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Longer Days on Market Does Not Mean It’s OK to Lowball
The days on market are getting longer in Sacramento and, in particular, where I sell a lot of homes in Elk Grove. I would not go so far as to say that my real estate activity in Sacramento is 100% indicative of what’s going on across the board, but there certainly are parallels due to the vast territory I cover as a Sacramento real estate agent. Lots of agents work in only one neighborhood but I cover four counties and, as I have promoted the crap out of, I am the # 1 Sacramento agent at Lyon*, so I see a lot of listing activity up close and personal.
In fact, I wrote a newsletter for homebuying subscribers at About.com about the longer days on market last week and no sooner did I send it out last night than I received an almost duplicate piece from some other company. Coincidinky? Perhaps.
The reason I started to look at the days on market is because homes had been selling so quickly last spring, but once we got past mid-summer, the days on market began to grow. When days on market get longer, it seems that some buyers expect to lowball. I don’t know if they do this on the advice of their agent or if they saw it on TV show somewhere but the strategy for days on market can change depending on market swings. Our real estate market in Sacramento has swung. We’re pretty much back to normal and nobody knows how to handle it, it seems.
When I asked an agent to explain why her buyers wrote an offer at 85% of market value, her retort was the days on market were almost 30 so that meant the home was overpriced. What is this? Laurel and Hardy? Where did she get that idea? I’m not sure if it’s clueless agents or ignorant buyers or a combination of both or maybe something else that’s in the water, but 30 days on market is pretty darn normal. In fact, many homes are taking 45 to 60 days to sell in this market.
And they are selling at market value, which in most cases is list price. I see this is my own inventory of homes for sale. But just to show independent third-party statistics, I pulled a chart from Trendgraphix, which also illustrates this point and attached it to this blog. You don’t have to take my word for it. Take Rod Stewart’s: Every picture tells a story, don’t it?
Image: Trendgraphix, Day on Market and % of Sales Price to List Price, February 2014.
*per Trendgraphix stats for units sold, Sacramento County
Should You Stay in Your Home or Sell the Home Vacant?
Home Selling: Should you Stay or Go?
If you interviewed a hundred real estate agents in Sacramento and asked whether it was better to sell the home vacant or sell it with the seller living there, I’m betting agents would say the opposite of what I believe. Why do I think that? Because from a buyer’s agent’s point of view, it’s often easier to sell the home vacant. No fuss, no muss to show. Easy in and out. But from a Sacramento listing agent’s point of view, it’s generally better to leave the home occupied with the seller in residence.
Now, I know some agents start to feel like they own the home when they take a listing. It’s a common feeling, believe me. Sort of depends on how long the home is on the market and how many open houses the agent has held. I recall the summer of 2003 when I was the Queen of Vallejo Way in Land Park, and I held open houses every single Sunday for an overpriced listing that no other agent was willing to take. I knew every inch, nook and cranny of that home because I spent so much time in it. I filmed a segment for Good Day, Sacramento! in that house. But I never took a nap on the bed or helped myself to a pop in the ‘frig, in case you’re wondering. That home eventually sold, too, and I still have fond memories when I drive by, many years later.
But no listings are my home, regardless of how I might feel about them. My job is to put the seller’s interests first and foremost. I believe it’s better for the seller to stay in the home, even if it might make my job easier if they moved out. Only if the home is a total mess and unsuitable for showing would I suggest a seller move. It’s not always better to sell the home vacant.
If you’re asking yourself should a home be occupied or vacant when home selling, consider these points:
- Homes show better with furniture
- Vacant homes are often vandalized and not all insurance policies cover vacant homes
- Sellers are present to deal with emergencies
- Sellers can possibly meet the potential buyers
- Don’t have to pay for maintaining two homes
Yes, it’s a little bit more of a hassle to clean up the house every day and leave it spotless for showings, and it’s not always convenient to jump in the car and drive around when a buyer shows up, but you’ll probably make more money and sell the home faster if you’re living there. Unless, like I said, you live in a pigsty. Then, yes, you should move out and sell the home vacant.
