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Sacramento Home Buyers Need an Edge in Market
Sacramento home buyers won’t buy a home this spring without an agent.
Hey, all you Sacramento home buyers, are you ready for the spring market? This is going to be a tougher market than you’ve ever seen in your life to buy a house in Sacramento, but don’t let that little thought discourage you. Unless you’ve been working in real estate full-time with a ton of transactions under your belt, you probably are not prepared to meet the demands that this market is putting forth for you. It is not impossible to buy a house, but you better be working with an experienced buyer’s agent or you might not buy anything at all.
I talk to Sacramento home buyers who often call from a or sale sign or because they spot a home that sold two months ago on an unreliable website, and I try to explain to them that they need to align themselves with a Sacramento Realtor. It won’t be this agent because I don’t work with buyers, but my team members do, or they could pick an agent at another company. Whatever choice, they need to get hopping with an agent. They can’t do this alone. They won’t get a heads up on the best homes for sale, and by the time some of these DIY Sacramento home buyers hear about a home for sale, it will be in escrow.
We have 1,481 homes for sale in Sacramento County right now. This includes all condos and single-family homes. That is peanuts. It is miniscule. We have 1,687 pending (in escrow). It will take us about 3 weeks to sell every home instead of the more healthy 3 to 4 months. I don’t know if Sacramento home buyers skim over housing reports that say inventory is falling and they wrongly think the market is falling when it is not, it is going up. Or why they aren’t more concerned about haphazardly calling an agent here and there to try to buy a home. It won’t happen for them that way.
We used to have 10,000 homes for sale. That number is insane compared to today’s inventory. Yes, at the height of the market in August of 2005, we had over 10,000 homes for sale. We have way more Sacramento home buyers in the market at the moment than homes to sell. Almost every single listing of mine receives more than one offer, some 10 offers. But even so, don’t let THAT discourage you because with the right agent, you WILL buy a home.
So many transactions in Sacramento are negotiated between agents. If you don’t have an agent, you really don’t stand a chance. A buyer’s agent is paid by the seller, not by the buyer, so if you want a home, give us a ring. You can call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759, and I’ll pair you with the perfect agent on my team. Just don’t keep calling on homes that have already sold and be disappointed. Don’t keep kicking that can down the street.
If you’ve been writing offers and been unsuccessful, maybe it’s time to think about hiring a more aggressive and experienced buyer’s agent?
It Is Not What You Say It Is How You Say It
It is not what you say, it is how you say it.
Everybody knows it is not what you say it is how you say it, but how often do you see a professional in action? OK, let’s not talk about Donald Trump because that’s a really malo example. He has about as much finesse as a termite. He violates the first rule of it’s not what you say it’s how you say it porque he doesn’t consider his words before opening his mouth. He says whatever lingers on the short string between brain and tongue.
Real estate agents are taught to convey information, but who spends the time to teach agents that they should consider how that information will be received by the recipient? If it could be construed as damaging or irritating or in some way produce an unanticipated result from the recipient, perhaps a better choice of words would be in order? Supuesto, to get to this point, one would need to lay it out there and analyze the results.
The first rule of it’s not what you say but show you say it is to imagine first the recipient’s reaction. Will it be favorable? ¿Simpatico? Are you trying to persuade a person to act in a certain way or to change a perception? One of my pet peeves are the well meaning managers in real estate who advise agents to always ask a potential buyer if they are working with an agent. Just so we don’t tread on anybody’s toes or violate the Code of Ethics. So that’s what agents do. They ask: are you working with an agent?
What buyer ISN’T working with an agent? Are they a loser, for crying out loud? Does nobody want to work with them? Don’t they know ANYBODY in the universe who is a real estate agent? Wow, what a deadbeat sucker. You can get the same point across by asking: If you haven’t settled on an agent yet, I would love to help you to buy a home. Would you like to work with an agent like me?
Agents are not required to “grill” potential buyers.
Another incorrecto question is: do you have a preapproval letter? It sounds like a personal attack. An agent who blurts out this question is saying a) she does not trust the buyer, and b) perhaps the buyer really is a deadbeat.
Remember, it is not what you say it is how you say it. Doesn’t it sound much better to say: Wouldn’t you love to start looking at homes this weekend? If so, we need to round up a lender letter before then so you will have it ready to submit with our offer; this is a tough market and sellers tend to reject offers without such a letter. Just thinking ahead for you. I can refer a lender to you who can produce a letter for us if you like.
It’s easy when you’ve been in the business for decades to develop bad habits, just as easy as it is to pick them up in the first place. We are in a service business. We develop fiduciary relationships with our clients, which means putting the client first. If agents are not working with very many buyers, maybe it’s time to reassess the approach and to consider it is not what you say it is how you say it.
For buyers, por favor disculpen the agents who sound like they are attacking you. They’re trying to do their job, they’re just not doing a very good job of it. You might want to reassess your own strategy and choose an agent who thinks before she opens her mouth. That’s the type of Sacramento Realtor who will get your offer accepted.
How to Count the Days in a Purchase Contract
You count the days in a purchase contract starting with zero for date of acceptance.
Do you know how to count the days in a a purchase contract? Well, you’ve come to the right place to find out. A performance issue came up this morning regarding the escrow timeline we use in California and how to count the days in a purchase contract for performance and contingency release due dates. The questioning agent was a 15-year broker in Sacramento who did not know how to count the days. She had taken a webinar online regarding the revised Residential Purchase Agreement — which is consistently being revised — and did not recall the “change.” I assured her that many real estate agents in Sacramento do not know how to count the days in a purchase contract. She is not alone, even though she works alone.
