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Sacramento Home Buyers Can Buy Today and Move Before Christmas
Sacramento home buyers have enough time still to close before Christmas.
Sacramento home buyers have got to be driving up the insanity level of buyer’s agents. There seems to be an increase of activity in which buyers are submitting purchase offers and, upon acceptance, withdrawing those offers. I would almost be tempted to suggest that agents are not counseling nor vetting their buyers prior to writing an offer, but I know for a fact that is not the case in many situations. Just the other day a buyer canceled an existing escrow because the state-mandated natural hazard report disclosed the property is located in a flood zone, although the lender did not require flood insurance. Or, at least that was their story and they were sticking to it.
Most of Sacramento is located in a flood zone. And even if a property is not located in a flood zone, if Folsom Dam bursts, we’re all hosed downstream. Sacramento County is the most at-risk area for a flood in the entire country. Believe it, baby.
It is not the job of buyer’s agents to drag their clients kicking and screaming into escrow. I know some Sacramento home buyers think agents can be pushy but most of the agents I know truly want what is best for their clients. That attitude might be for somewhat selfish reasons because a happy client is a client who refers business to the agent. Unhappy clients push business away. Nobody in her right mind wants an unhappy client. Yet, it’s tough for agents right now.
It’s tough on sellers, too, when Sacramento home buyers fail to perform. Especially when sellers receive a full-price offer and the buyer cancels before the paperwork can make its way to escrow. I’ve had two of those types of situations yesterday, on two different listings. The buyers flaked out. Well, in one instance the buyer could not perform because the agent wrote the wrong kind of offer and made a mistake when she did her homework. The proper way to view that particular situation is: a problem averted down the road. We did not go into escrow as a result but at least we were not the dreaded “back on market” home listing.
With my ear to the ground — the good ear, not the one that I stuffed soda straws into when I was a kid and punctured my eardrum — I hear that almost half of the listings that are pending right now are blowing up. This means we are unlikely to see an uptick in closed sales for December. If it’s gotta happen in any month, December is a good month for a slow down because it’s seasonally a quieter time of the year.
There is still time to buy a home today and be settled by Christmas, though. Call the Elizabeth Weintraub Team at 916.233.6759.
Sacramento Home Buyers Who Demand Same Day Showings
Sacramento home buyers should choose a buyer’s agent, followed by a preapproval.
My team members tell me that when a Sacramento home buyer calls out the blue and demands to see a home immediately, that it’s a bad sign. Turns out a caller I vetted yesterday about an REO home in West Sacramento was not really a buyer. She seemed very excited and motivated, but when my team member called her to schedule a time to view the home, she informed us that she has several agents she prefers to work with, she is not preapproved, nor is she ready to buy a home for at least 3 months. She just wanted her curiosity satisfied about this particular home.
She thought the Elizabeth Weintraub Team should show it to her, without any reservations. Where do they get these ideas? It’s not even my listing. It’s some other agent’s listing who has fixed his phone in such a manner that nobody can leave a voice mail message, and he doesn’t answer his phone. It’s an REO owned by Wells Fargo. We explained that when we show another agent’s listing, we don’t get paid unless we represent the buyer. We expect to write an offer for the buyer on that property if we show it.
Perhaps they think real estate agents provide a public service, maybe we work for the state of California because most people do in Sacramento and, what the hey, we have a California license number issued to us by, guess who? The State. I don’t believe that Sacramento home buyers are that ignorant. The problem seems to be disrespect stemming from the expectation that some unsuspecting agent will drop everything and run to to show a home without qualifying the buyer and wasting time.
Agents learn this business by trial and error. They initially believe all buyers are good and honest and trustworthy.
Then, when agents run into a bad apple, they start saying horrible things about buyers that are not true for the majority of buyers. Buyers are liars is a common mantra you hear repeated over and over. Most Sacramento home buyers, I’ve discovered, are above board and they are sincere in their endeavors. You can’t paint every home buyer with such a broad brush. It’s not fair, and it’s not a true picture.
When an agent asks a buyer to commit to that agent, it’s because the agent wants to represent the buyer. Some agent will end up doing it, no matter how you look at it. Why shouldn’t it be an agent on the Elizabeth Weintraub Team, an agent with experience, superior knowledge and a stellar reputation? We’ll work our fingers to the bone on behalf of a dedicated home buyer.
Do You Know Where to Find a Sacramento Home Inspector?
Your real estate agent knows the best Sacramento home inspectors
Finding a home inspector can be a daunting task for a first-time home buyer in Sacramento. On the one hand, buyers sometimes want more control over a transaction and wonder if the agent’s home inspector is qualified or if he’s getting paid under the table to keep his or her lips zipped about problems, which is completely impossible. Just does not happen. Ever. Not among professional and ethical agents.
On the other hand, the buyer is paying for the home inspector so the buyer wants to hire the best. How do you find the best Sacramento home inspector? For starters, most agents genuinely want their buyers to receive the most complete home inspection possible if, for no other reason, that it lessens an agent’s liability in the transaction, but primarily because they would like the buyer to be informed. You can find a home inspector from your agent.
There are enough things for buyers to freak out over. Buyers freak out whether the drywall was imported from China; yet, I haven’t heard of one single instance in Sacramento where drywall was used from China. They freak out whether there are harmful chemicals used in refinishing wood floors when they aren’t about to lick the floors or eat off them. They freak out about whether the home is built over a sinkhole, yet those types of problems are generally in the foothills, not Sacramento. They especially freak out over asbestos and mold, yet many older homes have traces of asbestos and mold. If there is something weird making the news, they freak out. Human nature.
We specialize in buyer freak outs. We help buyers find a Sacramento home inspector who won’t perpetuate freak outs but will educate.
