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The Value of an Experienced Sacramento Real Estate Agent
Do you ever wonder about the experience levels of some of the professionals you pay? Not to knock medical assistants or dental hygienists, but don’t those TV ads trying to lure deadbeats educate aspiring students bother you somewhat? They make me want to ask my doctor’s assistant where she went to school and what she did before she became a medical assistant. Most of us probably want to believe our doctor’s assistant went to college, earned a degree, on top of fulfilling a calling to the medical profession, a passion to help people, and is dedicated to medicine. I don’t know if you get that with a 6-month course and education financing through HSBC.
Yet many people would never in a million years ask a Sacramento real estate agent how long she has been in the business. They are about to spend or receive the most money they will probably ever see in one lump sum in their lives. Do they check out the real estate agent they are about to hire?
Not that length in the business is a sole determining factor because a person can be a real estate agent for many years and do no business at all. Holding a real estate license doesn’t make a person a real estate agent. Renewing said real estate license doesn’t make a person a real estate agent. I’m not a big fan of the alphabet letters either. The certified-whatever designations. That’s probably because many years ago I was involved in the seminar business, and I know that seminar companies are in the business of selling seminars. In other words, an agent can pay for a real estate designation. It doesn’t mean the agent learned anything. It also doesn’t mean the company that awarded the designation taught an agent anything.
Real estate agents learn on the job. End of story. They learn by selling homes in Sacramento, for example. The more homes a person sells, the better that real estate agent becomes — or you would hope. An experienced real estate agent is a different kind of real estate agent.
Every real estate transaction is different. That’s what makes being a Sacramento real estate agent exciting. It’s what motivates me to turn on my computer and go to work every single day. It’s always something new. A new challenge, new people, new events. And when you throw a short sale into the mix: an opportunity to practice patience, improve tolerance and to solve difficult problems.
Everybody is welcome to hire a novice, but why? Novices will cry and moan and say everybody has to learn somewhere. But do you want them practicing on you? You have a choice when you hire a real estate agent. We’re not all the same. I will close over $30 million in sales this year. I sell more than 100 homes a year — so I must be doing many things right. I believe experience is important. If it matters to you, let’s get together. You can read client reviews of Elizabeth Weintraub and decide for yourself. I have pages of recommendations. What you see is what you get.
A Home Buyer Almost Lost Her Rosemont Home
I just closed escrow on Friday for an incredible couple of sellers of a Rosemont home who had moved to Florida. They had owned a rental property in which the tenant had vacated and it was now time to sell. An agent in Florida referred this couple to me. I think the agent found me through one of my blogs and noted that I sell homes all over the Sacramento area. Because I sell so many homes (100+ /yr), odds are I probably sell a lot in any one area, and Rosemont is one of those neighborhoods for me. I know it pretty well. And I knew this particular home might pick up comparable sales from a nearby subdivision, which has a higher per median square-foot-cost than the surrounding neighborhood. Which meant if we positioned this correctly, the sellers could probably get a bit more for this home than they would otherwise.
I look to maximize profit for my sellers. That’s because I really enjoy what I do. It makes my sellers happy as well. I feel like I’ve done my job above and beyond when sellers walk away with a lot more money in their pocket than they thought was possible. Being a Sacramento real estate agent is one of the greatest jobs in the world. Being a top producer is even more fun, if you can imagine that.
The sellers had finished painting, making a few repairs, and buying a new microwave. The home in Rosemont looked great. Even the door knobs glistened. A bunch of offers arrived. One of them was all cash from an out-of-state investor (warning bells), but the buyer’s agent swore up and down the investor would perform. Easy peasy guy is what he said. Exact words. Except the investor was anything but easy peasy and the agent failed to respond to requests for documents. My recommendation to the seller was to drop the buyer. Fast. Like a hot potato. Because the Sacramento real estate market is too danged hot in itself. It’s a seller’s market right now, which means there are a lot of buyers competing for limited inventory.
Sure enough, we went back into escrow immediately with a new buyer. She wasn’t cash, though. She needed an FHA loan. And the appraisal came in a little bit lower than the asking price. That’s the problem with buyers who use financing. They must rely on a Sacramento appraisal. If they don’t have the cash to bridge the gap between the appraised value and the sales price, they risk losing the home. The difference wasn’t that great, though, and it was still more than the seller had hoped to receive, so the seller elected to move forward at the new sales price.
See, that’s the problem with an appraisal. Appraisals are not chiseled in stone. An appraisal is just somebody’s opinion of value. Could be a person of great integrity and intelligence who prepares the appraisal or it could be a lame-ass doofus who couldn’t find his way home with 3 maps and 2 flashlights. You just don’t know who you’ll get.