I tell you, if I ran a one-person brokerage company, which I do not, I would probably be networking like no tomorrow, attending every single S.A.R. meeting, hanging out with real estate lawyers, buying Starbucks gift cards to give away at closings; it’s tough to stay on top of what’s going on when you don’t have a designated broker doing that on your behalf. There are only so many hours in the day . . . but the secrets to my success are my alignment with the largest independently owned brokerage in Sacramento, Lyon Real Estate, and to hire a transaction coordinator who takes care of that stuff for me.
You don’t have to be an expert in everything if you surround yourself with experts.
Sure, I pay so much in TC fees every year that a person could probably live quite well on just the TC fees that my business alone generates. Some agents try to save those fees by doing all the paperwork themselves, and it takes so much time out of your day that you don’t have time to work on new business or monitor your own escrows. Penny wise and pound foolish in my book but to each their own . . ..
However, dull as it may seem to some, I do read the Residential Purchase Agreement. It’s like Yoda! It holds all of the answers to life’s secrets in Sacramento real estate. And, if you’re hung in here thus far, below is the answer about how to count the days.
How to Count the Days for Purchase Contract Performance Issues in California
The way you count the days in a purchase contract for contingency due dates is to first review paragraph 30, Item F, of the Residential Purchase Agreement. “Days” means calendar days. However, after acceptance, the last Day for performance of any act required by this Agreement (including close of escrow) shall not include any Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday and shall instead be the next Day.
This means if you’re looking for the date to release the home inspections contingency, which by default is 17 days after offer acceptance, you would first count the first day, which is the day after contract acceptance, not the date of acceptance itself. If the final date falls on Saturday, that final date rolls to Monday. If Monday is a holiday, that final date rolls to Tuesday. I hope you have learned something new today about how to count the days for purchase contract performances.
If you’re looking for a top producer Sacramento Realtor, please call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.
Should Agents Send Listings to Other MLS Agents?
Most Sacramento agents do not appreciate it when agents send listings.
Maybe some agents are living under a rock and do not have access to MLS? I don’t understand why some agents continually bombard me by sending spammy email flyers. Half the time there is no unsubscribe option. Isn’t that breaking some law? They think nothing of sending a listing to other agents.
Consumers, end users, need to see your flyers, not other agents.
Even if some agents are sleeping in their cars, they can still park in front of Starbucks to get free Wi-Fi. They can go to MLS. See, the thing is if I’m looking for a home like the one you have listed, Mr. Spammy Email Agent, I will find it by myself. I don’t need the email in my inbox. If I am not looking for a home like the one you have listed, I don’t need to know about it. If I don’t work in that area, I don’t care about it.
If you were to ask me about the homes in Land Park or East Sacramento and what’s on the market right now, I could tell you in a heartbeat. Because I study the market of homes in Land Park. Even if I’m not working with a particular type of buyer at the moment, I still list a lot of homes in Land Park and need to stay on top of the market. Besides, it’s where I live. Not surprisingly, I routinely receive phone calls from sellers who are represented by other agents or about to list with another agent who want to confirm with me that they are pricing their home correctly. Which means I probably know about new listings before they even come on the market.
So, please don’t spam me with your email flyers. I know the marketing company that sold you the program promised you that other agents are eager to receive your junk mail, but that’s just plain silly. Wise up. Think twice before you send your listing to other agents. Otherwise, an agent might spot your name and associate that name with a word: annoyance.
While Elizabeth is in Cuba, we revisit former blogs published elsewhere.
Examining Car Sales vs. Real Estate Agents
Good real estate agents are nothing like car salespeople.
I am going to say right upfront here, do NOT send me hate mail. I want to talk about car sales vs real estate. Because I am about to say that there are parallels between certain types of sales people, say, for example, a car salesperson and a real estate salesperson. I’ve heard it said that the easiest person to sell to in the universe is another salesperson, but I think that’s only the dumb ones. The thing is nobody wants to be sold. It’s irritating. And the only people who don’t find it irritating are those who can’t figure out that they are being sold.
The parallel between a car sales vs. real estate agent is they both involve individuals in sales, and that’s about where it stops. The difference between the two is generally a real estate person wants to help a buyer achieve his or her goal. Car sales sell product. A real estate agent forms a fiduciary relationship together; car sales people do not. But there are people who don’t like dealing with a real estate agent because they think the agent has one goal in mind — to sell and close on a house. And they don’t trust agents for that reason. There is a conflict when it comes to money.
Yet, there are ethical agents in the business. Agents who focus solely on their clients and try to do what is best and right and legal for their clients. With car salespeople, it’s all about the money. I don’t know why dealerships even employ salespeople except they probably need some kind of on-the-lot body to ride along in the car to make sure the test driver brings it back. It’s not as though they know their product inside and out.
Can you tell that I am shopping for a new car? When I know the interior options that are available and the salesperson does not, it’s irritating. When a salesperson tells me he will run the numbers and call me right back but doesn’t, it’s irritating. When I ask for meteor gray and the salesperson tries to sell me pearl black, it’s irritating. And these are a couple of dealerships that have employed individuals to interact online who are supposed to be focused on customer service. They are irritating.
And it must be just as irritating for them to have to deal with us in the public who care about only one thing: the dealer’s bottom line. Man, today I am very thankful that I am a Sacramento agent and not working in the auto industry. That’s an awful job. Car sales vs real estate hands down real estate wins.
While Elizabeth is in Cuba, we visit older blogs published elsewhere
