Email Elizabethfull service realtors vs discount agents
Treat the Realtor You Want to Hire With the Same Respect You Expect
Treat the Realtor you want to hire with the same respect you expect for yourself is no different than the Golden Rule. Below is an excerpt from a blog my partner, Elizabeth Weintraub, wrote in August of 2012; it is in italics. As Realtors are paid to sell you a home, occasionally some clients feel that a Realtor doesn’t deserve to be treated well. You know, sellers and buyers get paid to do their job and they would expect fair treatment in the workplace.
I remember a situation where I was not treated fairly. I was trying to explain the details of an offer to a seller. One of the clients immediately barked at me. He said that he had sold homes before and didn’t need to be “talked down to.” Of course, the flip side to that is Realtors are accused of not explaining enough. I apologized and said that my only intent was to provide a gold standard of service and to be thorough.
With some people, you can’t win, no matter how hard you try. We care about each person we help. There is a standard of care we provide, even if we get barked at. Explaining the details is what we are paid to do. When we sell a home, we want clients to feel they had the level of service and care they expected and, more importantly, deserved. Luckily, most clients are kind and appreciative, many become friends. Selling Sacramento real estate is a rewarding job. To this day, 25 years later, I still love what I do. Read on from Elizabeth:
“I work fervently from 5 AM to 7 PM during the week. Much of my day is spent reacting to fires, especially working on 50 short sales or so at a time. Sometimes, I receive more than 500 emails a day. But if you want to be a client, I will call you back. If you are a client, I will call you back. If you are an agent calling on an active listing, I will call you back. This is a service business, and I never forget it. I respect the time of other people.
I had to chuckle, though, when I received an email on Friday from a seller I had never met (and never will meet). She had sent me an email a few days earlier saying she wanted to sell her home in Rocklin. I immediately called and left her a message on her cellphone. No response. Then I sent an email. No response. Four or five hours later, I called and left her another message. No response.
Then, on Friday, she sent an email to say she was feeling ill and could not meet with me, we would need to reschedule, although we had not scheduled an appointment. Obviously, she was in communication with a bunch of other agents. Can’t keep us all straight, I guess. Some days I’m just damn lucky. I’m confident she will find an agent she deserves.” — Elizabeth Weintraub
If the Realtor you want to hire is a professional who provides full-service real estate services, call Weintraub & Wallace Realtors with RE/MAX Gold. We can be reached at 916-233-6759.
— JaCi Wallace
Buying Another Computer at Best Buy
Buying another computer at Best Buy has turned into quite a bit of work. This started Tuesday when I took my Dell XPS into the Geek Squad at Best Buy. I dropped it off to check the fan as it was not turning on. They said a few days and I would know the scope of work and have an estimate. Wednesday I received a call that it is not the fan and needed to be sent out as the motherboard was not functioning. Of course, I could not have my computer be out of service that long.
The solution, I decided to buy another computer. A helpful sales clerk walked me around to look at what was in stock. There was a computer that would work, so I bought it on the spot. Then a tech support package was needed so the data could be transferred to the new computer. Tonight another trip back to Best Buy to pick up the new computer! Three trips later and now we are putting the computer up and installing a 40-inch monitor.
This Sacramento Realtor is buying another computer at Best Buy because even one day without a desktop can cost our team business. Sure I have a laptop and a cell phone, so I can always do the basics. For me working on a desktop is a much more efficient working environment. Why? My days are filled with computer action items all day long and the more efficient, easy to use, and reliable the equipment, the more work I can complete in a day.
This is how we manage our team listings. Simply put we spend whatever is required to sell our listings. If we need to change locks or get windows cleaned that’s what we do. If we need to clean up a backyard or shampoo carpets, haul debris, then we call private vendors. If we decide buying another computer at Best Buy is needed, then we invest whatever is required. If you want top producers working for you, call Weintraub & Wallace Realtors today at 916.233.6759. We go the distance.
— JaCi Wallace
Wondering About Full-Service Realtors vs Self-Help Real Estate?
Wondering about Sacramento full-service Realtors vs self-help real estate? Listen to this, I had been running hard all week and decided to quickly dash into the Ulta Store near one of my favorite pocket of homes in Elk Grove to buy makeup. Dashed in, grabbed my mesh bag, and headed for the face makeup.
