Is the Client Always Right About Real Estate in Sacramento?

Selling real estate in Sacramento involves more than knowledge about real estate.

What does a Realtor say when others ask if the client is always right about real estate in Sacramento when it seems they are not. It’s sort of a tricky question because the answer, of course, is in the affirmative. Even if the clients are wrong. Like when a buyer decides, for example, that they should ask a listing agent to represent them, in hopes the agent will be greedy enough and unethical to do whatever it takes to shove her seller into escrow. Except a dual agency action with that type of agent can open the door for both parties to get thrown under the bus. You let them make their own mistakes.

Way before I became involved in real estate in Sacramento, I recall an interview process in the early 1970s, at the electric company in Minneapolis, just before I moved out of town and went into real estate myself. My interviewer asked how would I handle a situation with a customer who was clearly in the wrong. My answer was something about educating the customer, and I didn’t get the job. Because the customer is always right.

There are certainly conflicts in dealing with people involved in real estate in Sacramento. It’s a people business. It is not really a real estate business, although understanding real estate, how it works, and possessing an analytical ability to negotiate are all strong positives, it still boils down to the people involved and managing expectations.

This doesn’t meant that I don’t educate my clients, because I do. If they tell me, for example, that they do NOT want an open house held for any reason because they believe open houses only benefit the agent and not the client — which is totally incorrect, btw — I don’t do it. I might explain to them that buyers see homes in all sorts of different ways, and stopping at an open house is one of those ways that generates buyer motivation. The buyer might view the home, call an agent and write an offer a day or so later. It happens all the time. I know this because I am heavily involved in real estate in Sacramento.

But if the client, who maybe sells a home once every 10 years insists on no open houses, that’s what I do. It might take longer to sell the home; it won’t be exposed to the widest pool of buyers available, but that is not my call. It’s my seller’s right to choose. I would feel guilty if I didn’t explain my reasons, but I would never demand a seller do things my way, if my way makes them unhappy. The client might not always be right about real estate in Sacramento, but they are right because they chose me to be their Realtor.