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How Important is the Condition of a Home When Selling?
Wonder if these sellers know they are painting a wall two different colors?
Asking an experienced Sacramento Realtor about the condition of a home when selling is a smart move. I see so many sellers jump right in on their own, without seeking advice, and making repairs that do not need to be made, which means they are throwing money out the window. Oh, they might backtrack a little and mumble that’s what they wanted to do for the buyers so it doesn’t matter, but it does matter if they could have spent the money on say, oh, maybe a vacation in Hawaii, and they don’t have a money tree growing in their back yard like I do in my yard. You should see it. Incredible. Pops out 100 bills like clockwork.
Facetiousness aside, the first thing that many people wonder about is the condition of a home when selling. Some sellers will say, oh, let’s just sell it AS IS. And you know what? That’s OK. I am not about to impose my sentiment about turnkey homes because it doesn’t apply. On top of that, not everybody is a flipper, even if they spend hours and hours absorbing every episode of that variety on HGTV, that 24-hour eye candy. The fact is flipping takes experience, being in touch with what buyers want and not what you want. Buying materials at wholesale. Finding cheap labor. And then you can still chop down that money tree.
Sellers in Rancho Cordova had asked my thoughts about fixing up their home. I suggested the readily apparent issues that could be easily rectified and produce maximum benefit. They had little precious time, a family of tiny tots, so my suggestions to them were different than what I suggested for a seller in Davis when asked about the condition of a home when selling. The seller in Davis has more time, more resources, but still, we’re not flipping the house.
Of course, having been involved in buying and flipping homes for years and doing all of the work myself, with my own two little hands, it gives me a different perspective. I know how long it takes to perform certain jobs, for example. That information is invaluable to a seller who is doing some of the work herself. I had asked my sellers in Rancho Cordova to paint over a kitchen window, touch-up a ceiling by the entry, paint bedroom doors, wash the front door, install a new closet door in the hallway and remove a living room rug. The house was transformed! We received about a dozen offers.
Even the sellers were amazed. The downside is sometimes they decide not to sell when they sell how beautiful their home can appear. I’ve had that happen before. Providing advice about fixing up the condition of a home when selling is part of my full-service that I provide to my own sellers. I’ve got more than 40 years of experience, and I’m generally spot on. But don’t expect to receive this advice for free. Sellers need to be a client of Elizabeth Weintraub to receive this type of assistance.
Each plan is always tailor-made for my sellers and for the market conditions at hand. We’re in a market now in which the condition of a home when selling is not as important as it was a couple of years ago. But there are still little things that provide a big punch. This is a hot seller’s market. If you want to capitalize, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.
NEW LISTING: Remodeled Home for Sale in Rancho Cordova
10100 Majo Court, Rancho Cordova, CA, is for sale at $235,000.
Below are 5 good reasons to come see this remodeled home for sale in Rancho Cordova this weekend. If you’re in the market to buy a mid-Century home in a nicely established neighborhood in Rancho Cordova, one look is all it will take before you’ll be whipping out your checkbook to give us a deposit check. It is a rare occasion to discover a remodeled home for sale in Rancho Cordova at such an great price.
Five Great Reasons to View a Remodeled Home for Sale in Rancho Cordova
- Open floor plan with hardwood flooring
- Remodeled kitchen with granite counters and updated travertine / ceramic baths
- Affordable price, yes, you can afford this 3 bedroom, 2 bath
- Giant yard — my gosh, it is more than 1/3 of an acre!
- Cul-de-sac location away from freeway
Open floor plan at 10100 Majo Court, Rancho Cordova, CA
Back yard at 10100 Majo Court, Rancho Cordova, CA
Call your agent or call the Elizabeth Weintraub Team for a private appointment to see this remodeled home for sale in Rancho Cordova. Showings begin today, Friday, May 20, 2016.
Open house on Sunday, May 22, from 2:00 to 4:00 PM!
10100 Majo Court, Rancho Cordova, is offered exclusively by Elizabeth Weintraub at Lyon Real Estate at $235K. Call 916.233.6759 for more information.
Sacramento Listing Agent Reports Activity
Professional Realtors in Sacramento stick with their sellers until the home sells.
Running out the door with one shoe on and one shoe dangling has been my life during the lovely month of May. Because part of the problem with a limited inventory market like we have in Sacramento is when a seller is ready to list her home, that listing can often be awarded to the first agent who shows up. It’s nice if that Sacramento listing agent is qualified and experienced, but that’s not always the case.
Which is the reason why not only do I expect to be first, but I feel like I need to explain my credentials, to make sure my sellers understand that what they are receiving is a rare commodity. A top Sacramento Realtor still kicking butt after 40 years. A seller called a few days ago to reschedule her appointment, which conflicted with something else. I told her it was OK to reschedule me, but I still want to be first. Because after she meets me, she won’t want to or need to talk to any other Sacramento listing agent.
She got a kick out of that. How many listing agents can say that, though? Or, perhaps I should ask how many agents can say that with a straight face and back it up?
My sellers typically appreciate my straight-forwardness and ability to get things done. One of my sellers seemed rather overwhelmed with a trust sale, so I offered to meet the locksmith and pay to have the locks changed on the day her listing goes on the market. It was a small thing, but something that I could slip into my schedule and handle for her, just to make her life easier, so that’s where I stopped by yesterday.
