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Reasons We’re Not Gonna Take It
We’re not gonna take it could be a Sacramento Realtor’s theme song.
We’re not gonna take it. I woke up this morning with a song running through my head. I could hear the guitar licks before my feet hit the ground:
We’re not gonna take it
We’re not gonna take it
We’re not gonna take it
We’re not gonna take it
We’re not gonna take it
Never did and never will
We’re not gonna take it
Gonna break it, gonna shake it,
let’s forget it better still
Now, I realize not every client wants to hear the truth — whether it’s the truth about purchasing power, inventory, comparable sales or whether objectives are realistic. However, I am generally very direct. I call it like I see it. Not everybody appreciates that. Some want their information delivered in small sugar-coated dosages. While I try to be accommodating and give my clients superior service, it doesn’t mean I am willing to sacrifice my ethics nor my integrity to do so. Because every time I am tempted to set aside my convictions and policies, I later kick myself.
In my experience, the best thing to do is to let go and remember: You can’t salvage every deal. You can’t take every listing. You can’t satisfy everybody. No matter how hard you try. If you and your client are worlds apart, that’s where deals go to die. Let them die. The world won’t come to a screeching halt.
My policy is six-month listings. Especially in this market. If you don’t trust me, don’t feel loyalty nor believe I will do a good job for you, we should not do business together. I will cancel a 6-month listing after 90 days but I won’t take a 90-day listing. There are plenty of other agents who will; I am not one of them. I spend a lot of money on advertising and marketing; I work hard and diligently for my clients, and I expect support. It’s me or a less experienced agent. Take your pick.
Buyers, if you insist on offering 80 cents on the dollar when the sellers of that home is receiving multiple offers, I’m not working with you. Because you are looking for a needle in the haystack. You are not a serious buyer. I excel at negotiation, but if you don’t get the property because you offered too little, we both lose. My job is to see that your offer gets accepted, not rejected. Take your pick.
To the buyer who now insists that the seller pay for Section 2 work that was not specified in the contract, this is the hill on which you will die. Especially since the seller is paying for your new roof and a home protection policy. The seller has no more money to give you. Your $10,000 deposit in escrow can sit there until the cows come home because the seller will contest its release if you try to cancel. Fight or close escrow. Take your pick.
To the seller who couldn’t sell her home for two years because it was overpriced, I’m not taking the listing at the same price. The reason your home didn’t sell is because it’s not worth what you are asking. Either you make repairs to bring it in line with other comparable homes in the neighborhood or you slash your asking price. Or, hire a brand new agent who hasn’t been around the block, because I’m not one of those. Lower the price or don’t sell. Take your pick.
Every time I stand by my guns, er, guitar, I end up successful. When I make a concession, go against my general nature, I always regret that action. When I am successful, so are my clients. We’re not gonna take it; never did and never will.
Free House in Tahoe Park and $375,500 for Two Cats
These cuddly kittens can help you get through buying a house in Tahoe Park.
This is a true story about a free house in Tahoe Park and $375,500 for the two cats who live there. I had to battle to obtain this listing because this seller had 3 referrals to 3 different Sacramento Realtors. People presume because I’ve been in the business for more than 40 years that it’s always a cakewalk for me, easy to get listings, and I’m telling you it’s not. I make listing presentations just like anybody else in Sacramento real estate. I don’t use formulas, prepared sales pitches or anything like that. I just talk to sellers, share my knowledge and tell them what I will do.
When the seller selected me, I was ecstatic. You never lose that feeling of excitement no matter how long you have been in real estate. Plus, I really loved her house in Tahoe Park. Experienced Realtors, in touch with how a home feels, can pretty much tell within minutes of entering a home whether it will be a likely candidate for multiple offers. Not every home fits that bill. This home had a few things that were drawbacks, too, like no remodeled kitchen, no central air conditioning, no master suite, but it had plenty of other features I could work with.
We talked about the price of the house in Tahoe Park. My elderly seller had done her research and was willing to sell for much less than my recommended price of $369,000. I felt we were pushing the envelope at $369,000 but that’s my job. To get the seller a top selling price. She also showed me her two kitties for adoption in Tahoe Park. Where she was moving, into assisted living, she couldn’t take them, and this was a sudden, unexpected move. Broke my heart when she said she was taking them to the Sacramento Animal Shelter. In fact, she had gone to the Animal Shelter that morning but by sheer luck it was closed.
The cats lived in the sunroom in the back yard. They are indoor cats. When the listing hit MLS, an inspiration hit me. I asked the seller if she would mind if I told agents that we would give priority to purchase offers from buyers who agreed to adopt the kitties. She was all in. Thought it was an excellent idea. If the kitties had thumbs, they woulda been raised. We received three offers for this house in Tahoe Park.
