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Throw Like a Girl
Yes, I want to throw like a girl. Picking your battles is half of the battle in Sacramento real estate. I am fond of repeating the adage is this the hill on which you’re gonna die? Because it helps me to figure out which issues are worth fighting for and which to let fall by the wayside in hopes a semi-truck will slam by and mash its sorry remains into the pavement.
By my background, I am a fighter. A seller told me yesterday that she chose me to list her home in Fair Oaks among other candidates she had interviewed because I possess that competitive spirit and it shows. I get things done. Experience breeds confidence and authority.
I don’t think I was born that way, though. Yet, I had great outside role models, apart from my mother, while I was growing up in the 1950s: Pippi Longstocking, Mae West and Amelia Earhart, to name a few. I admired all three as a child and aspired to become just like them, apart from the fact there are some people who will say I have not yet grown up, I do believe I have come close to possessing some of their spunk. We don’t have enough strong women role models in the country for young girls to admire, although Mo’ne Davis is certainly an inspiration. I love what fans say about her: Throw like a girl. John Oliver did a segment about this superstar sensation on his HBO show: Last Week Tonight.
People might question whether one needs to fight in real estate because we’ve been brainwashed into thinking it’s always a win-win situation. I hate to smear those rose-colored glasses but both sides don’t always win. Sometimes the winning party gloats. Sometimes the losing party is angry, and vice versa.
Even when a home buyer pays more than list price and wins a multiple-offer situation, the buyers might tend to be a bit irritated at closing, after the glow of victory subsides. They think to themselves that maybe their agent coerced them into paying too much or not asking for enough because they listened to friends / relatives explain how they bought a home and what they demanded. They don’t realize every situation is different and each deal has its own peculiar set of circumstances.
If at the end of the day you sold your home in Sacramento, you won. If every morning you wake up in your new house, you won. It was probably a woman who helped you to get there.
Should Real Estate Agents Work in Dual Roles as Home Buyers?
Representing yourself in the dual role of a real estate agent and home buyer in a real estate transaction just to hang on to the buying side of the commission seems a bit defeatist to me, but that’s not to say an agent won’t do it –unless, of course, one subscribes to the adage that a lawyer who represents herself has a fool for a client. Further, you should probably pity the poor real estate agents in my life who have had to represent me in a real estate transaction. In retrospect, I was a terrible client.
I would not want to work with myself as a client. When the shoe is on the other foot, compassion be damned. I forget all about my comfy slippers with the soft lambswool lining and act like I’m strutting about in 8-inch heels. I demand immediate responses, expect instant communication and tolerate zero mistakes. I am like every real estate agent’s worst nightmare, and I apologize right now to the poor agent who will undoubtedly represent us when my husband and I retire somewhere exotic down the road.
While I strive to offer a client excellent service and often receive glowing reviews for my service, not all real estate agents behave in this manner. I will stop whatever I am doing when a client calls to take that phone call. In the middle of the frozen food aisle at the grocery store or in the midst of more intimate activities that you don’t want to know about, I answer my phone. The only places I turn it off are at the movie theatre, in flight or after 7 PM.
I do it because that’s what I would want if I were a client. I try to match performance to meet expectations. Client satisfaction is paramount to me. If I believe a client is better off with another agent, I will refer that client to another agent. It’s easy to see the situation at arm’s length when you’re not the client.
Singleness-of-purpose works well for a successful Sacramento real estate agent. It means the agent doesn’t do home staging, doesn’t do mortgages, doesn’t peddle other products to the client and doesn’t try to play the dual role of a buyer and agent. The agent simply works in real estate, focusing on representing her clients with integrity and purpose. Other agents will disagree with this premise and you know what? It’s OK. We’re not all the same.
Having said that, I will leave you with a link to an article about home buyers that I wrote yesterday for About.com. It’s a light-hearted yet accurate description of home buyers and the 7 different types of home buyers we work with in this business. I invite you to read more about What Kind of Home Buyer Are You?
You Can Choose a Sacramento Realtor Before You Are Ready
People often call to ask: is it OK to choose a Sacramento Realtor even if I’m not yet ready to sell a home? The short answer is yes and, in fact, it is strongly advised and encouraged. Choosing a Realtor early on is to a seller’s advantage. This simple act can save a seller a lot of money because sellers don’t really know what they need to do to get ready for the market as much as they think they might know.
I see my neighbors down the street, for example, doing things that make me think they are getting ready to sell, and I heard it buzzed about the neighborhood that they’re trying to sell by owner. People try to do a for sale by owner because they wrongly believe they will make more money, even though it’s a proven fact they won’t*. But they want to save that commission, and while they’re so busy saving that commission on the front end, other money is leaking out the back door.
*The typical FSBO home last year, reports the National Association of Realtors, sold for $183,000 as compared to $230,000 for others. Mind you, that’s just the sales price and not the net profit, which also gets mangled during many transactions.
Nothing beats professional representation.
One of the things I noticed yesterday was a termite company truck parked down the street. Somebody must have told these people that they needed to order and pay for a clear pest report, which is untrue. But they don’t know that because I’m betting they haven’t talked to a Sacramento Realtor who works in the neighborhood. Many of my sellers in today’s real estate market do not pay for pest reports nor pest completions because it is not required in all instances.