What Makes a Sacramento Real Estate Agent the #1 Top Producer?
What makes a real estate agent a #1 Top Producer in Sacramento? Lots of real estate agents can call themselves the best Sacramento real estate agent or the top Sacramento real estate agent, but what criteria do they use to qualify themselves? Some agents, I suppose, just call themselves #1 because nobody told them they can’t do it and they’re simply clueless. If you don’t know any clueless real estate agents, then hey, I bet you’re one of those guys who say they don’t know any gay or lesbian people, either. Some people can’t see past their own noses.
I heard there was a big war — and maybe the war is still going on — over which agent has the right to call herself or himself the #1 Top Producer in the entire world, universe and on the planet earth. I’m astonished that this Sacramento real estate agent, yup me, Elizabeth Weintraub, sold enough homes last year to have my ranking pushed to the #1 position for Sacramento County at Lyon Real Estate for number of homes sold.
Even if a certain unnamed agent who no longer works at Lyon Real Estate was still at the company, my number of homes sold in Sacramento County far exceeded that agent’s production, more than double the number. A client who lives in Wilhaggin called last week while on vacation at Marco Island to ask if I would be interested in going to Italy with her, and when I mentioned my accomplishment, she gasped in an incredulous tone, “You mean you sold MORE than XYZ agent?” Yeah, I did.
Never in my life have I been the number one top producer agent in Sacramento County at Lyon Real Estate by selling such a phenomenal number of homes. This is a first for me. And I’ve been in the business for 40 years. My clients were a mix of traditional sellers with equity, investors, first-time home buyers and some were short sales. Upper-end homes, lower-end, I sold them all. I don’t discriminate.
I suppose that if I do it again in 2014, I’ll start to get used to it, and it won’t be such a big deal to anybody, much less me. But when you earn a distinction like this, and it’s good for business to let people know, that’s what you should do. If other agents look at that advertising and mutter under their breath: who does she think she is? I can tell you. I’m the #1 agent in Sacramento County at Lyon Real Estate. Smiley face. I’m excited. My passion for what I do is paying off.
Some agents qualify their top-producing status based on dollar volume. But if I sold only one home for, say, $25 million, how much respect would you have for me if I called myself the #1 agent? I would say I sold the highest priced home in Sacramento County, if that’s how I qualified. Other agents might qualify themselves by selling the most homes in any given ZIP code, and there’s nothing wrong with that as long as they disclose how they arrived at that designation. I think where agents get into trouble and begin to lose credibility is when they make broad statements without clarification or hide the facts.
And let’s not forget that some people erroneously believe that a top producer has no time for them, and that assumption couldn’t be further from the truth. The status can backfire, publicity-wise. I got to be a #1 Top Producer by providing individual, personalized service. That’s my secret. Each client is a precious gem. Plus, I have two team members who support me, and a fabulous transaction coordinator. No agent is an island in this business; I don’t care who you are –but the day you surpass me in production is a day I will be happy for you.
Source: Trendgraphix Top Producer 2013 by Units, January 2014.
Image: Sacramento Bee 2/9/14.
Sacramento Real Estate and Yoda: Times They are a Changin’
Sacramento River in South Land Park Hills
As I look over my listings and escrows in Sacramento this morning, I see a pattern. I’m not talking about those free flashbacks we were promised and never received — what a rip. No swirls and dots nor peacock feather trails. Nope, the pattern I see is every single one of these listings and escrows has a challenge, for lack of a better term. All of the challenges are different, but they are challenges just the same. Not insurmountable, either, but it’s not the same for a Sacramento real estate agent in 2014 as in previous years. Selling real estate the last half of 2013 and early 2014 is harder. The times they are a changin’. You wonder where Yoda got his manner of speaking? I tell ya, he stole it from Dylan. But I digress.