After we moved forward with the appraisal, the buyer’s lender simply could not close. It’s like an epidemic sweeping Sacramento: lenders who can’t close. Not on time anyway. They might say whose time frame are you looking at — is it the purchase contract that gives us only 30 days, which isn’t enough time to brush our teeth much less brush our hair? Or, is it our time frame, which is somewhere south of the border, west of the International Date Line and in another century?
The escrow dragged on and on and on. The buyer’s agent submitted an extension. Then another extension. The sellers questioned whether they should sign it. At this point, it might make more sense to just rent out the home in Rosemont, put it on the market next spring and deal with the new influx of buyers. Or, not. It was enough to give the buyer a heart attack. See, this is the importance of selecting a mortgage lender who can perform and not some group that can’t close on time. Because, as a buyer, you could run out of time and the seller could cancel the purchase contract, hand back your earnest money deposit and say nice to know ya; don’t let the door hit ya in the butt.
But these sellers elected to close escrow and extended. It made no difference to me because a commission now versus a commission next spring doesn’t matter; besides, I want what is best for the seller. Who it mattered to was the buyer. The buyer was a first-time home buyer. My agent who picks up my lockboxes after closing said the buyer was very grateful when he stopped by yesterday. It’s nice to have a happy ending. Happy sellers, happy buyer, happy buyer’s agent. What else could you want? How about a happy referring agent in Florida? Yeah!
Go to The Kitchen Restaurant and Cancel Halloween
A Halloween alternative for those of us with homes in Land Park. Here is another option if you’re ever thinking about a way to cancel Halloween. My husband tacked a note to the front of our home in Land Park. It told visitors that werewolves lived there and we were out because it was a full moon last night. Perhaps you came by and spotted that note? The note also said if you took more than one piece of candy from the bowl on the front porch that zombies would eat your brains. Which reminds me that I have to see if there is a new version out of that Plants vs. Zombies computer game. No, there is not. Not until spring. Darn Pop Cap.
Our idea of canceling Halloween last night entailed going to The Kitchen Restaurant for a 4-hour dinner and a flight of wine. They call it a flight of wine because flying is exactly what you feel like doing after consuming all of that wine. True, you’re also stuffing food down your face to soak up much of that alcohol, but it’s still a lot of wine to drink with dinner. I shared my flight of wine with my husband, but he couldn’t drink much of it because he was our designated driver. This is a reason in itself to get married. Designated driver. Otherwise, both of you would have to take a cab.
The last time we were at The Kitchen was the day after Thanksgiving. My sister was in town from Minneapolis, so we hauled her and my niece out for a 7-course dinner at The Kitchen. As we were sitting at the counter at The Kitchen last night, my husband snapped a photo of me with his iPhone. He took the photo to send with a response to the text message my sister just sent him wishing us a Happy Halloween. He told her we were at The Kitchen. Except she had no idea where we were. I know her. She thought he meant we were huddled in the dark at home in our kitchen, avoiding trick or treaters. Because she knows us.
Nope, we were sitting at the counter at The Kitchen and spooning pumpkin bisque into our faces — followed by butter-poached maine lobster, swordfish, sea scallops, and a main entree of beef tenderloin with black truffle. I really enjoyed the apple pie dessert, with that delicious scoop of butter-chocolate crunch ice cream. All the ingredients at The Kitchen are farm fresh and mostly local. In fact, on Halloween yesterday, Mayor Kevin Johnson proclaimed Sacramento “America’s Farm to Fork Capital.” It’s true, he held a ceremony downtown, attended by all the top chefs in Sacramento.
I tell you the thing that really struck home with me last night was how passionate everybody is about their job at The Kitchen. There is a hierarchy but also a strong team spirit among the cooks and staff. There is distinct honor and respect among the workers. It’s clear that the job is serious business and everybody takes pride in their work. You don’t see that commitment to quality in many other establishments around town. In fact, you don’t see that passion in other professions, either. except maybe that of a Sacramento real estate agent. I care deeply, for example, whether my clients are happy at closing. When people say there is no pride in American jobs anymore, they should check out our restaurants in Sacramento.
When we got home to Land Park, we found our note still stuck to the front door. There were still a few pieces of candy in the bowl on the porch, too. They didn’t take everything. They also did not stomp on our Cinderella pumpkin. Yay! The kids in Land Park are a good bunch of kids.
A Sacramento Real Estate Agent Answers Her Phone
Some real estate agents work on the weekends, and some agents do not. But that doesn’t stop the buying public from calling a Sacramento real estate agent. So, if you’re a real estate agent and you don’t want to work, you generally don’t answer your cellphone. Typically, the agent who doesn’t answer her phone is the agent who gets too many phone calls.