I have a number of new listings coming on the market after Labor Day, some of which I’ve been working on for more than a year: an enormous home in Galt, another home in Lincoln Crossing, a duplex in Fair Oaks, a single-story in Natomas. It’s never too early to call a Sacramento Realtor and ask for help. We won’t advise you to throw away money. We’ll tell you where to best invest to prepare your home for sale. We’ll help you to find contractors, if you need them. If you have questions such as whether it’s better to sell your home with a tenant in place or as a vacant home, your Realtor will answer those questions.
You can call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. I am an experienced Realtor who works in four counties and a consistent top 1% agent. You may as well hire one of the best. We’re not all the same.
Why the Time to Buy or Sell a Sacramento Home is Now
Clients have been asking lately if the end of summer of 2014 is a good time to buy or sell a home in Sacramento, because they are wondering whether prices will continue to rise. If we have collectively learned nothing from the market crash years of 2006 to 2011, it’s that prices will not always continue to go up. I’ve been advising clients all year to sell now or buy now and to not wait until 2015, and that’s not just because I’m a Sacramento real estate agent who stands to make a buck or two.
It’s because I watch and analyze the market. I sell a lot more homes than your average Sacramento agent, and I see first-hand a lot more activity than your average agent. It doesn’t matter all that much to me whether home prices go up or home prices go down, like that Eddie Murphy movie, I will still be in business. People are yakking that Sacramento home prices have risen only 8% and lamenting that figure instead of rejoicing. I am very happy with the market prices lately because they’ve made huge gains over the past 2 years. Enough so that many homeowners are pulled out from being underwater — no more short sales, thank goodness — and scores of Sacramento homeowners are able to sell and move up.
All of a sudden, like an overnight magical fairy-wand tap on our chimneys, many sellers have an additional $100,000 of equity that they didn’t have a few years ago. Even sellers who bought a home in 2010 and 2011 are able to sell now. All of those foreclosure buyers and short sale buyers are morphing into equity sellers in this new Sacramento real estate market. Interest rates are incredibly low, and I can tell you this, they won’t stay there forever. You can get a loan around 4% right now, and that gives you heart-pounding savings. Don’t be crying a few years from now when interest rates are up to 5% or 7% or worse.
Once rates begin to edge up — and interest rates absolutely will rise — watch out, because Sacramento home prices will feel the affect. The impact of interest rates on the rise is huge, for example, each 1/2 percent interest rate increase can lose a buyer roughly $25,000 of purchasing power. What do you think that kind of rate increase will do to home prices in Sacramento? It will suppress prices a bit, sure, but you’ll lose more disposable income through the interest rate increase. Overall, your payment will be higher than it will be today.
You’ve got a window of opportunity right now to sell a home in Sacramento and capture the momentum of our upcoming fall market in Sacramento — which is the second hottest real estate market in Sacramento. It’s also an excellent time, due to low interest rates, to buy a home. Are you in or you are you out? Call me, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916.233.6759.
Why Bay Area Investors Should Hire a Local Sacramento Agent
When the seller from San Jose called this Sacramento real estate agent, he wanted to handle the sale of his duplex in Sacramento the way an agent would deal with such an investment property in the Bay Area. It was more familiar to him and familiarity breeds comfort. But it wasn’t in his best interest to do things that way. Not only that, but it was a stupid idea that would cost him money. I had to explain that top listing agents don’t work like that in Sacramento.
Some listing agents would not discuss options under those circumstances, they would just take the listing and be done with it, happy as a clam to have another listing. Not this agent; I will bring up reasons why it might be better for the client to consider a different method and conduct the sale the way we sell real estate locally. My seller was thrilled that he listened to my advice. We just sold his investment property for the highest price any property in that area has sold for recently!
Even though one of the challenges was the neighborhood. There are neighborhoods that can present unique problems. I see out-of-area investors who are unfamiliar with neighborhoods either buy real estate in the “wrong” areas or they overpay, paying a price that they believe is based on the comps yet not for that particular pocket of homes. If the agent representing the client doesn’t possess localized knowledge, well, it can end up hurting the client. But lots of Bay Area investors use Bay Area real estate agents to buy investment property and their inquiries litter my email, which is just fine when it’s my listing.
I sold two listings like that recently to Bay Area investors who were represented by Bay Area agents. Of course, if I have any specific knowledge about the property, I am required by law to disclose it to the buyers. But I am not required to suggest to Bay Area investors that they should hire a local Sacramento agent to buy. No sirree. My personal thoughts about whether it’s a good idea to buy or not to buy don’t enter the equation because I’m not their buyer’s agent. It is my job as a listing agent in Sacramento to sell that property for the seller and to attract the highest price, so that’s precisely what I do.
I advertise my listings in Sacramento to Bay Area buyer’s agents all the time. I want their buyers to come to Sacramento and buy homes. What luck — so do my sellers! We sometimes focus on Bay Area investors because Bay Area investors tend to pay more than anybody else and ask fewer questions. I often sell investment property that is owned by Bay area investors directly to other Bay area investors. Why not Sacramento investors? Because Sacramento investors seem more shrewd these days. As a group, they typically refuse to pay list price even if list is market and, in fact, they often expect a discount based on their good looks.
The good news is it’s still a seller’s market in Sacramento. As long as sellers are reasonable, sellers can call the shots. If you want to sell your investment property in Sacramento, come over and sit down next to Elizabeth Weintraub.
