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How to Sell Your House in the Fall Sacramento Market
If you’re looking for tips to sell your house in the fall Sacramento market, you’ve come to the right blog. I routinely sell a couple of homes a week on average so I manage a wide range of transactions. This gives me a unique perspective of the housing market in Sacramento. Because believe you me, I have been sailing high on the seller’s market in Sacramento for the past 7 years. It’s a little bit of a bummer to watch the tables turning, but that’s the cycle of life and of real estate. Gone is the “seller’s way or the highway.” New is: how can we help the buyer to purchase this home?
Does this mean multiple offers are a thing of the past? That’s what sellers want to know. The truth is there will always be multiple offers for beautiful and stunning homes or for severely underpriced homes. There will be no multiple offers anymore for the stuff that is in between. We have a lot of stuff, much inventory on hand that lies between gorgeous and cheap. That land known as average run-of-the-mill homes at a decent price. Or, otherwise referred to as: ain’t gonna sell come hell or high water. Because buyers today do not want an average home at a decent price.
In fact, I would say there is a huge disconnect between how sellers and buyers view the market. For starters, buyers are not crawling all over each other anymore to buy a home. They don’t want to overpay and are a bit uneasy purchasing. They will check with everybody within earshot for advice. To capture today’s home buyers your home needs to almost be perfect. This means no leaky roofs, busted water heaters, no black mold in the bathrooms, nor peeling and separating laminate floors, and certainly no creepy carpeting.
Sellers, if you want to sell your house in the fall Sacramento market, be ready to negotiate on price. It doesn’t matter too much your sales price. It can be right on the nose or lower than the comps. Whatever it is, if there is one little drawback to the house, you can bet a buyer will hit that price. That means if your home is worth $415,000, for example, and you want to sell at $415,000, it needs to be perfect. If it’s not perfect, a buyer might offer $395K. And after the home and pest inspection, the buyer will want more money or repairs. Buyers are driving sales.
If you’re not prepared to negotiate and give in to buyers, then your home should be in brand new condition. Completely remodeled, new appliances, flooring, paint and lighting. We don’t write the rules of Sacramento real estate, so don’t kill the messenger. This is just the way it is in our present real estate market. You either work within the confines of the market or you can just not sell your house. Your listing agent is not a magician. She can’t manufacture demand that does not exist.
Just a quick run in MLS shows over 3,374 residential listings in Sacramento County. That’s a big uptick from our August 2018 Sacramento Housing Report. Although, we’ve had that kind of inventory in 2014, when we had more buyers. Now, only 1,594 sales have closed over the past 30 days, and a mere 1,188 are pending. We are slowing down instead of going like gangbusters as we have in previous Septembers.
I met with sellers yesterday who need to do a bit of work before selling. They have a list of projects from me. If they don’t do the work, then they need to drop their expectations on price by about $30,000 to $40,000. There is no way around this. It’s not like a seller can simply wait a few months for the market to improve. The market is not about to improve for sellers so no amount of waiting will pay off. Don’t kick yourself that you didn’t sell early spring. Spring has come and gone and next spring won’t be as pretty. Don’t lament the past. Deal with the here and now.
If you were waiting for the perfect time to sell your house, when all the stars were aligned, anytime within the past 7 years would have been a good time. However, if you want to maximize profit potential today, the best way to sell your house in the fall Sacramento market is to rely on the advice and negotiation skills from a strong listing agent. Since I fit that bill, I offer my services to you. You can call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759 and put 40+ years of experience to work for you.
Third Time is a Charm for These Sacramento Real Estate Sellers
Third time is a charm for Sacramento home sellers.
You know where I learned how to say “third time is a charm” in Sacramento real estate? Twelve years ago when short sales were getting started in Sacramento as the market began to crash. Because nobody back then wanted to buy a short sale. Soon that was pretty much all there was to buy, so that attitude changed. Now that we have almost no short sales at all in Sacramento anymore, you would think a Realtor would never have to say “third time is a charm” ever again. Ha!
Listen to this story. I first listed this home in Natomas in August, just as I headed out to Hawaii for a few weeks. Although this home has many nice features, the drawback was it faced the freeway. It didn’t just face the freeway. The freeway was in its face. You could see big trucks on the overpass and cars whizzing by the front yard. Oy, this will be a challenge to sell, I thought.
But then I brightened up. I’ve sold a lot of homes that face the freeway, now that I paused to reflect. We have low inventory. High demand. Sure enough, we received an offer. The agent typed the wrong seller’s name, which made me wonder about multiple offers. I could tell how much this excited the sellers. We just closed on their new home, which involved paying more than list price, so they thought they could apply that principle to this offer.
I didn’t want to burst their bubble and say do you know how lucky you are to have an offer for a home that faces the freeway? But I did discuss why protocol suggests not demanding more than list price when you have only the one offer. Then, suddenly the buyer’s agent withdrew the offer. Turned out her buyers purchased something else. Did they write multiple offers? Possible.
