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Selling a Sacramento Home for a Family Member
Selling a home in Sacramento for a family member is not a possibility for this Sacramento real estate agent because I have no family in Sacramento — apart from my husband — whom, BTW, just informed me the other day that he is not really a family member according to Facebook, and that I should not have included him when I updated my list of family members in Facebook. WTH? See, this is why I don’t much care for Facebook.
I sometimes get referrals, though, from other agents who don’t want to work with a family member to sell a home or buy a home in Sacramento. It’s not so much that they don’t want to work with their relative as it is they don’t want problems to arise in the family over it. Anybody involved in an ordinary family will understand those dynamics.
For example, I would not sell my own sister’s home. I would not help her to do it herself as a for sale by owner. I would find her a top-notch producer to do it, try to make sure she stays out of trouble, if I can, but I will not interfere in her transaction. Some people might think that attitude is cruel, especially since I’ve been in the business for just about 40 years now and could be of great assistance, but they don’t know my sister and they aren’t in the real estate business.
I love my sister to pieces. I’d like it to stay that way. Plus, my personal feeling is family and business do not mix very well. It is very difficult to be impartial when it comes to family. A real estate agent has to hold fiduciary with a client, do what is best for that client, not what she thinks is best.
Further, imagine if a real estate agent with decades of experience feels it is not a good idea to represent a relative in a real estate transaction, the kind of a job a brand new agent with no experience might do?
Two New Home Listings in Sacramento
Before I tell you about new home listings, let me share that I am sitting here in the waiting room in the basement of Mercy Hospital in East Sacramento. The hospital has WiFi. I am thrilled. My husband is here for a routine procedure, and I am not allowed to tell you anything about it. In fact, I’m not even sure he would want me to say that we are at the hospital. He says under no uncertain terms am I to say anything about his medical health, his checkups, his medical history or any kind of procedures that he may or may not be having.
Unlike woman, you know. We share everything with people. We go into excruciating detail. You wanna see photos? We’ll show you photos. Nothing is all that sacred. When the nurse poked her head through the door to inform me that my husband was comfortable and I could visit with him at bedside, I had my yogurt on my right, my cellphone at my left, my diet Pepsi on the chair rail and my laptop in my lap. Nope, I’m good. She picked up the Sacramento Bee from the floor and said he preferred to read the newspaper anyway and, besides, she looked at me sideways with that kind of smirking grin like she knows something I don’t, and added: “You’re addicted to that thing anyway,” and she marched away.
It would seem that my husband can talk about me and my quirky habits, but I am not allowed to discuss anything about him. Therefore, I am not going to talk about why I have to sit in the hospital waiting room as I type my morning blog, I’ll just get right to recent events.
I have two new listings that came on the market this morning. There is also an article that I believe will be published in the Sacramento Business Journal tomorrow that should feature some kind of insight from me and a photo of me with my Fair Oaks seller in his kitchen. It’s something about the market and the direction it is heading. I don’t really recall the interview because I talk to so many people every day. I just hope I said something intelligent that was selected for print and not one of my more doofus types of statements. I hope one eye doesn’t look bigger than the other in print, which sometimes happens to my eyes in photographs. Makes me look like an orangutan.
My Fair Oaks seller’s kitchen is beautiful, though. He just installed new granite counters, to complement the rest of the remodeling. The home is beautiful, but it’s the magnificent view of the forest in the back that will cement the deal for you. It will be open on Sunday from 2 to 4 PM. The address is 4552 Wawona Circle in Fair Oaks, and it’s offered for $359,000.
My second new listing is at 2636 Dobbins Way, just north of El Camino near Business 80. It’s located in a pocket of newer homes on a quiet cup-de-sac. The home features 4 bedrooms, 3 baths and was built in 2006. Best of all is the fabulous price of $159,000, and there is no HOA! It will also be held open on Sunday from 2:00 to 4:00 PM. If you would like information on new home listings, just give us a ring at 916.233.6759.
Looking for a Sacramento Real Estate Agent for Listing Your Home?
Do you need a listing agent in Sacramento? I love winning listing presentations. I freely admit it. Even after all of these years in the business, the excitement is still there. If a Sacramento real estate agent did not like to win a listing presentation, I’m betting that agent probably works elsewhere and not at Lyon Real Estate. It’s not that I compete all that often because sellers and buyers just hire me; I’m rarely interviewed. I’m lucky and very fortunate in that regard.
