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Sacramento Real Estate is a Continuing Seller’s Market
Our seller’s market is still here. For the fourth straight consecutive month, the pending sales are on the rise, confirming that Sacramento Real Estate is definitely continuing to support sellers over buyers. The first quarter shows closed sales increasing every month.
What does this mean for the Sacramento housing market? Does it mean Sacramento real estate is a continuing seller’s market? We are experiencing continuing price increases, based on high demand and housing shortages. Each neighborhood can be a bit different as this is the greater Sacramento county averages.
For example, we have certainly seen a housing shortage in the south county of Elk Grove. Multiple offers continue on well priced property. The listings have been steadily decreasing since October of 2018.
Yes, Sacramento real estate is a continuing seller’s market. If you would like to sell your property, this is a fantastic time, so please call the Weintraub & Wallace team today at 916-233-6957.
–JaCi Wallace
Weintraub & Wallace
Why My German Shepherds Wear Electronic Collars
For training, my German Shepherds wear electronic collars, like the orange one in this picture. Meet, Godzilla, my 3-year-old male. He has 100 % traceable German bloodline in his pedigree. His sire is a German import named Rex. Rex is a 100-pound black-and-tan and he lives in Texas now. His dam (mother) passed away when Godzilla was a puppy. Her parents were both from Germany and her sire was a champion and Schutzhund level 111.
Godzilla comes from very well bred bloodlines and superior health. His hips and elbows passed OFA X-rays. He is a loving boy and a fantastic watch dog. Godzilla has very even temperament. His playmate, Tangiers, is a bit moody and edgy; she is his sister. I often use my alpha voice on her as she is strong willed. They play very rough with each other and Godzilla often lets her win the wrestling matches. When he has had enough he lets her know with a verbal warning to back off. He acts like a puppy with me and loves to go anywhere in the car. Everyone who meets Godzilla absolutely loves him.
Make no mistake, I fiercely love my dogs; yet, for training purposes, my German Shepherds wear electronic collars. Shepherds have a high prey drive. They have a chase reflex that once engaged can be difficult to stop when they are after a rabbit or a cat. The electronic collars send a signal that disrupts the pattern and gives an opportunity to put the dog under control. The shepherds with German bloodline can be tough as nails. By that I mean they are bred to not feel pain easily so that if they were protecting me and someone kicked or punched the dog, they would fight back. These dogs possess a high tolerance for pain.
Powerful breeds of dogs need to run and work everyday as it keeps their anxiety and stress levels down. Much like people that exercise regularly it can reduce stress, enhance mood, and promote sleep. These dogs need a physical outlet for their high energy. As I live on acreage they have a gigantic outdoor fenced area to run freely all day. At night, they both sleep on my porch next to my bedroom slider door. They like to look in and watch over me at night. I never worry about anyone jumping my fence!
Some people question use of these collars. Electronic collars can keep a dog safe. I think they are a humane safety tool when used effectively. Godzilla could jump a 7-foot fence with ease and he would often be on the other side of my fence in open pasture. Luckily, he did not run away as I live off of a very busy street. Had he made it to the road, he could have easily been run over.
When training, my German Shepherds wear electronic collars to stop them from escaping my yard. One night I watched Godzilla as I hid behind my curtain. He had his orange collar on and I had the remote in my hand. When his hind legs lifted off the ground to jump, I hit the shock button on a high level. He fell backward immediately. What the dog learned in one training exercise was if he tried to jump the fence, something bad happened out of nowhere. He never jumped a fence again.
I often take Godzilla if I’m showing real estate in a remote rural area of Sacramento County or if I think we might encounter squatters in a vacant house. It is reassuring to bring a four-legged bodyguard with sharp teeth! I then take him to In and Out Burger drive through as a reward for his guard duty. If you see me driving around Sacramento, give a wave to Godzilla as we are often cruising together down the freeway together. Call Weintraub & Wallace today for your real estate needs 916-233-6759. We always protect your interests.
— JaCi Wallace
Highest and Best Offers in Real Estate Sales
When thinking about highest and best offers in real estate sales, people might often think that means the highest offer in monetary terms. This, however is not always true, as the best offer may not be the highest monetary offer at all. There can be many considerations when a seller is choosing to accept an offer.
A sure-fire way to upset a seller is for a buyer to ask for a laundry list of items they want the seller to repair, such as writing an offer that requires a pest clearance on a property, meaning the repair to the wood damage and/or water damage, or other pest control issues. This definitely would make a seller think twice about this being the highest and best offer.
When a seller has lived in a home for many years, thinks everything was wonderful about their home. Then a buyer writes an offer and picks the house apart, this is likely to cause a seller to think twice about accepting their offer. What I often see when representing Sacramento real estate listings is a buyer’s agent writes an offer and submits a letter stating all the things they see wrong with the house. Then they defend this stating this is why they’re making a low-ball offer. This would definitely be something a seller would not consider as the highest and best offer in real estate sales.
A much more thoughtful approach would be to explain why the buyers can’t pay more based on their loan qualifications for their payment structure. Or they can’t pay more because they have children, which requires them to save for college. These are things that a seller could better understand why a buyer didn’t make an offer as high as the seller would have liked.