A few weeks later, whammo another offer arrived. IIRC, the buyer’s agent partnered with the buyer’s lender, and they were both out-of-area. That makes transactions more difficult because they don’t know local custom. Sacramento is very much its own local marketplace, unlike the Bay Area or Southern California. Also different from Placer or Yolo.
The lender sent the offer, too, which made it even more confusing. When escrow did not receive the deposit, we issued a Notice to Buyer to Perform and only then did the buyer finally wire funds. Too many red flags with this file but you cannot cancel a buyer for red flags.
We came to regret the whole ordeal. Shortly after the home inspection, the buyer flipped out. Some of the windows needed to be replaced. Since they were under warranty, the sellers hopped on getting new windows ordered. These things are never easy to do because builders pass the buck and the warranty companies pass the buck. So a seller needs to be really diligent, persuasive and committed to the process.
The buyer did not like the fact we ordered new windows. Say what? She made no sense. She then demanded that the sellers re-stucco the 8-year-old house. Why? Dunno. Nobody knows exactly why, and her agent / lender didn’t seem to help the situation. Next thing we know, the buyer canceled. To us it appeared to be cold feet.
Well, third time is a charm. A few weeks later, we received an offer in early November. Another buyer agent / lender situation. I am not in the minority when I say you could can be a fantastic Realtor or a expert mortgage loan officer but you can’t wear two hats. Something has always got to give in this situations. I don’t believe you can be an expert at both.
Sure enough, this buyer loan file ran into delays. Delays, loan conditions that were undisclosed, and extensions. We had four extensions with this escrow. That’s positively insane. But you know what? We experienced a Christmas miracle. We closed with the third set of buyers last Thursday, all the while I am back in Hawaii for the winter. Third time is a charm. It is weird, though, to start work on this in Hawaii in August and still be working on it in Hawaii in December.
Further, who figured 3 sets of buyers would want to live in a home that faces the freeway. In a buyer’s market, that house would probably still be for sale. In a seller’s market, no such thing as a bad location.
Selling a Messy Home in Sacramento
Selling a messy house presents challenges that are not always insurmountable.
Selling a messy home in Sacramento can be quite the challenge but not completely impossible. Being a Sacramento Realtor who rarely meets a home she does feel a strong urge to remodel with her own two bare hands, there are times I have to muster all of my strength to keep a straight face when talking with prospective sellers. It’s a gift in a way, to know when to keep your trap shut and how to temper words.
Being a good Realtor means you can’t let every unfiltered thought flow out of your mouth. Thinking before speaking is paramount. It’s a technique that can be difficult to teach others. Everyone knows I tend to tell it like it is but practicing restraint can also be a beautiful thing. Now, I don’t have any horrible listings at the moment and am not presently engaged in selling a messy home in Sacramento, which is precisely why I can talk about some of my past accomplishments. I try to never discuss any sales in progress. That’s just bad business.
This is blog for the people who spot questionable photographs in MLS and ask in an incredulous tone: how can another Sacramento Realtor publish such photos of a messy home in Sacramento? Isn’t she trying to sell it? Why would anybody do that? Does she know how bad those photos appear?
Why yes, yes she does know how bad those photos make the home appear. The thing is, the house is not going to magically transform itself into the Palace of Versailles when the buyer tours the home. If the place looks like Grey Gardens from the Beale era, it’s gonna showcase all of that squalor to a buyer, regardless. A vase of fresh flowers will not change perception. An agent may as well advertise to the type of buyer who will see value.
Reminds me of a seller I worked with years ago. She was selling a messy home in Sacramento and had called me to list. She forced me to step over piles of garbage on the floor; stuff was scattered a foot deep from one end to the other, featuring a big ol’ pile of rubbish lined up along the walls. This seller removed a framed picture from the wall, pointed to the nail and asked if she should try to cover the hole it would leave with spackle.
She was serious. Completely oblivious to the mess. That’s the thing to realize about selling a messy home in Sacramento. People are not gonna change their living habits in the blink of an eye. I sold another messy home in Sacramento in which a gigantic pile of rats had been swept into the center of the floor. The occupants stood over the rats puffing like crazy on cigarettes. I’ve sold homes that have been stripped and gutted by thugs, homes that smelled so badly I couldn’t enter, homes that by the principles of gravity should not still be standing.
Bottom line, if it’s priced right, anything will sell.
How Important is the Condition of a Home When Selling?
Wonder if these sellers know they are painting a wall two different colors?
Asking an experienced Sacramento Realtor about the condition of a home when selling is a smart move. I see so many sellers jump right in on their own, without seeking advice, and making repairs that do not need to be made, which means they are throwing money out the window. Oh, they might backtrack a little and mumble that’s what they wanted to do for the buyers so it doesn’t matter, but it does matter if they could have spent the money on say, oh, maybe a vacation in Hawaii, and they don’t have a money tree growing in their back yard like I do in my yard. You should see it. Incredible. Pops out 100 bills like clockwork.