In fact, when a seller called me last week to make an appointment, he mentioned that he planned to interview two other listing agents in Sacramento. I asked him why because most sellers go to my website, read all about me and then decide to hire me on the spot, and that’s what I told him, too, because it’s the truth. If you think that sounds a arrogant, it’s only because you don’t know me yet. It’s just confidence, not arrogance.
This confidence I display comes from staying true to oneself, not trying to be somebody I am not. Somebody once told me decades ago that if you walked like a duck, dressed like a duck (probably in those top hats and tails), talked like a duck, eventually you would become a duck. But he was wrong because I don’t quack, and nobody is shoving a tube down my throat to fatten up my liver.
When I went to visit with the seller a few days ago, I recognized a home on the corner I sold 4 years ago. I am familiar with that neighborhood. That particular home was a short sale, and I had represented the buyer. I figured I could call that former client and ask him to keep an eye on the home while it is on the market, providing I win the listing presentation. I get a little nervous when my listings are vacant, so it’s good to know buyers and sellers all over town.
We talked about the home; I listened to the seller’s story. Every seller has a story and reasons for selling. I like to make sure we are on the same page and I fully understand a seller’s expectations so I may fulfill them. Everybody has different things they want. I don’t want to second-guess how to make a seller happy, that’s for rookies. As we chatted, the seller shared that the person who would most likely be handling his estate sale also happened to have a real estate license. That’s not unusual as something like one in every 35 people in California has a real estate license. I made him smile when I said, “So I guess this competition is down to two real estate agents because you look like a man who is too smart to consider hiring a part-time real estate agent.” But, see, it was true.
I then went on to explain how I market real estate, my extensive online presence and use of mobile tools, which is where and how buyers are looking, many search for homes in Sacramento on their cellphones. I like to jump out in front of buyers so no matter where they turn, there I am. Hello. Hello. Hello. Would you like to see this fabulous home? You can’t get away from Elizabeth Weintraub online. Except maybe Facebook where everybody knows my name and is drunk all the time. I don’t know who all those people are on my homepage.
The other thing I mentioned is I am not a K-Mart agent, but I also tend to make my sellers a lot more money. I’m a really good listing agent in Sacramento. I earn my commission. Could he hire somebody cheaper? Sure. But why? Why take the chance your net will be less because the agent is less aggressive? I tell sellers not to be penny wise and pound foolish. If we’re apart, say, 1% on the commission, that’s a drop in the bucket as compared to the service the seller will receive from me. After all, this is a seller’s market in Sacramento. Anybody can stick a sign in the yard and find a buyer in this market. That’s a small part of the picture. What a seller needs is a Sacramento real estate agent who can move them through negotiations, into escrow, and out the other side to closing.
That’s the difficult part.
In fact, while I was at the home, a neighbor came over to say he would be interested in buying the home. Of course he would be. He thinks he can take advantage of the seller and be the only bidder. The seller will get the most money from exposing this home to the largest pool of buyers and hiring the most experienced and assertive agent he can find to market and negotiate and, that agent, I’m thrilled to say, is me.
This four bedroom, two-bath home in Sacramento will go on the market about the middle of March. The seller told me yesterday it will be listed by Elizabeth Weintraub at Lyon Real Estate. Woo-hooo!!! See? The excitement never vanishes in this business.
Sacramento Sellers With Equity a New Trend!
You know how sometimes when your phone rings, and you either hear the phone number repeated in your ear, because you’re wearing a Bluetooth device, or you look at your phone and either way think to yourself: Oh, rats, nothing good can come from this, but you answer your phone anyway? OK, maybe you’re not in real estate then nor a Sacramento real estate agent like me. But I admit that I have, on occasion, fostered preconceived notions about who is calling me because so often I am correct about the fresh hell. There are times I do regret answering my phone and then there are other times that I am pleasantly surprised. It’s the trade-off for being proactive in this business.
