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Are Double-Ending Listing Agents Bad News for Sacramento Sellers?
Double ending listing agents tend to cost the seller money.
Double-ending listing agents have been around since I started in the business in the early 1970s. They are still in the business today. Whether they will survive the real estate shake-up in the future, like 10 to 15 years from now, is doubtful. The reason I think they’ll eventually vanish is because they are a bad idea to start with. Time will only make them worse. I also believe sellers are becoming more sophisticated. They are wising up.
Although, at least in Sacramento, double-ending listing agents happens fewer times than one might think. It’s just not all that common.
There are unscrupulous double-ending listing agents who do everything in their power, generally at their seller’s detriment, to ensure they will get both sides of the commission. They do it so innocently that most sellers never even know what’s going on.
When I look at a listing and see the following things, it’s fairly obvious to me the listing agent is trying to double-end the transaction. For example, there are almost no photographs. No photographs means buyers will call the listing agent to get more information, and then the listing agent can represent them. Or, the listing will not allow a buyer’s agent to call the seller for showings. The listing will state: call listing agent. Then the listing agent will not answer the phone when Coldwell Banker lights up. Or the agent will only return voicemail from buyers. Or, the agent makes showings very difficult, like only between 3 and 4 PM on a Thursday.
If you think this isn’t going on in Sacramento real estate, I’ve got some swamp land in Florida to sell you.
Naive sellers might think they are getting a good deal if their double-ending listing agents also represents the buyer. Even if I ask: if you were suing your husband for divorce and demanding alimony, would you use your husband’s lawyer? If your son was on trial for murder, would you hire the prosecuting lawyer as your own? Dual agency is not a good idea.
Some double-ending listing agents offer a discount, too, when they take both sides of the commission. Are sellers getting a break or are they getting taken to the cleaners? The smart sellers reject this notion of dual agency. They figure out that hiring a top-notch listing agent who only represents their interests is the way to go, and instead of making money, they lose money by hiring a discount agent intent on double ending.
When you see a big price drop or a home that sold for a lot less than the list price, often it’s the transaction in which the agent represented both the buyer and seller.
That’s why buyers call me all the time and beg me to work with them. They expect me to throw my sellers under the bus when my intentions are the opposite. I intend to maximize my seller’s profit, not reduce it for my own personal gain. To do otherwise is dishonest. To expect me to be dishonest is insulting.
There is a reason discount agents don’t get paid the same as others. You take top listing agents whose average sales ratio might be 103%, meaning they sell their listings for 3% more than list price, and all of that hogwash about double-ending saving money goes right out the window. Double-ending listing agents tend to cost money. But it’s every seller’s right to choose lousy service and bad representation if that’s what they want. It’s a free country.
Questions a Sacramento Listing Agent Must Answer With Diplomacy
There are undoubtedly questions a Sacramento listing agent must answer.
When my husband is home, he hears the questions a Sacramento listing agent must answer on a daily basis via my speaker phone, and half the time he just shakes his head. He cannot believe the stuff I deal with, and it’s probably one of the reasons (among many, if you ask him) why he would never in a million years want to join me in Sacramento real estate. He is a fairly sane person, so that sort of counts him out right there. He is also much snarkier than I am. He would probably tell people exactly what is wrong with them, and he’d never sell anything at all. Whereas, I have more patience and diplomacy.
After working in real estate for more than four decades already, you know I have patience, even if I don’t want to admit it. I’ll work with just about anybody who needs the services of a Sacramento listing agent, even the crazy people, the nut jobs, the looney tunes. But I do draw the line at angry people who have no respect for my knowledge and skills. I would also never want to make a person feel bad for asking me a question, regardless of what it is. There are no dumb questions. But there are questions a Sacramento listing agent must answer with diplomacy.
I’ve answered quite a few unusual questions over the past couple of weeks. They range from the obvious to the: gee, I never thought of that. Here are a few:
Can we reduce the number of showings we get by removing instructions to call first, lockbox? Sure, just as long as you realize if there are enough other homes to show, yours might not get shown. Is that OK with you? Agents will find the alternative is harder to show, and you really want to make it easy for agents to show.
