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Conflicts After Closing a Sacramento Home
There are some business relationships you never want to end because they are so much fun, especially when everybody in the escrow is happy and excited, and then there are the oddballs . . . well, we won’t go there. Those are few and far between, though, because I’ve been a lot more selective of with whom I decide to work in Sacramento real estate, because there is only one of me to be pulled in a dozen different directions. I strive for no conflicts during escrow and prefer no conflicts after closing a Sacramento home.
I generally go out of my way to help my clients after the escrow has closed. Sometimes they want to know if I can recommend any tradespeople or vendors, and I’m happy to share personal recommendations along with the caveat that their experience might be different than my experience.
Sometimes they want to receive a copy of their closing papers that they’ve misplaced, and I will gladly provide those documents to them, either via email or snail mail, whichever is their preference. Or, they might just have a question about types of home improvement projects they might tackle and whether it would add resale value down the road. I love to talk about home improvement projects almost as much as I love selling Sacramento real estate.
But then there are the calls and emails from other real estate agents who have some kind of pressing dilemma, a conflict after closing. Often it’s the former buyer’s agents who received the initial call from their previous buyer. And the nature of this call tends to fall along the lines of there is some kind of defect or problem the new owner believes the seller withheld or failed to disclose. Naturally, the new home owner expects her buyer’s agent to pursue the situation with the listing agent, and they want the listing agent to involve the seller and resolve the issue.
Yet, that is not how it works, I’m sorry to report. After the escrow closes, the listing agent no longer has a fiduciary relationship to anybody in the transaction. She is not allowed to practice law without a law degree. A Sacramento REALTOR just can’t get into the middle of conflicts after closing because that is best left to the parties themselves to resolve. It’s not that the listing agent doesn’t care; it’s that she can’t offer legal guidance. After the escrow closes, her job is finished, and she’s no longer a hired gun.
Call Elizabeth Weintraub, Broker #00697006 at 916.233.6759.
Must a Sacramento Listing Agent Like a Seller to List the Home?
Good question: must a listing agent like a seller to list the home? In my early stages in real estate, back in the 1970s, I used to believe a strictly professional relationship was the only way to conduct business. Over the years, I’ve come to believe that an agent doesn’t necessarily need to “like” or be best friends with a seller, but a Sacramento listing agent does need to feel good about the relationship for it to be a fiduciary.
Hardly anybody know what fiduciary really means, much less some sellers. But to have a fiduciary, which, btw, is required between a listing agent and seller, there needs to be a minimum of trust and respect. Because a listing agent is required to put the needs of her seller above her own. Seriously. You think I’m making this up but I am not. It’s right there in real estate law and principles.
Whenever I see fiduciary in jeopardy, well, it’s a red flag. For example, when I upload listing paperwork to DocuSign, I tell my sellers to go ahead and sign the profile sheet because it’s just a document we use to input data into MLS. Sometimes they might spot a mistake, which is easy since I use a template. Everything is pre-filled to match most listings. I manually change the data, customize it. If my phone rings, I might get distracted and not pick up at the line I left. So maybe a radio button for vinyl floor did not get checked.
Who better to notice than a seller with a vested interest? I ask my clients to email me changes with a promise to correct before I send the document to the office. I am such a stickler for details and having everything perfect, pretty anal about it. I verify each listing 3 times prior to publication. However, if a seller insists that I redo the paperwork, that says they do not trust me. If they don’t trust, we don’t have fiduciary. If we don’t have fiduciary, I have no business dealing with them.
It becomes a red flag. You can’t ignore red flags. It’s silent sabotage. Rarely is it a fluke.
This is a fact because trying to work with clients who have no respect nor trust for their agent is fairly defeatist. An agent might feel inclined not to go that extra mile. What is that extra mile? It generally involves maximizing seller profit. I can tell you that is a terrible way to feel. To feel like you do not want to do your best. I always want to go above and beyond for my sellers. Every blue moon or so, though, I find myself with a seller who doesn’t inspire me to stretch myself. Uh-oh. Trouble.
There is little satisfaction in doing just an OK job. I expect great performances from myself and take pride on delivery.
But you can tell when a person doesn’t like you. In my recent experience, I felt that sour attitude after I informed the seller his home smelled like cigarette smoke. At that point, I thought I could handle it because although I might not always like a seller to list the home, I can usually find some redeeming quality in a person. So I focus on that. I was also very careful to explain it from a buyer’s point of view. But the seller hated me for it. And it didn’t get any better as time went on.
