Sacramento Will Be Featured in Financial Times

Just to show you how it goes in the life of a Sacramento real estate agent, last week I didn’t put any new listings on the market yet, yesterday, I worked on four new home listings in Sacramento, plus I gave a film interview to the Financial Times. That particular media is covering the collapse and recovery (or what-have-you) of the housing market across America. Because Sacramento was hit so hard by the real estate market-crash asteroids in a double whammy (2005 and 2008), and because we’re one of the first cities to begin our journey down that Yellow Brick Road, our town is of interest to the Financial Times, along with Austin, Texas, and a few others.

The morning started out innocent enough, an office meeting with my peers, during which I briefly and without actual intention mentioned a duplex I am listing in Tahoe Park. During the day, I received 3 phone calls from real estate agents about it. OK, this listing will be hot. It might even receive multiple offers. I conducted my visual inspection of the home a short time later and, as I lifted the door to the electrical panel to determine the amperage, the seller asked how I could read the label. She was stunned, watching me.

Hey, I might be an old fart but I wear monovision contacts. I am also a Baby Boomer, and we are not wearing reading glasses or bifocals if we don’t have to, and we don’t. I explained how distance and near vision works with this particular type of contact lens, and probably opened a new door of possibilities for the seller.

I spent about 30 minutes with a couple of my team members showing how to analyze a listing in MLS and various methods to pull comparable sales. It’s amazing how much information a buyers’ agent can glean about a listing in Sacramento if the agent utilizes all of the tools available. Knowledge is power.

Wednesdays are also my day to complete any last-minute open house schedules for the weekend. This weekend, Lyon Real Estate is holding its Open House Extravaganza for the month of May, so it’s very important to participate with such wide coverage for my sellers. I lined up a bunch of homes, matched with fabulous open house agents, and updated all of my online listing data because I like to tweak the listings myself. I’m such an odd duck, I guess. I do all of my own work on my listings because that’s my focus, it’s what I enjoy.

The best part of any Sacramento real estate agent’s day, though, is calling her sellers to announce their home has closed escrow — and a home in Roseville did close yesterday, less than 6 weeks after we went on the market. List price, all cash. West Park subdivision, at $375,000.

My team member Linda Swanson is filming with the Financial Times today, showing the reporter around Sacramento. I’ll let you know when this news story airs. I can tell you that although my life is pretty much open book, and my opinions are strong, leaning far to the left, I still prefer talking to the Financial Times over 60 Minutes any day. Some of those guys have accents.