Do Not Pass By the Overpriced Homes in Sacramento

Ask your Realtor to find the overpriced homes in Sacramento for you.

If you’re looking for a good buy, try looking at overpriced homes in Sacramento. Look at homes that have been on the market for more than 60 days. The longer, the better.

Most buyers pass up these opportunities. Agents do, too. They presume the seller is unreasonable or maybe insists on a pie-in-the-sky sales price. They also believe that the seller has probably turned down other offers, so they reason it’s wasting time to chase a lost cause.

However, the truth is most buyers do not make substantially low offers to sellers. Agents advise against it, too. Few agents want to gain a reputation among peers in the community as being a low-baller or a time waster. Besides, if you look at MLS statistics for averages, you won’t spot these homes. Even in buyer’s markets, most homes still sell between 95% and 100% of sales price (not accounting for concessions), if they are priced right.

So the lonely, neglected listing just sits there. Collecting cobwebs. The listing agent pleads with buyer’s agents to submit an offer — any offer — but buyer’s agents tend to gravitate toward well priced listings; it’s simply human nature.

I advise buyers to hook up with an area agent who is on top of the inventory, be it me or some other Sacramento Realtor. That’s the only way they will know which properties might be a bargain in disguise. I’m always on the lookout for gems. They don’t pop up all the time, and every transaction is different, but if agents poke around in MLS and get to know neighborhoods, they probably already know which two or three homes in an area might be worth pursuing.

Area specialists should feel comfortable enough to share that knowledge with buyers and write those offers. You know what the listing agent said about the last overpriced home in Sacramento? She said not a single real estate agent had shared with her that it was overpriced. Why? Agents don’t want to insult other agents. Sometimes out-of-area agents face blackballing from local agents, too, because locals tend to frown on territory infringement. Ha! Spittooey!

It’s a complicated business. It pays to have a buyer’s agent on the side of buyers.