A Short Sale Home in Woodland Closes

The first time I spoke to a particular seller of a home in Woodland, this Sacramento real estate agent was in the middle of a four-day vacation in South Carolina at Hilton Head. My husband and I were driving across the island, searching for a restaurant featuring Gullah cuisine when my cellphone rang. The seller was such a refreshing voice to hear. A person who wanted my help. I like to help people, that’s why I sell real estate.

Unlike a caller earlier that day, a seller from Folsom who was furious because I had answered my phone “when I was not at home.” On a Sunday, no less. He expected me to physically be in Sacramento and was very upset that I was not, even though it didn’t make one hill of beans difference regarding the sale of his home in Folsom. He evidently believed that he knew better how to run my business than I. Not every seller is a rational person and not every seller makes sense.

This person yelled and screamed and was obnoxious. I offered to cancel the listing for him, since he was so irate. Nasty people? No time for them. So, it didn’t bother me in the least when he immediately listed with another agent at a higher price. Last I saw of his home he had canceled that listing 30 days later because no buyer in her right mind wanted to pay his price. Sometimes, these types of things are a blessing in disguise when I no longer have to deal with them.

The woman who called and needed my help wanted to sell a short sale home in Woodland as a short sale. Well, I sell hundreds of Sacramento short sales, so she came to the right person at the right time. Turned out she lived in North Carolina, and was astonished to hear I was driving around South Carolina. But she had confidence that I would sell her home. She had gone to my website and knew my experience and decades in the business. It didn’t matter to her that I was in Hilton Head at the moment.

Later that week, I met with the tenant who lived in the home in Woodland. I shot professional photographs, studied the comparable sales and the seller chose a sales price. Other real estate agents in Woodland expressed an opinion that they thought the price was too high but it was right on the money. We received an offer from a qualified buyer, the BPO came back at value, and the short sale home in Woodland closed yesterday.

The negotiations took 5 months. Two loans plus mortgage insurance, so approval was necessary from all three. The buyer waited patiently all of this time because the seller selected the right buyer from the beginning. An added bonus was the bank did not require a price increase because prices have gone up since then. That can happen with short sales that take a while to close, just fyi.

The thing is no matter where I am or what I am doing, this Sacramento real estate agent always tries to answer her phone. I continually work on selling my listings. I don’t turnover my work to an Elizabeth Weintraub Team member while I am on vacation, although I certainly could. Because I don’t have to be sitting behind my desk to sell real estate in the Sacramento Valley. That’s why we have laptops, iPads, cellphones and DocuSign. What matters is that I get the job done and my client is happy.