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Home Staging is Back in Sacramento and Elk Grove
Another sign of our slowly recovering real estate market is home staging is making a big comeback in Sacramento, especially among Elk Grove homes. For years, we had so many short sales in the midst of a down real estate market that many sellers did not stage their homes because they didn’t have to, wasn’t needed. How do you know if a home needs to be staged? Because some homes don’t.
First and foremost is how hard will it be to sell that home? Are there other factors about the home that could discourage a buyer from making an offer such as bad condition, horrible location, unreasonable price? It is a home that most buyers don’t want to buy? I also look at the competition. What else will a buyer see when they tour other homes nearby in this same price range. If other homes are staged, yours better be, too.
It’s not really the buyer’s fault that a buyer can’t visualize potential or, more important, feel the emotional tug of a home. Door opens, they walk inside, they immediately know whether they like the home in 3 seconds. The rest of the tour reinforces that original perception. It gets better or it gets worse depending on their first emotion.
Buyers try to “rule out” buying homes just as much as they “rule in” buying homes. Some believe in fate, whether or not you may agree with that premise, a perception of fate might be the buyer’s reality and you go with the flow. Curb appeal hits them first and the interiors second. Third they tend to look for the amenities they have told their agent they want, but they’re not nearly as analytical as sellers might expect. Staging a home helps to overcome barriers.
This is why it’s generally a good idea to make that home as attractive as possible and set the stage to encourage an offer. Just sold today another home in Elk Grove that was on the market for almost 3 weeks without staging at an attractive price point. After home staging, whammo. Two offers. It works like this all of the time. This is not an isolated situation. You’ve gotta remove all of the objections, and one way to do that is to stage the home.
5 Ways to Get Your Sacramento Purchase Offer Rejected
We have weeks in Sacramento real estate during which I stare at my offer tracking sheets to count the number of offers that are excellent examples of how not to write a purchase offer to buy a home in Sacramento, also known as how to get your purchase offer rejected. You see, one of the benefits of working with the Elizabeth Weintraub Team is that I provide useful information to my own team members. I often advise my team how other listing agents look at purchase offers — because I know how I look at them — and offer tips about what NOT to do. How not to get an offer rejected. Which is why so many of my team member’s purchase offers are accepted.
Because when an agent is working with a buyer as a buyer’s agent, often the focus is directly on that buyer. The buyer’s agent can be so wrapped up in what her buyer wants and in trying to fulfill those requirements that an agent can forget how her or his actions and words appear to the parties who can make or break that Sacramento home purchase.
- The first rule is do not argue with the listing agent. I don’t care if that listing agent is dumber than a bag of rocks, don’t argue. There is a big difference between arguments and negotiation. Don’t try to explain a “cash offer” for example to the listing agent as there is hardly a Sacramento real estate agent alive today who doesn’t know the advantages of cash over financing, even though it is always all cash in the end.
- The second rule is don’t insult the seller. If you think the house appears cluttered or dirty, for example, don’t demand that the seller “wash the floors” and take all personal items with them. Our California purchase contract already addresses debris. Wash the floors? Seriously? And how does one wash carpeting? Tear it off the floor and toss it into the washing machine?
- The third rule is send all of the documentation that is necessary in order to submit a purchase offer. And, for heaven’s sakes, try to submit this paperwork in one file in the manner specified in the multiple listing. If the paperwork is incomplete, the purchase offer is incomplete.
- The fourth rule is don’t submit a lowball offer when the seller has received multiple offers. You would think this would be such an obvious rule, but gah, it is not. I suspect some agents do this anyway to “teach a lesson” to their buyers so hopefully on the next purchase offer the buyers will be more reasonable.
- The fifth rule is don’t submit a lowball offer while also breaking rules 1 through 4. This is worse than 3 strikes and you’re out. Why do you think the sellers would want to consider your lowball offer that insults them, makes unreasonable demands and is incomplete?
It’s tough in some Sacramento neighborhoods right now to buy a nice home. Don’t make it so much harder on yourself than it needs to be.
Buying and Selling in a Normal Sacramento Housing Market
You might wonder why about 50% of the homes are selling in Sacramento this spring and the other 50% of homes are not selling — especially when you read that we are experiencing a seller’s market for 2014 — and, as usual, this real estate agent has an explanation for our Sacramento housing market phenomena. For starters, this is not really a seller’s market for all Sacramento housing, because it doesn’t fit all of the criteria for a seller’s market. To have a seller’s market, you’ve got to have buyers, and we don’t have as many as buyers as we probably should for the amount of inventory available.
This means if a tree falls in the forest does it make it a sound?
Yes, our inventory is very low as compared to previous years but I don’t see as many buyers out and about our town. I’m not receiving as many multiple offers as I used to a few years ago, it takes longer to get an offer, and the days on market seem a bit longer as well. So, that would make for a pretty balanced market, wouldn’t you agree? Plus, let’s not forget, prices are up! You can probably get $100,000 more for that home than you could have a few years ago. It’s a great time to sell. Rates are low, so it’s still a good time to buy.
If you need to sell and buy a home, the good news is contingent offers are back! Little signals a normal Sacramento real estate market than contingent offers.