Lately, what I’m finding is I am talking to more and more sellers with equity who want to sell their home in the Sacramento area. That’s a very good sign that our market is beginning to rebound and could be a new trend. I love working with sellers with equity. I would not say our Sacramento real estate market is recovering in leaps and bounds and you can get all crazy and ask whatever price you want for your home — because it’s not and you can’t — but the market is definitely turning the corner and the upward trend points to equity sellers. For the past 7 years, about 80% of my listings have been short sales. In 2012 alone I closed around 165 sides of which 129 sides were short sales. That still works out to about 1 out of every 5 is an equity sale, a seller who is not upside down.
I am predicting that if things continue on the same path I see now, my listing percentages for 2013 will be 1 out of every 3 sellers will be sellers with equity. I’d like to see at least half, you know, 50 / 50, but I suspect we have a ways to go on that. Who would have thought 7 years ago that a listing agent today would be so saturated with short sales that she’d almost forget what it was like to do a regular transaction? The pure joy?
I’ve learned so much about listing and selling homes in Sacramento from selling short sales that I can’t begin to tell you what an education it has been. I’ve learned a lot over the almost 40 years I’ve been in this business, no grass grows under my feet, but my extensive short sale experience has definitely made me a stronger and better real estate agent. If I can sell a short sale, I can sell anything. I can sell that empty cup from Starbucks you’re clutching. You need a home sold in Sacramento? You call this Sacramento real estate agent: Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. I answer my phone. Even if I regret it at times.
Why Did the Seller Reject Your Offer to Buy a Home?
If you’re looking for the secret about why the seller might reject your offer, you might be sorely disappointed in my answer. That’s because in just about every situation you can name in the Sacramento real estate market, it is the seller who chooses the buyer, not the agent. As such, the seller can have a bazillion different reasons why the seller prefers one offer over another. Yes, at this point you’re probably thinking: what about the listing agent’s input? Doesn’t the listing agent influence a seller’s decision? I believe that it is the listing agent’s job to guide, not to decide.
One way a purchase offer can gain traction is to be written correctly. This may sound overly simplified and you might wonder how anybody could write an offer incorrectly, but that’s obviously because you are not a listing agent in the greater Sacramento region. If you were a listing agent, you would know how offers can be written incorrectly.
Write the offer without mistakes is the number one rule.
It’s difficult to write a purchase contract without any mistakes. It means an agent needs to re-read MLS to make sure all of the directions were followed. Sometimes, listing agents insert tips or requirements into MLS, so it’s a good idea to review the confidential agent remarks and look for attachments in MLS. Veteran agents know that we live in strange times. It also means checking the correct boxes, making certain the buyer’s name is spelled correctly and matches the preapproval letter, double-checking the math and terms, using the right property address, including required documents, and so forth. Dot I’s. Cross T’s. Don’t give the seller a reason to reject your offer.
I can’t tell you how many offers the Elizabeth Weintraub Team gets accepted in Sacramento simply because the offer is written correctly. No other reason. It’s not our ranking or the fact that other agents respect us, it’s that our offers generally do not contain any mistakes. Because what is there for a seller to base a decision upon apart from price / net proceeds? In a short sale situation, for example, the seller isn’t even receiving any of the profits so price, while important, is really not a primary consideration. Commitment to the transaction is paramount, as is the ability to close escrow. In a short sale, you’ve gotta be willing to wait for short sale approval and be able to close without delays or hiccups.
A while back an agent changed the amount of the earnest money deposit in a purchase contract that I received. The amount was cut in half. It was simply crossed out and rewritten, without an initial. I did not know whether the agent changed the earnest money deposit or if the buyer had altered the contract, but in any case it was enough for me to question the buyer’s agent. I felt this was an issue the seller might want to know and she may raise the question herself. Why did the buyer lower the amount of the earnest money deposit on this short sale?
The buyer’s agent explained that the buyer did not want her money tied up for a period of possibly 3 months. Probably because she would be losing out on that whopping .5% interest rate paid by local banks — that 60 cents paid over 90 days.
The seller was looking for a committed buyer. A buyer who really wanted the home. A buyer who was willing for 3 months. This is a seller’s market in Sacramento. Many sellers receive multiple offers. Sometimes, a seller can receive a dozen purchase offers or more within 24 hours. In a short sale, many sellers are not looking for a reason to accept a purchase contract — they are looking for a reason to reject it so they can focus on the few offers that fit the sellers’ criteria. Try not to give the seller any reason to reject your offer.