Too many choices at the Clinique counter. There are so many types: sheer coverage, full coverage, matt, bronzers, different skin types, Yikes! So, of course, I take samples and brush them onto my hands like a real pro, NOT! My hands are now covered with 5 different kinds colors of face makeup. I wipe it all off. As I was about to start on the other hand with samples, I decided ok, this is crazy. I don’t have time for this, why did I even come into this store?
Then I approached another cosmetic counter. A very nice makeup artist in a white coat asks, May I help you? No, thank you. We are so trained to say: no, I can do it on my own. All of a sudden I realized I do need help or I will be here all day and I need to get back to selling Sacramento real estate.
Changed my tune: excuse me, I’m so sorry for being rude, I really do need help. She says ok let’s get to it, with a big smile. A few questions and she comes back with a pretty bottle. She puts my makeup on and it looks great, a perfect match!
Then I realize, ok, I need several other products and with her efficient and knowledgeable help, I can get in and out in 20 minutes. Sure enough, she soon had a bagful of items and I left looking like a million bucks, at least I like to think so, LOL …
She wrote it all down and said next time you come, I have your list. I can pull your items have them ready and waiting for you … I thought wow, full-service is the only way to go! Why do we feel we have to do it all ourselves?
This got me to thinking. People sometimes think a full-service Realtors vs self-help real estate services may not matter. After all, why do we need a Realtor to help? Think twice, as that’s what a couple I talked to recently believed. We can Google anything, they said, we do not need professional help.
I explained just a few reasons why hiring a Sacramento top producer is so fundamentally important. Further, Realtors have access to information they do not and years of dissemination training. Soon enough they changed their tune: Well, I guess we really do need your help,
After carefully listening to their goals and objectives, we set up a custom plan and began to execute it immediately. These people no longer seem confused about full-service Realtors vs self-help real estate services. They became our clients and value working with a full-service real estate team. If you desire top producers and professional representation to achieve your real estate objectives, call Weintraub & Wallace Realtors 916-233-6759, partnered with RE/MAX Gold.
— JaCi Wallace
RE/MAX Gold
Full-Service Realtors Means Sometimes Going Beyond With Service
Full-service Realtors in Sacramento offer sellers so much more than just higher prices, fewer renegotiations in the middle of escrow and expert analytical skills. We sometimes have to go beyond what most people expect with service and sharing our knowledge. Oh, we’ve had it hammered into us that we can’t give legal advice and can’t give tax advice, anything that departs from our skillset of real estate and that for which we are licensed. After all, we are not accountants nor lawyers. We are full-service Realtors.
But what does that mean to the public we serve? It means we are judged every single day by what we do and how we do it, and our performance darn well better be excellent. We need to anticipate what a seller needs before she or he asks. Often, it also means we go beyond what other agents might do.
One of the aspects of my full service for sellers involves giving advice as to improvements. There are often little fixes a seller can do to make a property much more saleable. Left to their own devices, sellers will fix things that are inconsequential to a buyer but which the sellers think are important. That’s generally a waste of money. I don’t advise sellers based on my personal preferences, I advise based on what sells. What buyers say they want and expect. My advice is based on my vast experience spanning four decades in real estate.
But I don’t just throw out advice, like: paint that wall a dove gray. Since I spent 10 years of my life fixing up homes and flipping them, doing the work with my own two hands, I know quite a bit about home improvement projects. Not only that, but I know which products to recommend, which vendors to supply those products and the contractors who can do the actual work. And I don’t even watch HGTV, heh, heh.
Discount agents are often too green, too new, and honestly, many of them don’t care. They can’t help. I shared with a friend the other day what I do to attract multiple offers and drive up the sales price versus what a discount agent does. A discount agent’s advice is: take the offer. Sellers make more money through full-service Realtors, and they get more qualified advice from an experienced veteran vs. a newbie. A discount agent will promise full service but they can’t deliver. It’s impossible.
Looking to sell your home? Before you wander into Lowe’s, give Elizabeth Weintraub at Lyon Real Estate a jingle at 916.233.6759. I’m happy to help.
