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Getting Business as a Sacramento Listing Agent
Anybody who thinks Sacramento real estate is dull and uninteresting is probably not a top listing agent in Sacramento. They probably don’t read this blog, either. There is always something horrific going on, some transaction trying to slip sideways down the hill that I’ve got to attach to a crane and hoist back up, but it’s never boring. I stay on top of my files.
Right now, ever since the vague thought of I really need to take a few more listings crossed my mind over the weekend, suddenly bunches of sellers have been contacting me to get their homes into MLS and sold. Now, I am not a spiritual person much less a religious person but it reminds me of Tom Robbin’s new book (memoir?) I’m reading, Tibetan Peach Pie. Robbins talks about picking tomatoes in the hot sun as a kid growing up in the South. His kid buddy he called Gumboot cried out in desperation one day as he was sweating to death in the tomato fields, “Good Lord, if it’s in Thy power, send me that knocking-off shower.” And lo and behold the heavens opened up and it poured down rain.
Those thoughts didn’t pass through my brain with much conviction. It was a passing minor panic attack of sorts, probably lasted all of 2 seconds, but it did cross my mind that I’ve been closing so many escrows lately that I need to pop a few more into the hopper on the front end. Where was that business gonna come from? Selling real estate is a balancing act, if you’re gonna run it like a business, which it is. A good Sacramento listing agent can’t run out of inventory.
The way I see it: I’ve got new listings to take, existing listings to sell and listings to close. Those are my 3 main focuses throughout the day. Everything else is external noise. I am almost impaired that way, my intense concentration is on those 3 areas. Some agents have to go out looking for business but business finds me, so that’s one aspect of being a Sacramento listing agent that I am fortunate I don’t have to spend a lot of time on.
Somewhere I read that agents spend 1/3 of their time canvassing for business. I suppose when I started in the business, I spent more time looking for clients but that was so long ago I don’t recall. Or, maybe it’s ingrained in me to such an extent that I don’t even notice it any longer. Perhaps I solicit in my sleep? I meet a person, doesn’t matter who or where, and that person knows I sell real estate in Sacramento. You can count on it. It’s a lifestyle.
My team held quite a few open houses yesterday. Oh, people like to pooh-pooh open houses and say they don’t sell real estate and some do not. Although buyers might not decide to buy a house through an open house; however, it’s how they often see the house they are planning to buy. Agents swarmed one such open house Sunday in Elk Grove. We ran out of flyers, which is highly unusual. One agent went into the back yard and started handing out business cards to visitors before she was slapped by my team member.
There’s a time and place for that kind of thing, and at another agent’s open house is not the time nor the place.
The X-Rays of Selling a Home in Sacramento
In between 3 real estate closings last week involving selling a home in Sacramento, I paid a visit to my dentist in Midtown, plus my specialist dentist who does implants in Elk Grove. The main problem I see with going to the dentist is their assistants tend to mess up my lip color, forcing me to carefully reapply, and sometimes they splash water on my face, resulting in splotchy blush patches. I would beg: the make-up, guys, be careful of the make-up, but in the overall scheme of things, the condition they leave my face is not as important as the stone carvings that inhabit the cavern beyond my lips.
My dentist in Midtown, I have discovered, is the same age as me. That news was a bit shocking because I’ve always figured he was much older; it’s in his demeanor, his walk, his way of clasping hands and communicating. It actually makes me feel better knowing how old he is because he probably won’t retire before me, so he’ll be around for a while. He’s the guy mentioned by the kid who wrote the book about lessons she learned (at the ripe old age of 8 or something) when she penned don’t bite the dentist.
I brought him my X-rays from the specialist dentist in Elk Grove. Explained how proud of his work that guy appeared. He told me so, said he had done a beautiful job. He also smiled when his assistant came into the room, saying: “Look at that sinus lift, who did that?” I respect and like veteran professionals who take pride in their work. It means the work still matters to them. It’s not just become routine. My Midtown dentist says I probably have a famous mouth, and that my Elk Grove dentist most likely takes those X-rays on the road to conventions and stuff.
Whenever a transaction closes, I often stop to contemplate and commiserate about the pros and cons, mostly elated that my clients are thrilled. No real estate transaction in Sacramento is routine. Each is special, unique and present their own particular set of circumstances. I feel a strong sense of duty to my clients, apart from the legal obligation, to do the best job and to exceed expectations.
I just wish I could take their X-rays of selling a home in Sacramento on the road. To show how my expertise and experience results in happier sellers who end up with more money and less stress than others, simply because they were smart enough to hire this Sacramento REALTOR.
Stunning and Affordable Pool Home in Elk Grove
Every once in a blue moon this Sacramento real estate agent receives the opportunity to list and sell an incredibly gorgeous home that spins heads and stimulates lust of homebuyers everywhere. Because I’ve been in the business for four decades, I know it when I enter the home. It’s not just a feeling — although the feeling is part of it — it’s the instant realization when my eyes fall upon the interior that this home will drive buyers crazy. All my sensors go off.