When I work with buyers, they get a list of experienced and vetted home inspectors from us. They can choose from a guy with 25 years of experience as a home builder, or another home inspector who is an expert witness for the court and prepares his reports (expensive) by long-hand, or another who has been at it for 15 years and has a good bedside manner with buyers. All three are excellent communicators and can explain to a home buyer what their report means. Buyers don’t have any idea. Some inspectors will label a negative a RED FLAG and others will say it needs to be replaced immediately, while another might downplay the importance of a repair item, which can confuse buyers.
The guys who tell a buyer to demand repairs will find their names on an agent’s bad list because that is not within the scope of a home inspector. An inspector is expected to disclose defects. Not to perform the job of a real estate agent. It’s a fine line to walk, keeping a buyer informed yet calm. The home inspectors who get called back again and again do just that.
Reasons to Review Sacramento MLS Before Showing
Always review MLS for status before showing
The good news is this morning the elk head that was sitting in my family room has gone to its new home at the Elk’s Lodge in Sacramento. Sometimes I feel like my life is a TV sitcom. As though I am but a mere viewer, sitting on a stool at a bar, glass of bourbon in hand, neat, and watching the goofy antics of some other Sacramento Realtor and not myself.
The bad news is I had 2 cancellations to deal with before the sun rose, but like my blog of yesterday, good news is often on the tail end of bad, and one of those cancellations is back in escrow with a new buyer. That home never saw the light of day back in MLS because I keep meticulous records of interested parties. When one collapses, another can slide right in.
My client who shot the elk will get a nice donation letter from the Elk’s Lodge, which she can most likely use as a tax deduction on her income taxes because she technically made a contribution to a charitable organization. Even if the elk did park itself temporarily to live on my family room floor. And thousands of US Service women and men can now appreciate Elkie daily. It is a fitting home for him.
I wish I could solve all of the problems we face in Sacramento real estate like this. The most pressing issue lately has been real estate agents and Sacramento REALTORS who do not read the MLS property information sheets they print. It seems like such a simple thing to do, just read the property data and the confidential remarks. If there are attachments to MLS, download them by clicking on the paperclip. Yet, I’d venture to guess that at least 1 out of every 3 agents do not.
The worst violation is showing instructions. They don’t seem to know that Call First Lockbox means call the seller (and not the agent) when the seller’s name and number are listed. If we meant Call Listing Agent, then that box would be checked instead, and the instructions would be Call Listing Agent. But that can be ambiguous if the listing agent doesn’t complete the listing correctly as well. The worst showing instruction violation, though, is when the buyer’s agent just sails into the house without calling, and it’s occupied. Hello?
I want to get down on my hands and knees and plead, please please read MLS showing instructions. Don’t use the Supra lockbox and unlock the door if you haven’t read the instructions for showing. Because you know who the seller blames when this happens? I lost a listing last week because a seller completely freaked out when an agent did not call and tried to enter his home unannounced. It almost makes me want to go back to the days of no lockboxes, when you had to pick up a key at the listing office.
If in doubt, review the MLS before entering a home. It’s that simple. Just double check yourself. While you’re standing near the lockbox, read the instructions one more time. I realize the MLS app for the iPhone 6 Plus seems messed up but it can work in a browser window like Safari. Believe it, many buyer’s agents are using worthless apps to access information from their mobile devices (like Trulia and Zillow), but only MLS shows the correct information. Please use it.
Who’s on First or Why You Need a Buyer’s Agent
Buyer’s agents can offer a wealth of experience to Sacramento home buyers.
We’re not quite there yet with some of this online bidding for homes because in my market of Sacramento, it seems that only the distressed homes — the foreclosures and short sales — qualify for that process, and even those sales are pretty much convoluted. Reserve pricing, phony beginning bid prices, coupled with the practice of the website company placing its own shill bids in order to drive up offers — a system that relies on greed, preys on naivety — and generally you can’t even see the home until after your offer is accepted, which is no way to buy a house. Nope, to buy a home you should hire a buyer’s agent.
I understand there are buyers who want to control every step of the home buying process from start to finish, and they think they know Sacramento real estate and don’t need an agent. It’s pretty much impossible to acquire that kind of specific knowledge, though, without working in the trenches day after day. A buyer can never refine that knowledge without hands-on experience, and that’s just the way it is. So, it’s only logical that buyers would be eager to take advantage of the services a buyer’s agent has to offer, especially since the seller is paying that buyer’s agent’s commission. But some first-time home buyers make the mistake of believing seminar gurus or buying into HGTV.
Buying a home is not like buying a loaf of bread. You can’t stroll down the online bread aisle and buy the brand of home you like the best without investigating a host of other factors. There are neighborhoods, location, construction defects, maintenance issues, financing, real estate trends, comparable sales, future plans on the drawing board for the community, business services, neighborhood reputations, taxes, school districts and a bazillion other things that should be considered before buying a home, and a buyer’s agent can help you with much of it.
A buyer called yesterday to ask if she could see a home for sale that is a short sale. Sure, we’d be glad to show her, but she needs to know that if one my team members shows her the home, we will be writing that offer for her and representing her. We clarify that with every buyer because some buyers do not understand what it means to be “working with an agent.” She didn’t have an agent, but then, all of a sudden, she had an agent. Funny how that works.
Then, she called back to ask me to set an appointment for her because her agent was “busy at work.” Doing some other job, I suppose, and not real estate. These poor people. They think they are a buying a house and shopping for a home, but they are digging themselves a bigger hole every day and sinking into it. There are many buyer’s agents who are busier than all get-out right now with the high demand in our seller’s market and our low inventory. Buyers would be wise to latch on to one of them.
