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Selling a Probate Fixer Home in Sacramento
Not every fixer home in Sacramento much less a probate fixer home is priced in line with the amount a flipper investor wants to pay. Especially not my short sales, for example, because I want them to close. But in any perceived distressed situation, whether it’s a foreclosure, short sale, probate fixers, preforeclosure, what-have-you, investors crawl out of the woodwork looking for a “good deal.” Because it’s all about the spreadsheets to them, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with working with investors who are fueled by the greed of money unless they get in your face about it.
It can be trying at times to maintain composure as a listing agent when investors are swearing, in the literal sense, on the phone that they can buy a home for less in the same damn neighborhood, to which my reply is go ahead then and quit torturing me. Particularly when I am confident there are no other homes for sale at that price. They’ll use whatever tactics they can because it’s their business to buy low and sell high. I get it.
That doesn’t exactly fit well with my business of representing the seller to the best of my ability who wants to obtain the highest price. Therein lies the sticky wicket. I just closed a probate fixer last week that was that kind of sale that generated a ton of calls from investors, all demanding that we slash the price. First, it’s not my call. Second, the seller understands there are two basic types of pricing: that which attracts homeowner occupants who will pay market and that which will attract the flippers.
Perhaps this home is not priced for a flipper investor? But that does not occur to them.
People in general are under the impression that banks give away homes because they ran out of toasters, but it doesn’t work that way. Banks want market value just like regular sellers with equity want market value. It’s a tough market for a flipper. But they are better off finding their own homes to buy than trying to squeeze the integrity out of a Sacramento listing agent.
That probate fixer sale sold at list price. Just like the seller, the executor of the estate, expected. As Is condition, no repairs and all cash.
Can You Buy a Preforeclosure Home in Sacramento?
Lots of preforeclosure buyers contact this Sacramento real estate agent because I post my goofy-ass face on other real estate websites and often participate in online discussions about homebuying in my spare time. My husband doesn’t understand why I do it. He thinks I should do something else with my free time like going out to dinner or hiking in the foothills or searching the Internet for great airfares to Iceland. But then he didn’t understand why I agreed to be on a House Hunters show about short sales, either.
Most normal people, when they are away from work, focus on other things, stuff that is more fun to them. They lead what is known in some circles as a balanced life. Then there are those of us that belong to that special breed of craziness, those of us who are actually doing a job we completely love to the point that it’s totally fun and not work. We are passionate about our work. If that work also involves short sales, foreclosures and preforeclosures, it’s just that much more interesting.
Any person with reasonable intelligence (and some with less than that) can be successful in real estate and sell a home. Some of us go a step or two beyond because that’s what buyers want from us. They want us to possess the skills to buy a foreclosure, buy a short sale or buy that terrific preforeclosure home they saw advertised on another website for some ridiculously low price.
The problem with that is the pre-foreclosures are not for sale. These are homes made public because the sellers are in default. It’s not that easy to buy a preforeclosure but it can be done under certain circumstances. It’s recognizing those certain circumstances that make the difference.
For most Sacramento home buyers, though, buying a preforeclosure will never happen. That’s because they don’t really want a pre-foreclosure, they just think they do. What they want, what they really, really want is a good deal. That’s not necessarily a preforeclosure.
