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In Defense of Open Houses in Sacramento
Open houses in Sacramento work for many reasons, and are mutually beneficial to a seller and a Sacramento Realtor, even though I realize there are some agents in the business who do not believe that open houses work. By working, I mean an open house brings potential buyers who may buy the home, and it also brings buyers who might not buy the home. Those “leftover” buyers, the buyers for whom the home does not meet their needs, are often wandering about without representation. For them, the open house provides an excellent opportunity to interview agents and for agents to interview buyers, in a non-threatening, casual atmosphere.
How can open houses in Sacramento be bad? For anybody? Yet, there are agents who just don’t want to do an open house. I suppose these agents have a ton of clients and don’t need any more buyers to work with. Maybe they don’t enjoy talking to buyers, which can make a person wonder why they are in real estate. Or, maybe they feel that they will be dissatisfied if the open house produces just one buyer for them to help?
Buyers find out about open houses through 2 main methods: homes for sale on the web and by following open house signs placed in the street. Some weekends, traffic is slow; other weekends, brisk. The success of an open house can be influenced by the weather, holidays, weekend events, but rain or shine, successful Sacramento real estate agents work.
I hear from a few other agents that open houses are a waste of time, but if an agent finds a great buyer every other open house, that’s an investment of four hours. If four hours isn’t worth investing to find a buyer, I’m wondering how far an agent will go in the real estate business.
Not only that, but holding an open house allows an agent to become more familiar with a neighborhood, its people, traffic patterns, positives / negatives, market values — all of which is beneficial information to a real estate agent developing her career.
On top of this, although not every buyer will buy a home on the spot at the open house, for a large number of buyers, viewing the home at the open house is often their first exposure to the home, and they do eventually buy. They might look at the home on a Sunday, think about it for a few days, get a preapproval letter and eventually call a real estate agent to show the home to them a second time. Many homes that sell today were first viewed by the buyer at an open house.
Due to our busy schedules nowadays, most people look at the weekends as a time to a) do chores and b) to relax. They can squeeze in an open house or two that they might not be able to schedule during the week. People also make impulse purchases, and real estate is not immune. How often have I heard, “Oh, we weren’t in the market, but then we drove by this open house . . ..”
It’s too easy when there’s little traffic for an agent to decide that open houses in Sacramento don’t work. The real estate agents who make it in the real estate business are those who view every open house as an opportunity to engage with people and to sell a home. Open houses in Sacramento is a necessity.
Will You Go to An Open House in Sacramento on Super Bowl Sunday?
Will you go to an open house in Sacramento on Super Bowl Sunday? Ask any real estate agent in Sacramento, and he or she will offer conflicting opinions about an open house — whether it’s effective as a sales tool. I am in the camp that says if a home for sale is located in the high traffic area, it is a good prospect for an open house. Providing that the home shows well, of course, and is completely presentable. Because homes sell in Sacramento through open houses. Just had two of them sell this weekend, and the third was shown personally by an agent.
Do you think that’s a good time for an open house in Sacramento in 2022? I work no matter what is happening including SuperBowl. With inventory so low I think buyers will also go out and look at a new listing that is being held open. If someone just likes to visit open houses and they are a football fan it is likely they would skip the open house. I think serious buyers will be out looking every Sunday.
Whether homes sold from open houses like these, previously mentioned in 2014 or in 2022; the question is will you go to an open house in Sacramento on Super Bowl Sunday? As we are in the last playoffs this Sunday, the Superbowl is coming up on Feb 13th, 2022. Coincidentally the day before the big football game is Valentine’s day.
Sacramento Buyer’s Agents Send Clients To Open Houses Unaccompanied
When Sacramento buyer’s agents send clients to open houses unaccompanied and they later write an offer, it still stuns me. If clients do not need their agent’s guidance, do they really need their agent? Open houses are heavily visited by buyers without their agent. This happens as regular as clockwork. It is no longer an exception but now more of a rule that agents send their buyers to open houses.
There are of course some agents who actually show up to our open houses with clients. We understand that an agent may be holding an open house and can’t make it to an open house at the same time a client wants to see it. Of course, they could plan to see it after their open house or send another associate to attend with them. At the very least they can go back with the clients a second time to see the property and then write an offer.
We ask unaccompanied buyers at open houses if they are working with an agent. They often reply, yes, we have an agent. Our next question, is your agent meeting you to show this home? A list of excuses is generally blurted out by the buyer as to why the agent isn’t coming. Clearly, they just send clients to open houses. Perhaps the buyers didn’t put much emphasis on the importance of their agent coming with them. — JaCi Wallace
The excerpt below in italics was written by my business partner, Elizabeth Weintraub, seven years ago. It’s titled Sacramento Real Estate Agents: Ramp Up. It is the same core issue today, seven years later. Elizabeth did a great job of conveying how its agents make excuses instead of focusing on solutions to provide top-shelf level service to clients. Enjoy — it is spot on.