One buyer’s agent appeared very upset, however, and demanded to know how could we say that offers to adopt the kitties received priority! That was ludicrous. The agent complained to her broker. Came back to announce that neither her broker nor any of the other real estate agents in her office had ever heard of such a thing — making the adoption of the cats part of the purchase offer — and her buyer adamantly refused to participate in such a wild-haired scheme. So, there!
People. What are ya gonna do?
The other two purchase offers both contained provisions to adopt the kitties. One set of home buyers offered to build a catio for the kitties. They wrote a very sweet letter. The seller read all of the offers, all of the letters, thought about it overnight and chose the right buyers for this house in Tahoe Park. The winning buyers paid $375,500 for those two kitties and got a free house in Tahoe Park. We closed escrow this week.
It doesn’t get any better than that! This is why I sell Sacramento real estate.
Can a Sacramento Home Seller Take the Kitchen Appliances?
Which kitchen appliances stay with the sale of the home?
Why did the seller take the kitchen appliances? When the buyers completed their final walkthrough, that question arose. They asked their buyer’s agent to find out what happened to the refrigerator, and the washer and dryer. It would appear the agent had somehow assured them the appliances were included with the sale of the home. The agent’s reasoning, most likely, was due to the fact that the listing data in MLS stated the appliances were included. So how did it happen that the seller removed the refrigerator, washer and dryer? Can the seller bring them back?
Those are good questions for a listing agent. But the answer is not what a buyer’s agent wants to hear. The buyers don’t want to hear it, either. But for the buyer’s agent, the answer can be incredibly painful. Agents should never promise buyers that all of the kitchen appliances stay with the house or that the seller won’t take the washer and dryer. Agents who go down that path learn the hard way, like I had to learn early on.
Facts about kitchen appliances and the washer and dryer in Sacramento real estate:
- Most appliances are personal property, not fixtures.
- Personal property, as long as it can be unplugged, can be removed.
- The California Residential Purchase Agreement trumps a MetroList listing.
If you read page 3 of the RPA, Item 8A, you will see that: items listed as included or excluded in the MLS, flyers, or marketing materials are not included in the purchase price or excluded from the sale unless specified in paragraph 8B or 8C.
This means if the seller plans to leave that old gas station pump in the back yard, it should be included in the sale. Otherwise, it’s gotta go. If a seller wants to take the personal spa, it’s a good idea to note that it will be removed. But even more important, if a kitchen appliance stays, like the refrigerator, for example, include that refrigerator in paragraph 8B-2. If personal property is not included in the purchase contract, the appliances do not stay.
Further, if your agent forgot to include kitchen appliances in the purchase contract, the agent can always draw an addendum and try to later obtain an agreement for the kitchen appliances to stay. It can become another negotiable item. Perhaps in exchange for no repair requests. If you know that the seller is willing to leave the appliances, your best bet is to make sure those items are spelled out in the purchase agreement in the first place.
Summer Home Sale Activity in Sacramento
Trend over 15 months of average square foot prices of sold homes in Sacramento.
The summer home sale activity in Sacramento has fallen into a bit of a lull, but that doesn’t mean sales are not happening. It’s seasonal — homebuyers often do not start hunting for a home in the dead heat of August dog days. Buyers are still looking at homes but at a much more leisurely pace. Inventory is increasing, but not enough to make much of a dent in the demand. There are still crummy homes in bad condition that sellers expect to get top dollar for without lifting a finger and those still linger.
When I went to Parkway Estates yesterday, near 99 and Florin, to talk with a potential home seller, I was asked about the summer home sale activity. He thought it was the best time to list a home. I asked why he harbored that opinion. Well, he’s been talking to agent after agent and every single agent told him the same thing. NOW is the time to sell. Who woulda thunk? Actually, that’s what is drummed into every agent’s head, NOW is always always always the time to sell because guess what? Any time an agent makes money, that’s a good time.
It’s not necessarily so good for the seller. If sellers want to optimize a home selling experience, sometimes it is better to wait for the fall market and the busload of fall buyers who suddenly appear on our horizon. And I don’t say this simply because I have a two-week vacation in Spain approaching as I always take my laptop along on trips, and I stay in touch no matter what. No, I say this because every summer I see the same results of summer home sale activity in Sacramento, which means it slows down in August.
The Sacramento real estate market heats up again right after Labor Day. That’s when all the kids are back in school, vacations are over, and families probably enjoyed a little bit too much closeness with each other over the 3-day holiday weekend. That’s when they say, you know what we need? A bigger house!
