housing inventory competition
Why the Missionary Position is Always the Best
Sacramento Realtors like me can make a strong argument for anything, including why the missionary position might be preferred by more doctors 5 to 1. I’m certain to offend somebody somewhere on the internet today, by talking about positioning. It’s incredible what people find to get riled up about. Some of them send me mean, snippy little emails, when I write a completely tongue-in-cheek blog. They don’t get it.
Like last week I wrote a blog about hearing aids and where the microphone is located on your cellphone. It was a light-hearted blog, mostly poking fun at myself and how I stuffed soda straws into my ear as a kid. Some old fart like me — I presume he was an old fart because I talked about how 80% of 80-year-olds can’t hear a thing — blasted me. He was pretty ticked off. He told me to stop using hearing aids to sell houses. But if I could actually use hearing aids to sell houses, you betcha I’d do it. Sorry, old fart.
The missionary position I’d like to discuss today has nothing to do with what you might be imagining. I consider myself a missionary of Sacramento real estate. It is my religion. I am pretty much consumed by it. Even while on vacation to see the butterflies in Mexico last week, I pondered how to get my sellers another two weeks in escrow because the construction of their new home was delayed. Constantly thinking, analyzing. I created a solution.
One thing I do all of the time is relentlessly study the comparable sales for my listings. I don’t always remember to share the results of the analysis with my sellers, my bad, but I got into a discussion about it recently. The seller wanted to reduce the price, and I cautioned against it. She was positioned beautifully.
I could see why she considered a price reduction. She was in a hurry to sell, and owned a somewhat unique home. Agent after agent sent buyer feedback that mentioned their buyers had made an offer on another property. That’s excellent news to me! You know why? Because it’s one less competing home in inventory. When every home within a mile goes pending, and you’ve got the only home left on the market, your home will sell.
Which is not difficult in our present Sacramento real estate market. Comps are one thing but you’d be a fool not to consider the missionary position. Look at the value, the price per square foot, and how many homes are selling for less. If there is none, you’re in like flint. Sure enough, my seller’s home popped into escrow at list price. Happens time and time again.