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Do You Want to Hire a Confident Realtor?
Most people, I believe, prefer to hire a confident Realtor. Although, for as long as I can remember, people have admitted that they find me a bit intimidating when we first meet. That kind of reaction is a bit puzzling to me. I mean, I’m no Darth Vader. I’m not a particularly threatening type of person in stature or appearance. People at the post office don’t cross their forefingers and fall to the ground when they see me coming. Yet, I hear over and over that when people get to know me, their initial impression changes. I go from being a big personality to gregarious, friendly and caring.
A Sacramento home buyer called yesterday to ask if I would help her. She had read my blogs on LandParkBlog.com and said she called because I appear “competent without being arrogant and have a sense of humor.” She also believed that I could very assertive if the situation warrants. She didn’t feel intimidated, which was good. Guess she preferred to hire a confident Realtor.
Unfortunately, I had to refer this buyer to a team member because she was interested in buying a commercial property, and that’s an area in which I have no experience. I believe clients deserve an agent with expertise. I specialize in listing and selling throughout Sacramento.
If I had to pick the one thing about me that seems to intimidate people, though, I’d say it must be the confidence I project. I can’t think of any other aspect of my personality that would frighten people. I’m direct. I say what I mean. Lots of people aren’t direct. In retrospect, maybe that’s why so many of my clients are lawyers. I’m not afraid of lawyers, like many agents. In fact, I love working with lawyers.
I shared an observation with a lawyer the other day that the homes she seemed interested in buying were homes priced above her comfort level, and the homes she didn’t like were priced at her comfort level, and asked if that was a correct assessment. She said no, thought about it, but then raised the price of her comfort level. I don’t tell clients what to do; I guide clients to make a decision that is right for them. That’s my job.
See, I don’t believe there is anything wrong with exuding confidence. If some people find a person with confidence scary, maybe that fear comes about because confidence is a trait that is missing in their own personalities. To me, confidence is about knowing your own boundaries, limitations, and not being afraid to exceed them, even at the risk of failure. What do you think? Do you want to hire a confident Realtor?
Two Christmas Miracles in Sacramento Real Estate
Two Christmas miracles have happened in Sacramento real estate during our holiday season. The first is a family moving across the country to North Carolina closed escrow on Friday without any hiccups. When I first looked at their property, which we sold them two years ago, I was concerned about the time frame. Having moved across country myself, I know what it’s like and what can go wrong.
We can’t always stop things from going wrong in an escrow, but after an agent has closed as many sales as I have — which is usually one or two a week — I can generally sense disaster. Often I can head-off trouble at inception. But sometimes buyers go sideways and as listing agents we have no control over those people.
I do know this, the last thing I ever want to have happen is for my sellers to be in the midst of loading boxes into a cross-country moving truck when I call to say we are not closing. These types of sales tend to make me a bit nervous. They have to go smoothly. But I had no idea I would receive two Christmas miracles this season.
After the buyers got a pest inspection and all of the other inspections, they asked for repairs. We were able to negotiate a flat credit to the buyer’s closing costs in-lieu-of-repairs. From the time the home went on the market to closing it was 35 days. Many homes in that neighborhood do not even sell in 30 days. But I worked with the sellers beforehand to ensure the home was in tip-top shape and desirable.
The second of two Christmas miracles was receiving an offer for a property other agents said would never sell. But there is always another buyer for fixers in Sacramento. One closing and another transaction going into escrow. It is indeed a harmonious season, and homes are selling, even on Christmas Day.
Now I am off to our neighbor’s house for a Hawaiian feast with good friends in Kona. Perfect time to try the Macadamia Nut Honey Wine from Volcano Winery with dessert. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy Kwanzaa and whatever else coincides with celebrations this week!
Christmas is a Perfect Time to Buy a Home in Sacramento
Christmas is a perfect time to buy a home in Sacramento. You might not agree but then you might not be in the real estate business. This week has been extremely hectic in Sacramento real estate. Just when you’d expect business to slow down and be more quiet, everybody is out showing homes. Writing offers. And everybody is in such a good mood.
Seriously. People are feeling the warmth and the love of this holiday season or maybe they’re just snockered. Hard to say. A seller told me she did not want to bully a buyer into purchasing her home. Because if buyers were moving forward due only to strong arm tactics, that did not seem humane to her. In an era like today where so many of our political moves are inhumane, it’s nice to see people who truly care. People who value integrity over dollars.
Yes, Christmas is a perfect time to buy a home in Sacramento. Another home, desperately seeking new occupants, finally went into escrow yesterday as well. Those buyers love love love this house. The spirit of the holidays is alive. So pleased to slip this home into escrow for my sellers. They asked me what did they need to do, and I told them, and it happened almost immediately that we sold the house.
Usually I see more action after the first of the year, like the first couple weeks in January are generally very busy. It is unusual for me to witness this much activity just before Christmas in Sacramento.