We don’t want our neighbors to know we are selling, can you remove the front photo of our house from MLS? Yes, but buyers might wonder why there is no photo and it’s already been downloaded to a million other websites. Plus, your neighbors will see agents pulling up with buyers in their cars, and that might give away your secret.
Will you get rid of the cat in our yard? Cat? What cat? Whose cat is it? Is it your cat? If it’s your cat, then you need to find a place for the cat go. If it’s not your cat, it will eventually leave on its own. Remember, you can always turn on the sprinklers.
Can we not accept a full-price offer unless we get more than one offer? Absolutely but we might want to stipulate we will look at all offers a month from now. Then you will know for certain how much interest we’ve generated. Maybe none, in your case. Sometimes, we get one offer and that’s all we will ever get.
Will buyers be OK with boxes scattered everywhere because they know we are moving? Buyers have a hard time figuring out which room is the dining room unless they can see a table and chairs. Do you want buyers to think your house is a storage unit?
Should we turn off the AC when we are gone for the weekend and it’s 101? You could, but a buyer might poke in her head and leave because it’s too hot. Or, you could leave the temperature set at 78 and encourage buyers to hang around. This is really your call. Is it worth an extra $50 to SMUD to sell your home?
Can you hold an open house all day long? We cannot, but we can do two or three 2-hour shifts. Please know that an all-day-long open house doesn’t create urgency. Besides, the internet, when you think about this exposure, is a day-long-open-house 7 days a week!
The thing is I never know what questions a Sacramento listing agent must answer because clients never run out of questions. I try not to judge anybody, even if maybe I should. Because nobody wants to be judged or criticized. There is no such thing as constructive criticism anyway. There is no way to tell somebody you’re about to say a hurtful thing but hey, it’s for their own good. When my clients ask a serious question, I just do my best to respond in an informative and caring manner.
See, real estate is not for everybody.
I Wish All of My Sacramento Escrows Were Like This Sale
Back yard of 4316 Aqua Ct is .27 acres with fruit trees, patio and spa.
Around the 11th of June, a wonderfully sweet-natured fellow from North Highlands was about to join my inventory of Sacramento escrows, he just didn’t know it yet. This seller had emailed me after reading my online reviews. He found me on another website, checked out my personal website, studied my 5-star Sacramento Realtor reviews and decided I was the listing agent for him. This is the kind of dream seller every Sacramento listing agent loves to work with.
These are the sellers who do their homework, they understand the value of what we agents do, and they’re excited to meet with us. No grass grows under my feet when a seller is ready to go on the market. The seller asked for about 3 days to clean up the house and I met with him to conduct my visual inspection and sign all of the listing paperwork. His home was fairly immaculate, primarily because he spent most of his time in his man cave, and not in the living areas of the house.
I installed a lockbox and devoted a good amount of time explaining the procedures of selling. A well informed seller is generally a happy seller. Nobody wants to second guess what comes next in Sacramento escrows, they prefer that I lay it out for them. We talked about how to complete the disclosures. We walked the property line in the back yard, which gave the seller an opportunity to discuss his gardens and we talked about fixtures in real estate.
The photographer came out that afternoon to shoot photos, and we scheduled our on market date for a couple days later. That Sunday we held an open house. Two different sets of buyers came through. By that Monday, we had received two offers. Both offers were over list price, but one offer specifically stood out as being the highest. We looked over the comps, talked about its likely appraised value and what the seller would like to do. It is always the seller’s decision.
Lo and behold, this seller choose the lower offer. It was lower by $5,000 over the second offer. The seller said he didn’t particularly care about the $5,000, he got the price he desired, and he was OK with the offer. True story. This happens sometimes. The seller liked the family who wrote that offer, too. He was retiring and just wanted his home to be in the hands of a family who would care for it as much as he did. I can understand that sentiment, can’t you?
We sold the home in its AS IS condition. No repairs. No renegotiations. No credits, and the buyers didn’t even try to push their luck. They were simply grateful they were chosen. And we closed a week early with a free rent back for the seller. This is how Sacramento escrows should go. Everybody did their part, no hassle, and most of all, no drama.
Should a Listing Agent Tell the Seller Which Offer to Take?
Should a listing agent tell the seller which offer to take?