When I sent the seller a PDF file of how the listing would look when it publishes, the seller refused to review the information for accuracy. Who does that? I’ve never had a seller refuse to cooperate. Well, that would be a seller who really does not trust nor respect his agent. And an agent who tries to like a seller to list the home would find herself feeling the exact opposite.
Fortunately, this doesn’t happen very often to me. Maybe once in every couple of years. Honestly, I thought they had taken care of the odor in the home, but when I realized they had not, and they still wanted top dollar, topped with a big dollop of non-respect, well, only a fool moves forward. My only regret is I wish I had bailed earlier and not kept trying. No commission is worth aggravation.
The moral of this story is be good to yourself. It swings both ways. If you don’t like your agent, and the respect and trust is not there, find another agent. So, yes, the answer is a listing agent does need to like a seller to list a home. If the seller deliberately changes that balance, it’s a no-go.
I want my clients to feel confident that when we cross the finish line, I have done everything in my power to enhance their financial situation and protect their interests. If an agent does not like a seller to list a home, it won’t happen that way. It’s not just me, it’s true about any agent. Except maybe the hucksters.
Sacramento Listing Agents Shouldn’t Forget The Seller Owns the House
No matter how you look at it the seller owns the house.
Many of my clients like to leave decisions up to me, yet I constantly remind them the seller owns the house, not the agent. I’m just their Sacramento listing agent. I can advise and guide, but I can’t make decisions for them. They actually say things like: you know what to do, you can just take care of it. While I might love to negotiate — and I am one of those twisted individuals who truly does love the art of negotiation — I can only make suggestions. Sometimes buyer’s agents will ask me if I sent their document to the seller. When they ask that question, it tells me they wrongly suspect I’m making up reactions or negotiating without speaking to my clients. I would never do that.
However, I know agents who do. The ones who blurt out “my client won’t do that.” Well, they don’t know that for a fact. They have absolutely no right to make that sort of statement. How often have you heard agents blatantly claim to know precisely what their clients will do? Unfortunately, in this business, all the freakin’ time. I don’t even know what my own husband will do on any given day, and I see him 7 days a week. Our cats are fairly constant creatures with habits and routines, and I don’t know what they will do, either. We can’t possibly know what anybody else will do or think or say. It’s impossible.
The sellers owns the house, which gives the seller the sole right to make independent decisions. Yesterday, for example, I received an appraisal and addendum from a buyer’s agent, asking us to reduce the price by $5,000 because the appraisal came in low. I sent it to the seller and suggested the seller ask the buyer to bridge that gap in appraisal in cash. This was based on my astute observations concerning this particular situation. I had enough information to tell me the buyer would be receptive to that idea. No happy, most likely, but receptive.
I asked the seller what he wanted to do. He said: Ask the buyer to pay the difference between appraisal and sales price. I relayed that bit of information to the buyer’s agent. The agent then asked me if they would consider splitting the difference. I told him my advice to the seller would be to stick to the original plan of demanding the $5,000, but I would bring it up. The sellers discussed it, and then the wife had a change of heart. The seller called back to say, because of his wife, they would like to split the difference.
Are you sure? I asked. Because I’m fairly confident we can get the $5,000 for you. But as you know, it ‘s not my house. My mantra is the seller owns the house, not me. If you want me to negotiate less, I will do it, I suggested. It’s up to you. The seller wavered a little. The seller asked, “Well, what would you do, Elizabeth?”
OK, fine, if it was me, I’d take the $5,000 and not feel guilty about it. But it’s not my spouse who is asking me to back down a little. It’s your marriage, I pointed out. Sometimes, that is more important than the money. You’ve got to maintain harmony and respect for other opinions in that union.
That made it easy for him. They decided to give the buyer a break. That’s exactly what we did. We split it. These sellers have a heart and are very kind, sweet people. Whether I agree or not with their decision is immaterial. It matters that they are happy and they make the decisions. Because the seller owns the house.
Is There Any Flexibility in the Sales Price for that House?
Agents have all kinds of ways they attempt to negotiate but the one that works.