Feeling the Aloha myself, since I’m in Hawaii right now, I called a couple of agents on the buying side yesterday just to say hello. To spread Christmas cheer and to say thank you for all of their hard work. Buyer’s agents work really hard. They do much more physical work than listing agents.
Not to mention, my muscles ache from the rowing machine at Planet Fitness. My legs ache from hugging the ATV motor while blasting through 2-foot deep piles of mud on Wednesday. Then yesterday, I attended a stretch class (I was the only attendee) at Planet Fitness, and that’s involved muscles I didn’t know were there. At my age, if you don’t flex it, you lose it. I do NOT want to drive buyers around, that’s why my team members excel at that job. They love it, have a passion for it, and I do not.
People tell me I am an inspiration. Don’t tell me that. Because then I may feel like I need to be more model perfect, and I am nobody’s model. My focus is to make my sellers happy and to try to bring everybody else along for the ride. For the time being, Christmas is a perfect time to buy a home in Sacramento. Can’t vouch for next year. Only this year.
When the Shoe is On the Other Foot in Real Estate
When the shoe is on the other foot in real estate, it is not a good fit. As a busy Sacramento Realtor, I am often astonished at the reactions of others in this business, myself included. We are professionals and, as such, should know better. But sometimes that human element pops out when we don’t expect it.
Like when my husband and I made an offer on our house in Hawaii. The listing agent told us they had a counter offer out. Although I sell on average one or two houses a week and should know better, you won’t believe what I said. I looked at Hella Rothwell, our buyer’s agent, and asked: what do you think we should offer? I wanted the house, too. It wasn’t a take it or leave it kind of proposition.
Hella just laughed. Basically said something like are you listening to yourself? I had, but for a brief moment, turned into a regular buyer. I was not Hot Shot Top Producer Sacramento Realtor with 40+ years of experience under my belt. Nope, in that situation, when the shoe is on the other foot, I was a home buyer. That incident made me laugh, too, when I realized what was happening. Of course I knew what to do.
I thought of this last month when I saw another shoe is on the other foot. An agent who moved out of Sacramento asked me to list and sell her mother’s house. They wanted to try a higher price, so we gave it a shot. When that did not work, we pulled a new MLS number, changed the price and reset the days on market. Almost immediately we received an offer. But the offer was really low. Probably close to 10% off the new sales price.
The agent blew a gasket. She said they would ignore the offer. And a few other choice words, too. She was appalled. Angry. See, the shoe is on the other foot. I had to say, you know, you are acting just like a seller! Go take your dog for a walk; go out to dinner. Relax. Take a break. And then we will write a counter offer.
What would have happened if I had been some other agent and told those sellers it was OK to ignore the offer? We came to an agreement at full list price and are closing this week. Just took a little bit of expert negotiation to get there. Sometimes the client is not always right. When the client is not right, it is my job to gently help that person to understand the error of her way.
How Much of a Deal Do Home Buyers Need to Get?
Ever wonder how much of a deal do home buyers need to get? What is the walking away number? The number that says nobody wants to sell and evidently nobody wants to buy so let’s just forget about the whole thing? If it’s less than one half of a percent, I say everybody in that transaction needs their heads examined. Somebody must be focusing on the wrong things.
When I see some demands from buyers, it doesn’t make sense. For that sake of clarity, I am not talking about any transactions I am personally involved in. Because I’d probably tear out my hair and go screaming into the night if I were. But say, for example, that a home was priced at $400K. And the buyer’s agent, through a series of negotiations and multiple counter offers, gets the seller to agree to a price of $360K.
Any normal, rational person would jump at that. But not the buyer. This particular buyer said no, it’s not low enough. The seller needs to go to $358K. So the parties are $2,000 apart. When the buyer says no . . . this is no longer about buying a house. This is about the game.
Naturally, the easiest solution is for the agents to work out an agreement amongst themselves to either reduce their fees or reduce other costs in the transaction. Or add an unexpected benefit. For the record, it is against the Realtor Code of Ethics for a listing agent to ask a buyer’s agent to reduce the commission just to make the transaction work. Further, why should either of the agents suffer this tragedy and take a loss in income?
Some agents will do it, though, just to stop the standoff and push it through. Others will not. That’s because figuring out how much of a deal do home buyers need to get is not always about the money. It’s about the winning. You can find a way to let the buyer win through some other type of negotiation. Maybe it’s throwing in an extra nicety as icing on the cake.
I could give you more ideas of what to offer when you’re stuck on how much of a deal do home buyers need to get if I knew more specifics of the transaction. A bargaining table like this type of situation that died mid-stream says there is something else wrong. It’s no longer about the money. And it’s certainly NOT about buying a home.
You’re not gonna like my next sentence but I need to write it. It’s about who can be the bigger asshole.
