foothills is an Art

Although I may excel at selling homes in the Sacramento foothills, I am a city girl through and through. Make no mistake. But being a city girl doesn’t mean I don’t understand the people who live in those communities. It’s tight-knit, and as an outsider coming in to list a home, there can be opposition. For no other reason than I am a city girl and the residents there are not. That’s why it was a bit tricky to list this home in the Sacramento foothills.

See, the thing is people can yak all they want about neighborhood specialists. And hiring neighborhood specialists is seen as a misguided way to go in Sacramento real estate. That’s because unless you get an agent who sells a couple of homes a week like I do, most of the so-called specialists might know a lot about the area, but actually very little about real estate. Knowledge in real estate is acquired through experience and selling many homes.

I know how to sell a home. It doesn’t matter to me if we’re talking about selling homes in the Sacramento foothills or farmland in the Delta or million-dollar homes in Davis. Because the art of selling homes involves pricing homes correctly, employing a multitude of marketing strategies and harboring strong negotiation skills. I’ve got all that. 44 years strong. That’s why I rank among the elite in Sacramento.

The seller of the escrow that just closed held title with another family member who insisted on hiring a local agent for selling homes in the Sacramento foothills. It was causing a bit of strife in the family. I had worked with the seller who wanted to hire me in the past. He was happy with my performance. My goal is to obtain the highest price possible. My fiduciary is only to the seller. The other seller preferred a local referral. To keep the peace in the family, I suggested maybe they should hire the other agent. A commission is not worth it if it tears apart a family.

Nope, they wanted me. Turns out the other agent suggested listing the property for $50,000 less than my pricing. That’s because agents rely solely on comps and I do not. I rely on what a home can sell for. The way real estate should be sold. I have a special ability to properly price a home. And an extraordinary ability to sell it at that price. This is not bragging, this is just the way it is. I use all of my senses, mostly common sense.

The sellers would have gladly hired me to sell the home for $50,000 less, but I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, we could get the price of $650K. Sure enough, there were a few offers at $600K, but then we got an offer of $650K. Yay! Uh oh, short-lived excitement. No sooner did those buyers go into escrow than they flaked out and canceled for no reason.

Fine, I’ll sell it again, Sam. And I did. The next buyer offered $620K, but I told his agent, if they want it, they need to pay the proper price. And they need to purchase it AS IS. No repairs. Not only did these buyers step up to the plate and increase their offer to list price, but another set of buyers went Into back-up at $650K. As insurance. Sure, there was a point when the buyers asked to make changes, so we made them release their earnest money deposit through escrow to the seller. I play hardball when it’s required.

We closed escrow at $650K on January 2nd. No repairs. No renegotiations. So, I’m not just telling you that I have a gift for selling homes in the Sacramento foothills, I’m showing you. Not bad for a city girl, huh?