For example, one Sacramento short sale presents a peculiar difficulty with Chase Bank. To provide you with further clarity, consider the fact that every short sale agent probably felt like that Meg Ryan scene in When Harry Met Sally when Chase Bank last year began using Equator. However, this year, its HELOC department is stuck in bureaucracy and over the course of two months can’t seem to open the file. I kick, I nudge, I push, I sweet-talk, I escalate; I set that Chase short sale underwriting department on fire and run out the back door, and they aren’t budging. Feet glued to the floor. It’s as though they are lobotomized. But eventually, Chase will get it together; it’s the Peter Principle in action.
Another escrow is stuck in limbo until the bankruptcy court releases the home or authorizes the sale. The court date has been pushed forward, just when I had hoped it would be resolved. Are you involved in bankruptcy proceedings is not usually a question I ask a seller when I accept an equity listing. I imagine in this economy the bankruptcy lawyers are doing a ton of business, though.
The ripples of the past are still present. We Sacramentans haven’t completely emerged from the sea like Bo Derek: all cornrows and smiles and tan. Nope, we’re more like Tank Girl coming home to discover the earth looks like steaming lava fields on Big Island and treasuring that baby tree sprout, straining toward the sun from a sidewalk crack.
I have another escrow that’s nearing 45 days and the buyer’s loan is still not approved. That’s because the buyer wasn’t actually approved by the bank at the inception — like most of the bogus crap passed off as meaning something, the pre-approval letters make better paper airplanes. The buyer also could not satisfy loan conditions for the longest time, and it seems like nobody really pushed the buyer to perform, except for my sellers. Hello? Clock ticking.
Experience has taught me that these issues will get worked out, and we will close. Moreover, eventually the overpriced listings will be reduced or we’ll find one of those tasty Bay area buyers. Sacramento real estate is a fairly tight market that often moves in circles, it can be like a roulette wheel. Make sure you have a good real estate agent at your side. Sellers today need a smart agent who can offer sensible advice on such matters like always double your odds on craps and let’s not overlook Kenny Rogers: know when to fold ’em and back off. This is a great time to sell if you know what you’re doing!
Home Sellers and Buyers Who Need to Find an Agent Can Start Here
If you need a real estate agent in another state, I can help you to find an agent, and I might even give you a little real estate advice along the way. Telling clients what I believe is in their best interest for them to do comes very easily to this Sacramento real estate agent. I have no problem sharing what I believe because a) I’m generally right about it and b) if the other person don’t agree, that’s his or her prerogative. Besides, clients really seem to appreciate my advice and tips. Even people who aren’t my clients call to ask for my opinion.
Oh, maybe they read an article I wrote about home buying at About.com and want to do some hairbrained thing, so they track me down. I’m not that difficult to find, especially since I answer my phone. Sure, when I see the caller is calling from Pocatello, Idaho, I am tempted to click my bluetooth answer button and say Joe’s Pizza Shack, do you want pepperoni or sausage today, but fortunately, I’m not always looking at my phone when it rings and I answer with my name.
A woman called yesterday who told me she was in her 70s and thinking about selling her duplex to a tenant. The tenant had suggested taking over her mortgage payments, plus make payments on her equity. She felt sympathy for the guy because he was married with 5 kids and financially struggling. You know what? Maybe that guy can’t afford to buy a home because he can’t get a loan? She did not think about this. If he can’t get a loan, why would she jeopardize herself?
Her lender could call her loan due and payable under the alienation clause once title transfers. Was she mentally prepared if necessary to file a Notice of Default Could she go to court if push came to shove? My advice was tell the guy to get a loan or sell the home to a person who can get a loan. Don’t get sucked into this crap. There’s enough elder abuse in the world these days. Is this something I would said in the 1970s when owner financing was all the rage? Ha, ha, probably not. Today more than ever it pays to find an agent.
No client can ever accuse this agent of being wishy-washy or not voicing an opinion. I won’t give legal advice, but I promise to make you think about your issue. With 40 years in real estate, I am lucky to possess a wealth of experience to draw upon. If you can’t hire this Sacramento real estate agent because you live in Pocatello, Idaho, I can find an agent with experience in your area. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916 233 6759 or send me an email through my contact button on this website. It’s the top-left envelope icon that says email Elizabeth. Just click it.
