F-Bombs and Sacramento Real Estate Agents

An agent from Davis called yesterday and dropped F-bombs left and right. Said she had moved here from southern California. She wasn’t upset or anything, it’s just the way she apparently talks to other people. People she doesn’t know. People she’s not even mad at. She seemed angry with the world and complained a lot about how we sell real estate differently in Sacramento than agents do in southern California.

I’m not so sure about that. I used to sell real estate in Newport Beach in Orange County several decades ago. Escrow is handled a little bit differently from north to south in California, but agents are still pretty much the same. In southern California, escrow instructions are signed right away after an offer is accepted, and the escrow officer is on top of the file from day one. In northern California, most of the documents are signed at closing.

As a veteran Sacramento real estate agent, I’ve been selling real estate in Sacramento for so long that I’ve grown very accustomed to the way we handle our processing in northern California. It seems to be a bit more civilized and makes more sense. Why go to all of that work when the file might not close, seems to be the premise in Sacramento.

Because after an offer is accepted, the appraisal still needs to be completed, the buyer has to conduct a home inspection — during which problems could arise, nothing that requires F-bombs — not to mention, a buyer might not make it out of underwriting. It just seems to make sense that most of the paperwork is consummated after the borrower has lifted the contingencies and the loan is ready to fund.

But regardless of my opinion about whether selling real estate in northern California is easier than in southern California, I don’t believe agents should swear at each other. Sheesh. It was ##$^@ this and *&%$# that. Plenty of F-Bombs. I wanted to ask that agent what pool hall she had rolled out of that morning, but I figured why irritate her further.