Agents complain that they can’t submit offers fast enough so they have to submit without showing. No, they don’t. They just need to get their act together. An agent lamented that he could not show a home yesterday during the time period it was convenient for the tenants to show it. He asked if he could send his buyers over to the home without an agent escort. No, he can’t.
But I heard that some buyers were wandering around the home by themselves. Just because we’re in the middle of a home-buying frenzy in Sacramento does not mean it’s OK to set aside Standards of Practice. If anything, we, as Sacramento real estate agents, need to ramp up our professionalism to ensure quality service to our clients. — Elizabeth Weintraub
If you want to hire a professional buyer’s agent that shows you property, provides insight and expertise, call Weintraub and Wallace Realtors, with RE/MAX Gold. We don’t send clients to open houses and shirk our duties. We can be reached at 916-233-6759.
— JaCi Wallace
Don’t You Hate that Expression Is it Hot Enough For Ya?
Is it hot enough for ya in Sacramento?
When I was a kid growing up in Minnesota, everybody always asked each other in the summer that idiotic question: Is it hot enough for ya? It was just a colloquialism, nobody expected a response. Saying is it hot enough for ya is akin to saying hey. But in Sacramento right now, we have hot weather much sooner than expected. Although, I don’t know why. It’s as though Mother Nature turned up the dial and said forget about spring as she dumped a ton of water on us last month.
Then in June, when it’s often relatively nice weather in Sacramento, bam, we’re hit with a heat wave that shows no sign of cooling off. It’s the kind of hotness you can see with your eyes, the waves in the air of bendy heat, slowly rippling in the bright sun that just won’t quit. It was 106 yesterday. Recordbreaking.
It was not a good day yesterday for open houses in Sacramento, either. We expected mobs to descend upon a couple of listings, and it was relatively quiet, with very little traffic. I expect most people simply refused to go outside. Did I go outside? Heck, no. I simply thanked my lucky stars we had the AC checked earlier this year and, knock on wood, can be relatively assured it will continue to crank out relief.
How do people live in Sacramento without air conditioning? People do. I sell some of those homes without air. Some of the older homes were constructed with thick plaster walls that tend to insulate and keep the homes cooler. Also, I imagine lots of people just leave the house when it gets to be unbearable and find a river or pool to swim in, maybe an air-conditioned movie theater for the afternoon or they visit a local bar / hangout.
I have an appointment this afternoon for a listing in south Sacramento. Hope the client’s air conditioning is working and that they don’t ask me, is it hot enough for ya? What does that even mean?
East Sacramento Home and Josh Amolsch on FOX 40 News
And to think that some agents pooh-pooh open houses in Sacramento, yet my open house at an East Sacramento home got a little bit more exposure than expected. The FOX 40 news reporter Doug Johnson asked me yesterday what time we hold open houses in Sacramento. It sorta depends. I held open four of my listings yesterday, and the customary time for me is typically 2 to 4 PM. But sometimes we’ll throw in an extra hour and do a time slot of 1 to 4 PM, especially during Lyon Real Estate’s Extravaganza Open House weekend, which is company-wide once a month and yesterday.
Too late, the reporter said. He needed footage for the 4 PM broadcast and into the night. Oh, wait, we have an early open house at the affordable remodeled home in East Sacramento at 1732 51st Street. That home is $330,000, and it was open from 11 AM to 1 PM. My team member Josh Amolsch was scheduled to host that open house. I quickly called Josh.
Yeah, he got 20 minutes’ notice. But that’s how it goes in this business. I often get interviewed by the media due to my reputation and exposure in Sacramento. Sound bites, Josh, think about sound bites. We discussed a few things he could say. Short, sweet, informational, pithy, that’s what news reporters want. I figured they were probably piggybacking off the Sacramento Bee’s article yesterday on the front page about how first-time home buyers are getting squeezed out of the marketplace.
It’s true, if you’re thinking about buying a home in Sacramento, you better hurry up. Once interest rates start to rise, it will be much more difficult to find an affordable home due to our higher prices achieved during recovery.
Very important, try to stand near our For Sale sign in the yard, I suggested to Josh. If people are interested in buying that home in East Sacramento, we need to make sure they know how to get in touch with us. Well, they weren’t filming near the sign but Josh did ask them to capture the sign with their cameras, and sure enough, that For Sale sign with the phone numbers for Elizabeth Weintraub and Josh Amolsch in front of the East Sacramento home is what starts off the video: Owning a Home is Becoming More Difficult in Sacramento.
We also captured a few interested home buyers for that East Sacramento home. Gosh, I hope one of them makes an offer today!!