In any case, I assured the seller this Sacramento Realtor will take care of him. He wanted to know how I juggle all of my listings and was a little bit embarrassed to ask if his price range was below the normal average sales price that I sell. He was asking if I discriminate against lower priced listings or work harder on higher priced listings. Silly, yes, but not for him. Broke my heart he had to ask. His sale is every bit as important to me as the sale of a $3 million home. Every single one of my sellers gets my undivided attention. In fact, they often say I make them feel like my only client.
This seller needs to fix up his home a little to get top dollar. Brush off the cobwebs, paint, spruce it up. That doesn’t happen overnight. NOW is not the right time to sell his home, and I would like to pound the heads of the agents who pushed him like that. But I won’t have to because he’s listing with me, and we’re going on the market in the fall. The summer home sale activity in Sacramento shows this is not the right time for him.
We had 2,000 homes close escrow in June in Sacramento County and only 1,668 in July. I predict that number will be even lower for August. The one thing that is constant, though, is the rising average per-square-foot price. Take a look at the Trendgraphix chart on this page. It speaks volumes.
If you need to sell a home in Sacramento, call Elizabeth Weintraub, 40-year veteran and top producer, at 916.233.6759.
Thoughts on Disclosure Regarding Real Estate Agency Relationship
Realtors should present the disclosure regarding real estate agency relationship as soon as practical.
Most California Realtors ask a buyer to sign the Disclosure Regarding Real Estate Agency Relationship when the buyer signs a purchase offer, but my philosophy lies more in accordance with the intent of the disclosure and we get it signed before showing property. On page two of the disclosure, in compliance with California Civil Code 2079.13 (k) and (i), in the fine print that nobody reads, it states: The selling agent shall provide the disclosure form to the seller as soon as practicable prior to presenting the seller with an offer to purchase . . .
If we are showing homes to a buyer, that’s a good time to get it signed, before we walk out the door. It establishes disclosure, although it does not confirm agency relationships. Agency relationships are confirmed in the purchase offer itself. Yet, we have a property manager with a real estate license in Sacramento who disagrees and has refused to enter sales in MLS under the selling agent’s name. This agent prefers instead to enter all the names of all the agents who have ever signed a Disclosure Regarding Real Estate Agency Relationship with this buyer.
MetroList has not yet enforced its own rules on one of my recent sales that say a listing broker needs to enter correct information from the selling broker. MLS Rules 10.1: Final sales shall be defined as recorded transfer of property. Final sales with the correct cooperating broker information and the correct sales information shall be entered into the MLS by the listing broker within three (3) business days of the final closing date.
The purpose of a Disclosure Regarding Real Estate Agency Relationship is to inform sellers and buyers that agents work in various capacities. An agent can represent the seller, the buyer, or both parties, under dual agency. It’s a disclosure, not an agreement. On the Realtor’s side, presenting the agency to buyers determines whether a) they trust, and b) they read. Further, it states: Throughout your real property transaction you may receive more than one disclosure form, depending upon the number of agents assisting in the transaction. The law requires each agent with whom you have more than a casual relationship to present you with this disclosure form.
Real estate law is such that ten agents could show a buyer property, yet only one agent is the selling agent noted on page 10 of the California Residential Purchase Agreement. Still, for no particular reason that I can see, we have a rogue Realtor who has refused to record the sole selling agent into MLS. That’s his story and he’s sticking to it. He says more than one agent signed an agency disclosure so he’s reporting all of those agents as the selling agents to MLS, regardless of the selling broker’s instructions. This strikes me as an odd situation that MetroList clerks appear reluctant to fix.
While I’m on a roll, I have a beef with the way the Agency Disclosure appears in ZIPForms. I have asked the California Association of Realtors (CAR) to consider changing the first field in its listing package in ZIPForms, but no representative from CAR has responded. I can’t be the only California Realtor to have noticed that when the template for the RLA loads into ZIPForms, the first document, the Disclosure Regarding Real Estate Agency Relationship, has such a teeny tiny field that it’s emphatically too small to read the seller’s name. It’s not my 20 / 20 vision.
Just goes to show that the end user might not have been considered when the fields were designed. They ought to test these things in the field with real people who use it, real Realtors. The fields change from blue to green with black lettering, which is also not easy on the eyes. Even if they just switched the order of the documents and made the Seller Representation of More Than One Buyer or Seller the first to load, it would help; that name field font is much larger.
One typo in the seller’s name on the Disclosure Regarding Real Estate Agency Relationship carries throughout the listing paperwork. It’s a PITA, but that’s the life of a Sacramento Realtor. Don’t get me started on agents who argue about how many agency disclosures a seller is required to sign . . .