There are some sellers in Sacramento who would prefer it if their listing agent would handle every single detail of the transaction and make all of the important decisions for them. For a variety of reasons they obviously feel are very valid. If an agent tries to pass the responsibility back to the client, they feel dismissed, undervalued and rejected. They wonder why the listing agent doesn’t care about them.
There are other sellers who are much more hands on, sometimes too much so. They want to rewrite marketing materials, rearrange the order of photography and micro manage every aspect of the listing paperwork, sometimes to their own detriment. It’s evident that these guys don’t view themselves as others do. So, we go with the flow. What’s important is the client is happy.
But the bulk of sellers in Sacramento expect their listing agent to guide them to make the right decision. They don’t want the listing agent telling them which offer to take. When I am guiding sellers, I try to lay out all of the pros and cons of each offer. Cash offers aren’t always best because the buyers often display little loyalty to the transaction and can make unreasonable demands. VA buyers aren’t always worse due to the requirement for a pest completion because they are extremely committed to closing and tired of writing offers.
Not only do some sellers want the listing agent to tell them which offer to take but they want their agent to dictate terms of a counter offer. I always share my opinions and professional insight with my sellers, but the final decision is always theirs. I’ve suggested counter offers that sellers sometimes reject. They want that bird in hand and don’t want to take any kind of risk. That’s their decision to make, not mine.
My job is to ensure they have enough information to make an educated decision. If they want to take more time to weigh the pros and cons, I can make it happen. A seller in Sacramento should always be able to rely on her listing agent. Further, every transaction is different. If you’d like to hire an experienced listing agent who is on your side, engaged in your transaction, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.
Home in Antelope Searching for First-Time Home Buyers to Love
8204 Helmsley Court is a gorgeous home in Antelope now available for sale.
Buyer’s agents who think they can push this Sacramento listing agent around have another think coming, but first, let me tell you about my new listing, a fabulous home in Antelope. I’ve been working with the seller on getting this home ready since my wor-cation in Hawaii last winter. It’s not that the home in Antelope needed much prepping; it’s that the seller wanted everything to be as perfect as possible. She takes great pride in her home. And it shows.
This is a home whose ambiance hits you the minute you walk in the door. Vaulted ceiling and a somewhat open floor plan that still provides for secluded spaces give one a feeling of privacy mixed with cozy luxury. The rooms are just the right size, and the flow from room to room always provides a view of the next space. You don’t feel closed in, quite the opposite.
You’ll love the casual Berber carpeting. It says comfort yet elegance. Lots of nook and crannies and places to grow indoor plants because there is so much light and energy. The formal living room features a fireplace, and the formal dining room provides space for a china cabinet. A knee wall separates the dining room from the family room, and there is also space in the kitchen for a breakfast table. The seller is willing to leave the refrigerator providing the buyer asks for it in the purchase contract.
This is a great home for entertaining. The back yard has been professionally landscaped with an expansive area of stamped concrete, perfect for barbecues and a place to spend lazy summer afternoons. Fairly maintenance free, except for a small lush patch of lawn.
You’ll find a bath downstairs, two more baths upstairs, including a master suite. The master is vaulted, which makes the room appear even larger, and it’s a good sized room to start with. All together, the home features 3 bedrooms and 3 baths, plus an indoor laundry room. It is situated on a culdesac toward the end so no through traffic, which makes the location highly desirable.
Best of all is the price of this charming home in Antelope. It’s affordable. Turn-key, ready to move into and affordable. Don’t wait. It’s got tons of love to give to you. Call today to view this home. 8204 Helmsley Court, Antelope, CA 95843 is offered exclusively by Elizabeth Weintraub and Lyon Real Estate at $315K. For more information, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.
And now I go back to these agents who like to threaten that they will withdraw offers without an immediate response and demand I pass on every bit of pushiness they send my way to the seller. You know what I say to them? If you want to withdraw an offer, do it. Go buy something else out there that does not exist. Heh, heh. Or you can wait until the seller is ready to review your offer. If not you, it will be somebody else.
See photos below of 8204 Helmsley Court in Antelope:
Formal living and dining room at 8204 Helmsley Court
Family room located off the kitchen features sliding doors to the back yard.
Professionally landscaped back yard is low maintenance with stamped concrete.
