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What is the Right Sacramento Listing Term Length?
Sellers tend to focus too much on the Sacramento listing term length.
In my Sacramento real estate business, red flags often go up when a seller asks a lot of questions about the Sacramento listing term length or tries to alter my standard contract. It tells me I have somehow failed to communicate. Which would be very distressing for this Sacramento Realtor because I base much of my success in real estate on my outstanding communication skills. Plus, it kinda depends on who is doing the asking and the types of questions.
Bottom line, the deal is this top producer listing agent will immediately cancel a listing agreement for any reason for any seller. I am not one of those agents who will cry and beg to continue the Sacramento listing term length. That’s silly and unprofessional behavior if the seller wants to cancel the listing. I do not hold my sellers in prison. Therefore, the Sacramento listing term length for my sellers has no bearing on anything. It’s meaningless.
My standard Sacramento listing term length is 6 months, and if it is a short sale, it is a year. I do this so I don’t have to prepare even MORE paperwork if we need to extend. I don’t do it to hold my seller’s hand in the flame.
If I promise a seller that she can cancel the listing agreement at any time, and the seller demands a shorter time-frame than my standard term, my impulse is to walk away from the listing. A response like that tells me the seller does not respect my integrity, ethics, nor my word, and we have no fiduciary relationship. I have voided listing agreements sitting for signature in DocuSign over this. No trust. It’s a matter of principle.
I have learned over my 40 years in the real estate business that a lack of fiduciary is absolutely contrary to a successful business relationship.
A few days ago a seller contacted me about a home that was already listed. She wanted to change agents and pick a new listing agent. I looked at the listing in MLS. The lead photo looked like the agent had leaned out her car window, while still driving, and shot a picture with her cellphone. You could see the street, a blurry wall, and some kind of home poking out behind it. Terrible. I talked to that seller for a good 20 minutes at my home, then continued the conversation as I drove from Land Park to Folsom, another 30 minutes.
The seller wasn’t understanding much of the conversation, even though she turned up her hearing aid and put her caregiver on the phone for a while. She told me she was a real estate agent at one time, now lives in Phoenix, and asked how she could cancel her listing. She should know. Well, first you need a cancellation of listing and then the home needs to be removed from MLS. I spelled MLS, M as in Mary . . . What is a multiple, she asked? I have patience. I recognized the situation. I have empathy. Especially for older people.
But it was clear to me why her home has not sold. She asked what price it should be listed at. She adored her outdated wallpaper, shag carpeting and sheet-paneled walls. That love will cost her at least $50K off the comps, and if we could not talk about that, we certainly can’t discuss the Sacramento listing term length. I gave her a sales figure. That’s not what my agent is selling the house for, she cried. Well, the thing is, I said, your agent is not selling your home. I’m sorry.
It is rare that a seller wants to cancel a listing agreement but there are situations when a seller has a change of heart, or decides to rent the home, whatever. The reasoning is not important. I will cancel. No hassle. But when a seller asks before listing, over and over and over if she owes an agent any money upon cancellation (the answer is no), well, just saying, that could be a listing that is not worth the effort, and an agent would be wise to address that obvious concern upfront.
I don’t try to list every home in Sacramento but I do put my seller’s interests first. My sellers can trust I will do my best. My best is excellence. If there is no trust, we don’t belong in business together.
Does Your Sacramento Agent Charge Too Much?
How would you like to be in a business in which a potential client asks you to come over to her house, in the dark and cold after business hours, so she can pick your brain without making any kind of commitment and argue about how much you charge? Thousands of sales people do this every single day. It’s not that much different for a Sacramento real estate agent, either. I’m fortunate in that most people who call me have already decided to hire me, so when they make an appointment for me to view their home, it’s because they are ready to go on the market. I would not want to stay in this business if every single appointment was a 33% chance of being hired because the seller had to interview 3 real estate agents in Sacramento before making a decision.
Not because I couldn’t outshine and win the business because I perform well against the competition, but because the odds are against my favor, so I’d eventually want to stop doing it. 100% or long shot? Which is smarter? Given the choice of visiting a seller because she tells me she wants to hire me or visiting a seller who is not sure what she wants, which do you think a Sacramento real estate agent prefers to do? Which would you want to do?
One thing sellers like to discuss is how much it will cost them to hire a real estate agent. I don’t blame them, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I used to think the commission was a big deal. It’s not a big deal. Especially if you’re apart by only 1% of the sales price.
Oh, sure, you say, easy for you to roll off the tip of your tongue because it’s not your money, it’s the seller’s money, but I’m telling you it’s not a big deal. It’s a far bigger deal how much a seller gets for her home. The sales price and the agent’s ability to market and negotiate for the seller — to be that seller’s advocate and fiduciary and try to get the seller the highest price possible — that’s far more important.
I have never had a seller tell me I charge too much. I have never had a seller tell me she didn’t get enough for her home and that I should have worked harder for her, because I would be crushed. It’s never happened. Knock on wood, it never will happen. I focus on the seller’s needs and the seller’s rights — that’s the secret of my success.
I did have a former neighbor once tell me after he closed escrow that he picked a friend of his instead of hiring me because his friend charged him 1% less than I proposed. But you know what, he made 12% less on his sale than I would have directed him to do. He gave up many thousands in profit in exchange for that little tiny 1%. To put it into perspective, he lost almost $30,000 over that bad decision. Sellers should not look at the small percentage an agent receives for the work she does but instead should focus on the huge percentage they make selling the home. Experience doesn’t cost, it pays. Hire an experienced agent you trust and that’s all you need. Don’t be penny wise and pound foolish.
Can you always find an agent somewhere who will charge a little bit less than a veteran with many years under her belt? Sure, you can. It’s in the nature of the beast. Is it in your best interest? Probably not. It’s just not enough to work yourself into an anguish over.