Facetiousness aside, the first thing that many people wonder about is the condition of a home when selling. Some sellers will say, oh, let’s just sell it AS IS. And you know what? That’s OK. I am not about to impose my sentiment about turnkey homes because it doesn’t apply. On top of that, not everybody is a flipper, even if they spend hours and hours absorbing every episode of that variety on HGTV, that 24-hour eye candy. The fact is flipping takes experience, being in touch with what buyers want and not what you want. Buying materials at wholesale. Finding cheap labor. And then you can still chop down that money tree.
Sellers in Rancho Cordova had asked my thoughts about fixing up their home. I suggested the readily apparent issues that could be easily rectified and produce maximum benefit. They had little precious time, a family of tiny tots, so my suggestions to them were different than what I suggested for a seller in Davis when asked about the condition of a home when selling. The seller in Davis has more time, more resources, but still, we’re not flipping the house.
Of course, having been involved in buying and flipping homes for years and doing all of the work myself, with my own two little hands, it gives me a different perspective. I know how long it takes to perform certain jobs, for example. That information is invaluable to a seller who is doing some of the work herself. I had asked my sellers in Rancho Cordova to paint over a kitchen window, touch-up a ceiling by the entry, paint bedroom doors, wash the front door, install a new closet door in the hallway and remove a living room rug. The house was transformed! We received about a dozen offers.
Even the sellers were amazed. The downside is sometimes they decide not to sell when they sell how beautiful their home can appear. I’ve had that happen before. Providing advice about fixing up the condition of a home when selling is part of my full-service that I provide to my own sellers. I’ve got more than 40 years of experience, and I’m generally spot on. But don’t expect to receive this advice for free. Sellers need to be a client of Elizabeth Weintraub to receive this type of assistance.
Each plan is always tailor-made for my sellers and for the market conditions at hand. We’re in a market now in which the condition of a home when selling is not as important as it was a couple of years ago. But there are still little things that provide a big punch. This is a hot seller’s market. If you want to capitalize, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.
Sellers Who Don’t Need One of the Best Sacramento Realtors
If you’re looking for the one of the best Sacramento Realtors, odds are you can find a few by doing an online search. But just because the agent helps with staging or pricing and you list the home yourself or with a friend, does not mean you’ve got the services of one of the best Sacramento Realtors. You only got part of the story and not the entire package.
A former client relayed to me this morning that she did not realize some real estate agents will work for dirt cheap, and that the job to sell a home is so incredibly easy that she doesn’t really need to hire the best Sacramento Realtor. Although, she did add that when she’s ready to sell her more expensive home in East Sacramento, she will definitely hire me. Because she wants the best.
But for right now, to sell her rental property at the Parkway in Folsom, any old discount agent will do. She doesn’t need the best, she said, after promising last month to list with me. Especially after this more experienced and full-service Sacramento Realtor has already met with her at the rental in Folsom, completed an inspection and provided her with a list of fixes and repairs to undertake. In addition to giving her a list of vendors to purchase materials from, advising on color and choice of materials, providing contractors to complete the work and finding other ways to save her money.
This is on top of responding to every email from the seller within minutes, even while on vacation in Oregon. Advising on the perfect sales price and sales strategy.
So, yes, I guess I can see that after a seller has her home all fixed up, knows how much to price it at that she might feel it is a slam dunk. Especially since she didn’t pay the full-service Realtor a dime for all of this. However, all of that upfront work is part of the fee a full-service agent earns.
This is like jumping into my car at a stoplight, grabbing my bag and running off. I’m supposed to be OK with the theft, including the lack of respect. But I’m not and, when the time comes, I will not choose to represent her to sell a home in East Sacramento.
The other portions of my full-service fee, which I work hard to earn and the seller will most likely come to understand down the road are the following:
* Positioning the home to go on the market on a day that will make it the most attractive as possible
* Personal and immediate attention to my client
* Anticipating problems in advance and preventing difficulties
* Shooting high quality professional photography designed to drive up the price
* Hosting unique open houses through extravaganza blitz marketing
* Capitalizing on my 24 years of online internet experience — unparalleled by most other Realtors
* Utilizing my 40+ years of real estate experience to negotiate the purchase offer to ensure the highest price among possible multiple buyers, which I strategically manipulate to occur.
* Once in escrow, I negotiate the list of repairs the buyer often returns with after a home inspection to keep those costs to a minimum, if at all
* Meeting contingencies of the contract with precision
* Staying on top of the buyer’s financing to make sure there are no loopholes that will hold up closing or more likely cause the transaction to blow up
That’s a bare bones bullet-point list of things I do to make sellers more money above and beyond any difference in fee they might pay a discount agent. When escrows close, sellers always say I more than earned my fee, and they are very ecstatic with the extra money they received — which a discount agent could never provide. They understand this. All of my sellers pay for full service. Happily. Especially the million-dollar home sellers.
In other words, a seller tends to lose money with a discount agent, even if she wrongly believes her home is a slam dunk to sell. There are no slam dunks in Sacramento real estate. Saving a few pennies on the commission means eating it on the big picture. But then that kind of seller doesn’t really care if she has not hired one of the best Sacramento Realtors.