It’s also a Sacramento housing market in which some homes in Sacramento will sell very quickly because there is a high demand for that particular type of home, location, price range — or a combination of those factors. Other homes will take longer to sell. Especially those homes that are overpriced. I realize some sellers are exuberantly enthusiastic, let’s say, and optimistic to the point that they’ve priced themselves out of the market, but by golly, they sure do have that sign in the front yard.
I closed a home in Roseville earlier this week in the West Park neighborhood for sellers who are moving to the Midwest. If they had waited another month, they probably would have received the price they wanted, but since it didn’t sell within 2 weeks, they elected to reduce the price a bit to entice an offer. Bam. Flew into escrow with that price reduction. Of course, then they worried that they sold too low — that’s human nature — but they didn’t. They sold at market value, and we negotiated with the buyers to let them stay for a few weeks free of charge.
So, it all boils to if you’re planning to sell, you need to think about which side of the fence you want to be on. Do you want to be on the side of the fence that is receiving offers, going into escrow and closing? Or do you want to sit on the other side that, well, sits. Because only about half of our inventory is selling right now. But low inventory with low numbers of buyers is still a somewhat balanced market. Could this be the new normal for Sacramento real estate?
Every Sale in Sacramento Real Estate is a Custom Sale
Selling Sacramento real estate is not a slam dunk like some in the public might perceive. I know there are sellers who believe all we agents have to do is stick a sign in the yard and the buyers will come, which is why some run out to get a real estate license. But after passing the exam, forking out several grand to get started and staring at a phone that doesn’t ring, new licensees soon figure out there is a lot more to it, and many fail.
Sellers and buyers are as different as night a day. The type of communication that works well for one client would make another want to shoot her agent in the head. On top of this, each home is different — yes, even the tract homes in Natomas and Elk Grove, which some people believe all look the same yet are not identical. There are small nuances that can produce variances in a sales price, and some not-so-subtle, including location.
I’ve had sellers ask me, what do we do if and when XYZ happens? They want to cross bridges twice when we might not have to cross them at all. What I might suggest in one situation is not the solution I might offer for a similar transaction. That’s because I think about it. I don’t simply react. There are no cookie-cutter solutions in Sacramento real estate. Every single sale is unique. I also surround myself with other professionals who are like-minded and apply a similar holistic approach. It’s not math and science, I can tell you that.
This is why my Sacramento real estate practice cannot be duplicated and, as a result, I am very selective when choosing my clients. My clients get an agent they can’t find elsewhere. A newspaper reporter asked last year where she could find an agent just like me in her part of the country, and I had no answer because I don’t know. You can’t take a form, ask questions, check off boxes and find the right agent. You have to use a combination of your brain and heart.
My goal with sellers is simple: get the home sold at the price the seller expects and close it. It’s an easy focus for me because I don’t let myself get distracted by the circus sideshows. I allow no room for prevarication in my business.
The first three weeks as a new listing on the Sacramento real estate market are crucial, no matter what. I prefer that my listings splash when they come on the market and make everybody at the pool turn their heads. If the home hasn’t sold after 30 days, it doesn’t mean there is something wrong with the price or the listing itself; but I do examine the surrounding market to find an explanation and then adjust for it.
Every listing I take in Sacramento is special. Every listing is custom. Every listing needs a buyer. My job is to find that buyer.
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The WX Freeway and FIX50 Project Make Google Maps Your Friend
Staying “in the know” about Sacramento and Sacramento real estate is my primary focus from day to day, so it’s not so odd, I suspect, that I was unaware of other things. I learn new things every day. I enjoy learning new things. It also means if I’m capable of absorbing new information, I’m still a long ways from keeling over. The funny part is I am often astonished when I learn some new unrelated-to-real-estate-fact that I should have known. Like, did you know Liz Claiborne is dead and she died from cancer 7 years ago?
I bet you do know that. The other thing I didn’t realize is her line of clothing had bought Kate Spade & Company. I know Kate Spade as a New York bag designer who married the comedic lame brother of B-grade-movie fame, but I’m kinda shocked that Kate Spade was acquired by Liz Claiborne and even more now that the Liz Claiborne brand is sold at J.C. Penney. All of which I probably would have realized had I continued to thumb through fashion magazines after I turned 40. But no, I instead read real estate magazines.
There are only so many hours in the day.
Which is why I have had to morph into the Google map expert to help my clients get around Sacramento with the W X freeway and FIX50 traffic mess we are embarking upon. My world is Sacramento real estate. Because I list homes all over Sacramento and our neighboring counties such as El Dorado, Placer and Yolo, I am a regular WX freeway driver. With my schedule, the biggest problem I have faced is whether to head out from Land Park on Highway 50 or Business 80, and sometimes I admit to driving out the wrong freeway if I’m yakking on my cellphone bluetooth.
Fortunately, I have a WX freeway hover car. All I have to do is press that hover button on my dash, and my car sprouts wings and fire sprays from the tailpipe. I immediately rise above the line of traffic and can promptly plop my car into the fast line on the appropriate freeway. So, no problem if I make a mistake. For other people, though, it’s a huge problem, and there are more of them ahead if they don’t preplan their driving route in Sacramento.
Hello Google my old friend. I’ve come to talk with you again.