Buyer’s agents who ask is there any flexibility in the sales price are really asking the listing agent if the seller will take less. You might wonder who would ask this sort of question? Or, maybe, what kind of responses would they receive? All sorts of agents ask this question. They ask because sometimes listing agents in Sacramento do not stop to think. They get caught up in the moment, forget about their fiduciary relationship to the seller and, as such, they can commit one of the worst blunders a listing agent could ever do. They could lose their real estate license. Yet, they spill the beans. And let’s talk about spilling the beans.
For starters, a listing agent who delivers messages without authority is in a heap of trouble. Further, even if the agent knows the answer or thinks she knows the answer, she doesn’t. You know why? Because she’s not inside her sellers’ heads. Try as I might, I cannot crawl into a seller’s gooey brain. Oh, geez, now I’m imagining Dr. Thackery on The Knick poking that long needle into that addict’s brain on Season 2. Further, what a seller tells me one day might not be true the following day. Things change. Circumstances can dictate different answers in direct opposition to the facts one thought she knew 2 minutes ago.
I take nothing for granted. When a buyer’s agent asks me is there any flexibility in the sales price, I tell them I don’t know. I don’t know because like I said, I don’t really know. But I do know how to find out.
You know how you find out? You write a purchase offer. I deliver the purchase offer to my seller and my seller makes a decision. We may discuss pros, cons and other strategies, but I never tell anybody what to do. Not my house. Not my monkey. I may offer alternatives, but the seller has the final say in the matter.
Please don’t tell me the buyer is “in love with the house” but won’t pay list price. People who are in love move heaven and earth for their heart’s desire. If you want to make sure you can buy the house, you write the offer at list price. In today’s real estate market, sometimes even list price is not enough. If a buyer’s agent asks if I have any offers and I hear of an offer coming, I tell them I have been told I will receive an offer but I don’t have it yet. Moreover, if I counted every offer as received that an agent promised was on its way, I would own an island in French Polynesia.
Sometimes it sounds like an agent is pressing for an answer because, as you know, the agent don’t want to waste his time. Wha? That’s the name of the game; it’s the job, write offers and negotiate. You might win, you might lose. That’s how you sell Sacramento real estate. There are no guarantees that a seller will take any offer, much less yours. You want a guarantee? You buy a certificate of deposit. You want to buy a home, you negotiate. There is no answer to is there any flexibility in the sales price for that house until an offer is submitted. Period.
What Exactly is a Real Estate Client in Sacramento?
Not every person who calls an agent is a real estate client.
Working primarily with sellers as my specialty in Sacramento real estate, I can honestly say that each and every seller I represent is my real estate client. Of course, I spend more hours with some clients than others because not every client needs a lot of personal attention, but some do, and I’m happy to provide that service. In addition, it is common to represent a real estate client who does not understand the entire home selling process, so it can take more time to explain protocol and what will occur.
During this time with a real estate client and all through the showing process and escrow, I am generally in constant contact with my sellers. I send them feedback from showings, let them know about market shifts or changes that could affect their sale, and I try to make myself consistently available for chats when needed.
By the time escrow closes, I often know a great deal about each real estate client. We have an established relationship that is not only fiduciary while in escrow but it can be personal after closing.
On the other hand, you’ve got the buyer’s agents and their so-called buyers. Many of my sellers come to me through referrals. These referrals are from my previous clients and from other Realtors. Buyer’s agents don’t always have that luxury of referrals. Sometimes they find buyers because a buyer happened to slam a cart into them at the grocery store. Or, they met a potential client at an open house.
Or maybe the buyer called on one of their listings and it was sold, so they converted that lead into a buying prospect. But the point is these “clients” are often strangers. Just some guy off the street who says he wants to buy a house. So when a buyer’s agent calls to say his real estate client would like to make an offer, I may ask how the agent knows this buyer. I’m trying to figure out if the earnest money check is gonna bounce. Many do.
How long do you have to spend with a buyer for that person to become a client? It varies among agents. Some buyer’s agents call a buyer a real estate client after one telephone conversation. I’m pretty sure that’s not a client. That’s a person inquiring about buying a home. A potential prospect. A lead. It’s hard to put a lot of credence into a buyer’s agent statement about a buyer if that buyer is not what you or I might call a real estate client.
Every agent says: “My client loves the home,” when what they mean is I would like this offer accepted so we can try to close. Not only may the buyer NOT love the home when it comes time to negotiate, it might turn out that the buyer is not a real estate client after all. This might be an agent who showed one home and scribbled a contract. Does that make the buyer a real estate client in Sacramento?
