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Telling Sacramento Sellers What They Don’t Want to Hear
You can’t really be an effective Sacramento real estate agent if you’re not willing to tell sellers what they don’t want to hear. That means you have to figure out how to share bad news in such a way that people don’t immediately take off their shoes and start beating on your head. There is a way to frame bad news. Not necessarily like the cat on a roof story.
I don’t know how one can expect a seller, for example, to make a decision without all of the information necessary to weigh the facts and come up with a response. I suspect that some real estate agents are too worried that they will hurt another’s feelings or worse, that maybe the seller won’t list with them if the seller gets upset by the news. But you can’t tiptoe around on little cat feet. That’s not helpful for anybody.
Not everybody appreciates a person who is straight forward and direct. There is a way to be straight forward by tempering the news a little bit because if you just blurt it out, in our present society, people will accuse you of being rude. Oh, my god, my ears. What did you say? I’m ugly and people don’t like me? Of course if you don’t care what they think — and sometimes, let’s face it, we don’t — then it doesn’t matter.
A guy called me this morning to talk about his listing. He was unhappy because his agent doesn’t communicate with him and makes him feel like he is not a priority. He gave me several examples, so I have to kinda agree with him, even though I realize there is always another side to every story. He said he knew his listing was priced too high but he needed that amount in order to pay off his loans.
What?
Why didn’t anybody say anything to this poor guy? Why are they letting him rot in MLS, hopeful yet frustrated? This makes no sense to me whatsoever. He talked to several agents. Even if they explained the truth and he didn’t listen, it still doesn’t explain why his home is in MLS the way that it is.
The Parallels Between Communication and Service
My car turned 2 years old a few days ago, so I made an appointment to change the oil with a new service center in Midtown, Sacramento. Last year, I had the dealer pick it up to change the oil and bring it back, and they charged me about $250. The guy in Midtown charges $125, and he gives me a ride home to Land Park. The problem with changing service centers is the guy in Midtown can’t perform warranty work and get paid by the manufacturer. For that, I have to go to the dealer. Since the dealer is the only dealer around Sacramento, if something goes haywire, I’m stuck with the dealer.
My sister bought a car in Minneapolis, and the only service center for her car is in Madison, Wisconsin, 6 hours away, so I don’t know why I’m complaining about a 45-minute drive. Well, yes, I do, because I don’t have a choice. The guy in Midtown told me my transmission fluid was leaking, so that meant if I wanted it covered under warranty, it’s off to the dealership with it. Fortunately, I could call Roadside Assistance and make them tow it, so I did not have to interrupt my workday to drive to the dealer.
I had the car picked up on Friday. The dealer called me on Saturday to say, yup, it looks like my transmission fluid is leaking. The plan was to clean it up and try to figure out why it was leaking. On Monday, the dealer called and said they don’t know why it’s leaking but they suspect it’s a gasket.
Really? I thought maybe it was caused by a cosmic reaction to global warming.
In any case, since it’s a gasket, they will have to order that part, and yes, they know I expected to pick up my car on Tuesday but it will be least Thursday before it will be ready. No apologies. And my guy is going on vacation, so I can talk to his buddy if I have questions.
See, this is a perfect example of excellent communication yet poor service skills. It should take not a week to determine a gasket is needed, and to obtain and install a gasket. You don’t have to be in the automobile industry to feel this way about it. Just like a real estate client doesn’t have to completely understand how real estate works to feel like she is not a priority to her Sacramento real estate agent. I would die if a client felt that way about me. Curl up and die. Because service is everything.
I know that sellers and buyers have choices when it comes to picking a real estate agent. We are not all the same. They are not stuck with the first agent they run into, and there is not only agent working in Sacramento. Competition should breed excellence. But I don’t simply strive to provide excellent service because I’m concerned that a client might ring up an agent on the other block. I do it because I care about my performance. I take pride in my work. My goal is for my clients to be happy.
Just because I work at the largest independently owned real estate company in Sacramento doesn’t mean we sit back, kick up our feet and enjoy our monopoly like this automobile dealer. I work with a great group of people at Lyon Real Estate, and I love my team members to pieces. If you’re looking for a Sacramento real estate agent, please know that I will strive to meet your expectations.
I closed more than 150 transactions last year. Each was important. You want something done right — you ask a busy person to do it. I am never too busy to pick up my phone and talk to you.
Sacramento Real Estate is a Service Business
A Sacramento real estate agent often multitasks.
I had a terrible experience buying my home in Land Park. I didn’t realize how horrible it was at the time because I had been juggling too many balls in the air, moving clear across the country from Minnesota, and it’s only in retrospect all these years later that I realize it was too awful to wish on even my worst nemesis. Without going into gory details, I can say the thing I hated the most was the non-existant communication. My agent rarely called me back. She did not respond to emails. This was way before the age of text messages, but I imagine she would not have responded to text messages, either. It was like a vast empty pit into which I dumped questions and never got anything back in return.
Because my husband was already living in Sacramento, my real estate agent might have thought her duty was to him. She might not have realized there were two of us she needed to address. But the fact remains, she ignored me. Let’s just say it cost her. And I vowed from that experience that no client would ever utter those words about me.
I try not to assume anything. I know that my clients do not buy nor sell real estate for a living. They can’t possibly know what I know — I’ve pretty much run out of fingers and toes to count my years of experience in real estate. I try to be very sensitive to the needs of my clients. If they ask me a question, I respond. In fact, I try to answer their questions before they have a question. No question is too simple to ask. For example, when people call to say it is time to do a short sale, I make sure they understand that to do a short sale means they are selling their home. Not everybody understands this premise.
Last week I listed a home and had to point out the commission to the sellers so they understood how much they were paying me. They didn’t ask about it. But they did ask who was paying the buyer’s agent. I explain agency relationships, and not just because the California Civil Code requires it but because it’s important to know.
When clients send me a thank you after an escrow closes, they say how happy they were that I kept them informed throughout the transaction. That I responded immediately to their needs. They are thrilled. It’s the WOW factor. Others read those thank-you letters and my reviews and ask how can I be so responsive to my clients when I am so busy with work? I am a very busy Sacramento real estate agent. I sell from Lincoln to Galt. It’s because my clients are my work. When I am working, they come first. What’s so difficult about that?
