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Selling Sacramento Real Estate Without Internet
While this Sacramento real estate agent was on vacation in Alaska with limited Internet access, two real estate transactions blew up at closing — which is a rarity but seems to be more common lately. These would have blown up even if I was in Sacramento. Pending sales blowing up appears to be due to a mix of buyer remorse, uncertainty and severe underwriting guidelines. Fortunately, I was able to put both of these homes back into escrow almost immediately and at better terms, even from thousands of miles away.
I also sold another home in Elk Grove while I was cruising the Inside Passage. We had just left Skagway that evening and headed back to Juneau, a long stretch without Internet. I had anticipated this difficulty before I left, which is why my team members and assistant were on alert, jumping in to help answer questions and monitor listing activity. On top of that, I had set up my iPad as a Hotspot so if we did find cellphone coverage, I could receive wireless coverage through my laptop computer.
The only problem with the iPad is I should have named my iPad something other than Elizabeth Weintraub’s iPad. Like, maybe, Breaking Bad. Although we had only 35 travelers onboard the Alaskan Dream, many of them asked about it because it showed up in their wireless connections as a connectivity port. It kind of made me feel like the only rock pigeon dangling a slice of bread from my mouth, surrounded by starving, pecking pigeons.
My Hotspot only worked though if I was near a cellphone tower. As a backup, I also left my cellphone plugged in and turned to silent. That’s because I use two different cellphone carriers, so whichever was strongest would pick up the signal.
Sure enough, around 1 AM, while I was sound asleep, we cruised into Juneau to get diesel before continuing on to Glacier Bay. See, this is how I sell Sacramento real estate in my sleep. My husband set the alarm on his cellphone to wake me up. Eureka. Internet. I quickly uploaded the offer I had received to DocuSign, cc’d my assistant to send the executed offer on to the buyer’s agent, and crawled back into bed. Of course, it was hard going back to sleep with my brain on fire.
Sacramento Real Estate Agents and Sucky Technology
If you’re going to work as a Sacramento real estate agent and rely on technology, you’ve got to always have a Plan B. It doesn’t hurt to have a Plan C as well because sure enough, if something can go wrong once, it can screw up twice. I’m not simply talking about cellphones, although it would be nice if they made an exceptionally GOOD cellphone but today most phones pretty much do double and triple duty, which renders them unreliable. I’m amazed you can’t stand on your phone and have it read your weight.
You can’t really blame the manufacturers, either. Because they’re just making crap that people want to buy; they are fulfilling needs and wants. We can look in the mirror and thank our own selves for this situation.
Websites go wonky. Internet coverage drops. Fax lines are continually busy. All this crap happens daily. Over the past few days, I’ve struggled trying to fix Trulia because it’s been messing up my listings. Photographs vanish. There are inconsistencies between agent profiles and agent inventory yet data appears pulled from a single source. Almost all of my listings at one point turned into Unknowns and disappeared from Trulia. I know you’re probably suspecting operator error — that good old OE, which is often responsible — but I hadn’t done a thing except visit the page to enter this weekend’s Open Houses. So, I uploaded once again all of the photography, listing by listing. Thank goodness I utilize other websites where I manage my listings. But those mess up, too, from time to time, so I’m not just picking on Trulia.
Digital online signing services sometimes don’t perform as smoothly as they should. So, I have backup plans for that. I also use 3 browsers for different functions. I have not only scanning abilities but two separate fax numbers that go to my email. Yeah, it costs another 8 bucks a month to maintain a separate fax, but when you’ve absolutely, positively need that document, that 100 bucks a year is peanuts in exchange for peace of mind. Forget the 15 bucks a month for the iPad when for $50 you’ve got a hotspot.
If I can’t get in the front door for a service, I’ll find a way to get in the back door or substitute another technology. It’s how I guarantee first-class service to my clients because they deserve it. I would not be an effective Sacramento real estate agent if I behaved otherwise. But jeez Louise I’m thankful for technology, even when it malfunctions.
If Real Estate Clients Don’t Embrace Technology, It’s OK
Repetition is the key to learning, not only in the real estate business but for almost anything. I think back to my early guitar teacher: You must play this song at least 6 times in a row without a mistake to master it. Yes, grasshopper, but I wanted to play The Monster Mash not Red River Valley. To retain what you learn, you’ve got to use it, and that’s where consistency plays an important role. Doing the same thing over and over, yet improving on it.
I mean, I can fly by the seat of my pants as well as the next Sacramento real estate agent, but it makes more sense to have a rhythm and way of doing business. Not to mention, if one has a method, there is no question as to whether a task was completed or even how it was completed, because it’s always done the same way. It takes all of the guesswork out of it. But that doesn’t mean the method can’t be improved.
We really ought to strive to be continual life-long learners to fully participate in the world, while we’re still here. Not just in our personal life but particularly in our business life. Because things change. It’s not easy always keeping up with change. One day you’re told that, oh, for example, gluten is good, and you should read the fine print on every loaf of bread you buy to make sure it has gluten in it. Next day, gluten kills you and is evil. Or, how about the niacin and cholesterol thing? Do you know how it feels to take 3,000 mg of niacin? Ask the 8-year-old who insisted on taking it. I watched him. First his body turned red from waist up, then his head turned beet red, his ears quickly inflamed and his eyeballs exploded, just like in the cartoons.
I know what you’re thinking, you’re thinking whaaa, niacin, you can’t take big ol’ gobs of niacin anymore? Yeah, 3 or 4 years ago, I don’t recall, new research showed that niacin wasn’t helping cholesterol and, in fact, could be bad for you when ingested in large dosages. You can’t take a fact, stick it in your head and rely on it forever. Which I find hugely distressing after going to all of the trouble to acquire it in the first place. If you don’t believe me, take a look at what happened since I was in school and learning about continents. Continental drift was a contested concept. Ditto Super Continent. Today, kids learn about Pangaea and watch videos of India slamming into Asia without batting an eye.
I’m constantly staying on top of things that change in Sacramento real estate and adapting, which means new technology and learning curves. A seller complained the other day I was too high-tech, what with my iPad shooting video of her home instead of taking notes. An iPad is just a convenience to doing more work better and faster. When it’s time for you to hire a Sacramento real estate agent, you should probably consider whether your agent works with the technology of 2013 because that’s how the industry interacts.
However, if you don’t like to use technology, that’s OK, too. I can still press my Bluetooth device to call you on your land line phone. I have a car, a driver’s license and I can drive over to see you.
Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916 233 6759 for your real estate needs. I answer my phone.