Just in time for a neighbor to pop over and start screaming at me, throwing accusations that I was not looking where I was driving because there could be children in the street. Even though there were no children there at the time. They could have jumped out of nowhere and landed on the hood of my car, and she wanted to make sure I understood the severity of the situation. After I ascertained that was indeed talking to me, doing my best Are You Talking to ME impersonation, I let her know I would definitely keep out my eye out.
Kinda hard to drive with one eye. Might squash a baby.
Another seller elected to alter a time-proven strategy and common listing practice because that’s not how her Sacramento listing agent tried (and failed) to sell her home 10 years ago. I explained that times change, local customs change, and if she didn’t do things the way I advised, it could hurt her chances of selling. But she wasn’t hearing any of it. You know what? Keeping my seller happy is more important. I offered to revisit the situation in 2 weeks if it doesn’t move like she imagined.
I wouldn’t trade what I do for any other job in the world.
Remodeled Riverfront Plaza Condos for Sale in Downtown Sacramento
200 P Street, D-11, at Riverfront Plaza Condos is for sale at $359K.
When I stopped at the Riverfront Plaza Condos last night to attach my lockbox to the lockbox rack, I was astonished to see so many lockboxes hanging on the pipe. We have 3 Riverfront Plaza condos in all of MLS on the market, and one of those is a pending sale. It means agents might have abandoned their lockboxes or forgotten they were there. I believe the number of condos in that project is around 91 units. Yet, so far this year only one Riverfront Plaza condo has closed.
This is a delightful community, with a lot of amenities. A pool, spa, tennis courts, workout gym, and conference center, for starters. Riverfront Plaza Condos are located close to downtown Sacramento and across from the Crocker Art Museum. Visitors and residents enjoy art installations scattered throughout as well. You’ve also got underground parking, and security through the lobby.
At the moment you will find two condos for sale in Riverfront Plaza Condos. One condo is listed by another brokerage at $494,500 (per square foot cost of $272.60) at 200 P Street, D-13, and there is my listing next door to it, D-11, featuring fabulous upgrades at $359,000 and a per-square-foot cost of $247.93. Which seems to be the better buy?
Remodeled kitchen at 200 P Street, D-11, Riverfront Plaza Condos, $359K.
My new listing is a two bedroom, two bath in a wonderfully shaded building, way to the left of the lobby, the D Building. It’s a popular building for having close access to the tennis courts but far enough away from the noisier activities. The condo has been extensively remodeled. The sellers opened a kitchen wall to create a great room. Custom cabinets, stone counters, stainless appliances, ceramic flooring; it’s stunning and impressive. All of the baths have been remodeled. Hand-painted tiles, one-of-a-kind vessel sinks, roomy spacious walk-in shower in the guest bath and an extra deep soaking tub in the master suite.
Vessel sink in remodeled bath at Riverfront Plaza Condos, 200 P St, D-11.
You need to fully experience the beauty of this home in person. The sellers are artists, and there is a spiritual connection, an energy, if you will, to that condo. It’s not just the gorgeous Middle Eastern artifacts (reflective of living overseas) and tremendous amount of concentrated thought to its improvements that are evident; it’s the way the home makes you feel: relaxed, comfortable and serene. You are wrapped in natural earth-inspired upgrades, similar to being in a forest when the only sound you can hear is the wind gently tossing tree tops.
Please check out all the photographs for this Riverfront Plaza condo and other homes in Sacramento, including a virtual tour for this home, on my website: 200 P Street, D-11, Sacramento, CA 95814. Exclusively offered by Elizabeth Weintraub at Lyon Real Estate, 916.233.6759 at $359,000.
What is Wrong With This Sacramento Home Offer?
It is rare to receive a perfect Sacramento home offer.
The way I sell real estate in Sacramento works extremely well for my sellers because I am on the constant look out for what is wrong with this Sacramento home offer. My first instinct, unlike many Sacramento Realtors, is NOT oh, boy, we have an offer, let’s sign it. As in: press hard, third copy is yours. My sellers and I intend to close the transaction. To us, a purchase contract is a legal and binding contract issued in Good Faith. To other agents, though, we can be at opposite ends of the spectrum before ever going into escrow.
Of course, as with any purchase offer, the way it is completed by the buyer’s agent is more than half the battle. First the offer needs to be completed correctly (spelling, math errors, unchecked boxes, blank lines, wrong forms) and much of the time it is not. But that is no surprise and not the primary issue. Those are clerical errors we can fix.
The real issue is the motivation, intentions and qualifications of the buyer. In a hot seller’s market in Sacramento, the most obvious sign in a Sacramento home offer is typically the sales price. Too low or too high can be a red flag, and I never know which we will receive. Digging deeper, we might find, for example, that the buyer has never seen the property. When buyers don’t view properties, it means they might have more concerns and try to renegotiate later.
It can be a kiss of death to remove a home from the market and put it back on market. Sellers lose the momentum of being a brand new listing in a hot, hot Sacramento market. Now the sellers’ home is damaged goods. And why? Because some agent tried to take a short cut and not show the property, and then tried to induce the seller to accept the Sacramento home offer by offering pie in the sky.
There are many other factors that enter into the work of analyzing a Sacramento home offer. The result can be as simple as a buyer offering less to entice a counter offer, which means once the counter is out, another offer is likely to arrive at full-price without the bickering, and the seller will jump on it, and withdraw the counter. Bickering on the front end can lead to bickering in the middle.
This Sacramento Realtor is patient. I wait for what is best for my sellers and advise accordingly. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.