Being in love is the reason homes sell as well as the reason many people get married. I hate to stop to think how many people would never ever get married if it weren’t for falling in love. It’s that temporary state of absolute insanity, when the vision of your loved one consumes every fiber of your body and thoughts of this loveliness floats around in your mind from the time you wake up in the morning and lurks in the background throughout daily activities, that makes life worth living for some. It’s madness. It’s nuts. And many of us would not trade this euphoria for the world.
My new listing, this spectacular pool home in Elk Grove will elicit such ecstasy, I can assure you. For starters, it’s a desirable single-story, semi-custom home built in 2006. It has a ton of upgrades and gorgeous features such as stone arches, walls of layered stone, travertine floors, large and spacious rooms, and fabulous energy in the open layout. Everywhere you look there are special touches.
The kitchen is enormous and features a breakfast nook, all of which overlooks the back-yard pool. A stone fireplace sets off the family room. You’ll find a separate formal dining room. There is more than 2,700 square feet, with 4 bedrooms and 3 baths. The master suite is located toward the back of the home and sports French doors that open to the pool.
Best of all, the piece de resistance is the resplendent back yard with its huge pool as the focal point. Off to the side of the pool on this generously sized 1/4 acre lot are a couple of patios; one patio is partially covered by a pergola. There is even a play area for children. Just imagine the summer fun that can linger way into the winter months because we are lucky enough to live in the Sacramento Valley!
This treasure is located at 9328 Feickert Dr, Elk Grove, CA 95624, offered by Lyon Real Estate and your Elk Grove agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916.233.6759. Open Sunday, July 13, 2014 from 2:00 to 4:00 PM. $445,000.
Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub
The Magical Touch in Sacramento Real Estate
I realize this might sound a little touchy-feelie, but if you want to acquire the magical touch in Sacramento real estate, you’ve got to let things be and not give them so much negative energy. It seems like I am constantly taking my client’s temperature. Resting my hand on their foreheads to see if they feel hot or cold and then trying to make things OK. Because selling or buying real estate can be very stressful.
If my clients begin to feel stressed, I encourage them to call me. I welcome their frustrations. They can tell me exactly how they feel, and I will extract the anxiety and release it. I don’t absorb it because that would turn me into a lunatic. I think that’s part of what makes a Sacramento agent a really good real estate agent, when an agent can go out of her way to help to alleviate her client’s fears and dissolve the pain. Suffering is bad enough without suffering at will.
There is enough suffering in the world without people purposely creating more unhappiness for themselves. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t always get what you want, and sometimes you don’t even get what you need. But if you try to let go and focus on positive outcomes, things have a way of working themselves out.
I’ve seen the results of this first hand. Some new problem will crop up and immediately the people involved tend to think the worst. They create the most horrible image and play that image like a movie over and over in their heads to reinforce just how awful it really could become. But the thing is none of that might happen at all. Given the choice of believing things will work out and taking steps to make it happen or freaking out and condemning everything in your path, which will give you the result you deserve? Both of them, I guess.
So, the question is what do you deserve? I believe you deserve the magical touch in Sacramento real estate. That’s what we do.
Back from Maui and Aloha Time
At least I was wise enough to schedule my in-person appearances a day after my return from Maui Aloha time, because no sane person should stare at me at this point except for my husband. My hair is a wild mess, and my face looks like a pillow was glued to it. It is really difficult coming back to Sacramento after a long trip to the islands in the first place because you’re not only coming off Aloha time, like some long drug-induced trip, but the time change is enough to knock one off her feet.
I’d sort of like to say excuse me while I go back to bed, but being a Sacramento real estate agent means I must go to work. I have listings to sell, offers to negotiate, clients to update and new listing appointments to establish. Just thinking about all of that stuff is beginning to energize my brain. I’m excited to be back to work.
You know how I can make that transition from Aloha to Hello Real Estate? Because I have another vacation on the horizon for this winter. I will work like a dog for the next 5 months so I can take time off over the holidays. This winter I will stay at a few of the smaller Hawaiian islands, Molokai on my way home and Lanai on my way out. In between the two will be a couple of weeks at a small island in the country of Vanuatu.
So when people in the know ask how I can be in the real estate business going on 40 years and remain such a happy go-lucky individual, especially after putting up with the frustrations, challenges and let’s call them fabulous opportunities for growth to learn how to calm down the occasional group of screeching monkeys, it’s because of goal setting. Without goal setting, I’d be drifting aimlessly in an un-personed lifeboat like that guy in the Life of Pi, hoping for trade winds to blow my craft toward land.
And that’s just not me.
Photo: Barbara Dow at the Grand Wailea in Maui, by Elizabeth Weintraub