This Sacramento real estate agent receives a ton of phone calls. All the time, not just on the weekends. My telephone number is everywhere. It’s hanging from sign riders swinging in the breeze on dozens of For Sale signs throughout Sacramento and our four-county area. It’s published in MLS. I put my cellphone into Zillow, Trulia and just about all of the major websites. If a person wants to find Elizabeth Weintraub, learn about real estate or short sales, I’m very easy to find.
And I answer my phone. This fact astonishes people. A Sacramento real estate agent who answers her phone? They often say when I answer my phone that they did not expect to find a real live person on the other end. I tell them I can hang up so they can call back and go to voice mail if they like, but no, they will put up with talking to me if they have to do it. If I get a real crackpot on the phone or somebody who won’t shut up, I am capable of politely explaining that I have to go, and I hang up myself. But that doesn’t happen very often. And every once in a while I get a telemarketer. When I do, I report those callers to the government’s Do Not Call List.
But yesterday, in the middle of a quiet October Sunday afternoon, my cellphone rang. My husband and I were both reading. The wind picked up slightly. It was forecast to rain. Skies were overcast. I answered the phone.
Caller: I’m calling about Lockwood.
Weintraub: Yes. (He sounded like a really old guy.)
Caller: I’m calling about Lockwood.
Weintraub: Yes. (I set down my book and sat up. OMG, I’m thinking, is the home on fire? Is this person calling to tell me the wind just blew off the roof?)
Caller: I’m calling about Lockwood, can you hear me?
Weintraub: Yes, I can hear you. May I help you?
See, this is the part where normally a person would ask a question. They might ask if the property is still available, or how many bedrooms it has or whether there is a pool.
This is a property that I’ve sold 3 times as a short sale. All 3 escrows were at the same price but the first 2 buyers were flakes in my book because they didn’t close. It’s been listed for 10 months. It’s unusual to get a call on a property that’s been pending for a while like this one.
I asked the caller again if I could help him. He seemed agitated. Maybe he couldn’t hear very well? Oh, no, maybe somebody kicked in the front door or swiped the lockbox? Maybe he’s a real estate agent who is very angry that he can’t show the home because there is no lockbox?
He yelled at me: “What can you tell me about it?”
Well, I could tell him a lot but I won’t because none of it matters. What matters is the home is in escrow and closing this week so he can’t buy it, but if he’s interested in this neighborhood and price range, maybe I can help him? So, I tell him the home is pending and ask if he’d like information about other homes in the area.
Instead, he blurted out: “Why isn’t there a sold sign on it?”
Because we don’t do those things anymore. Especially not on a short sale. Everything is published online.
He screamed an obsenity and slammed down the phone. This is why a Sacramento real estate agent doesn’t like to answer the phone. See, a real estate agent’s life isn’t always glamorous, even if she does answer her phone.
Why, No, You Can’t Buy That Sacramento Home
Tell a person she can’t have something, and she wants it even more. Just seems to be human nature. The way things work. If Sacramento home buyers are interested in a home, all you have to say is they might not be able to buy it, and they break out in a sweat. I imagine their hearts begin to beat rather fast. I mean, I know that feeling. I am not immune to not always getting what I want.
There’s a restaurant in Chicago that I feel compelled to visit, and there are no reservations available in November when I will be there. It serves 23 courses for dinner. The only way to get a reservation at this restaurant is to hope a table opening pops up through Facebook. There’s a chance my husband and I won’t be able to go this restaurant. That will be a little bit disappointing, but it’s not the end of the world. You know why? Because there are other restaurants in Chicago and, like my mother used to say, think about the starving children in China!
OK, that didn’t help at all. But you get my drift.
Not having any inventory in the Sacramento real estate market is driving some home buyers nuts. They can’t stand it. I know because as a busy Sacramento real estate agent, I manage a lot of listings — more than some brokerages –and I get calls all day long about homes that are pending. Pending as in ready to close escrow. Solid offers from committed buyers, yet all of these callers want to know if the present buyer might change his or her mind. People might be off their rockers, but they’re not crazy enough to back out of a transaction when there is nothing else to buy.
All of the normal things a Sacramento real estate agent usually worries about are no longer much of a concern in this market. Home inspection? Spittooey. No problem. Long as the home is still standing and supported by four walls and a roof, they’ll take it. No seller concession? Who cares? Not today’s home buyers. You want a contingency release? Where do we sign? This is a fabulous real estate market for a seller and her listing agent! It’s not so hot for home buyers but it’s unusual, to say the least, to be on the other side of the fence for a change.