When an agent beats up the property in a cover letter, basically they tell a seller everything that’s wrong with their house, so that’s why they didn’t want to pay the market price. A seller is likely to not be very generous in their response. This alone could make a seller accept a different offer when they have other offers to choose from.
Many homeowners do not want flippers, (people who upgrade properties and resell them for a profit), buying their home. A flipper may make the highest monetary offer but many sellers have a lot of memories in a home that they lived in. They may dislike a buyer whose plans are to not to live there. A seller often envisions a home that they’ve lived in and loved for a long time being owned by another family. They often care about who is buying the property.
When writing the highest and best offers in real estate sales, you want to have all the confidence in your agents’ abilities, so call the Weintraub & Wallace team today. One of our amazing exclusive buyer’s agents will represent you in your purchase!
— JaCi Wallace
Why the First Offer Often Wins in Sacramento Real Estate
As a big listing agent in Sacramento, I know first-hand it is common that the first offer often wins in Sacramento real estate. But buyer’s agents tend to disagree. Not sure why except that they are vested in having their buyers win, and perhaps they are not thinking through the entire situation. You hear it in their voices when they say, “Oh, maybe we’ll wait until after the open house.”
For what? For more buyers to submit offers? To become a speck of dust in the pile of offers? What are they waiting for? Offers, no offers, makes no difference.
Not only that, but sometimes agents sabotage their efforts from the get-go. A buyer’s agent called another listing agent recently to disclose that his client was part of a profession known for causing problems. Followed it up by asking about the cracks in the exterior stucco (all stucco has cracks), and making other comments that made the agent feel like this guy was gonna be a PITA. Not a smart move, you know, telling the listing agent you are a PITA and your client is a potential PITA, too.
If agents would just think through what happens, it would be easier for them to properly advise their clients. Be the first offer. The first offer often wins.
Say a home goes on the market on Friday with an open house scheduled for Sunday. Buyer tours on Friday and loves the house. But the buyer’s agent wants to wait to write an offer. I say no, write the offer right now. Write that offer although it is already Sunday afternoon and there are 2 other offers, because that could very well happen. Submit it now.
As a top listing agent, I am likely to advise my seller to wait until Sunday before making a decision. Because that is in my seller’s best interest. But the seller might love the offer and not want to wait. There is always that possibility. Odder things have happened.
However, if the seller takes my advice and waits, what do you think the seller will think when she wakes up on Saturday morning? She will second-guess her decision, wonder if she made the wrong call. Further, she will spend most of the day and the following day thinking about this wonderful and patient buyer, probably feeling a bit uneasy that she is making the buyer wait.
Come Sunday, even though there are several other offers, which buyer does the seller feel closest to?
Bingo. The first offer. Because the first offer often wins.
Buyers Do Not Care What You Tell Them as Long As You Do
Buyers don’t care what you tell them as long as you tell them. That’s my opening statement when I hand home sellers a package of disclosures to complete. It’s the things you don’t tell a buyer that can come back to haunt you, not what you do say.
You take a neighborhood where I live and work like Land Park. Because I live in Land Park, I have intimate knowledge about the neighborhood, which agents who live outside of Land Park probably don’t know. If they don’t know, they can’t disclose those facts to a buyer. Although, it could probably be argued that they should know or should at least have asked questions of the seller.
On the front end of my marketing, I sell the delights of living in Land Park — the friendly neighbors, tree-canopied streets, fabulous restaurants and our special attractions such as William Land Park, the Sacramento Zoo, Fairy Tale Town, the Rock Garden, and Vic’s ice cream.
But there is also a downside — as there is with any neighborhood, I don’t care where you live. For example, I know which areas in Land Park routinely flood during a hard rain. I know where the feral cats, skunks, opossums and raccoons roam. Which streets get foot traffic and the origination of that traffic. When noise factors such as trains or freeways can be present. Parking ordinances. Which trees are protected. Selling homes in Land Park means more than what we used to call selling real estate in the old days: selling carpets and drapes. That used to be the definition of residential real estate sales in the 1970s.
The thing all Land Park agents know is after escrow closes, odds are something in that buyer’s new home will probably malfunction. And the minute it does, the buyer is likely to immediately jump to the conclusion that the seller knew about it and purposely withheld that information or concealed that defect. It’s human nature. We’re a suspicious bunch of people.
So, how do you bump up the odds that you won’t get sued after escrow closes? You hire an agent who can explain the inherent problems with some types of seller disclosures and can give you the right documents. You find an agent who knows the nuances of your neighborhood. I tell my sellers to disclose all material facts. If I know a material fact, I disclose it. I go into great detail about what a material fact is and why it’s important. I help sellers to recollect and disclose. We talk about the Transfer Disclosure Statement. Because buyers don’t care what you tell them as long as you do.
The other day a seller objected to a point I made in a disclosure. She wanted me to remove a sentence about the possibility that a neighbor’s dog might bark. No can do. The tenant told me the dog next door barked. I don’t know if the dog barks. The dog wasn’t barking in my presence. I noted that I did not hear the dog barking but the tenant said the dog barks and I will not investigate. This disclosure doesn’t appear in my marketing materials. It appears on the agent visual inspection, on which I obtain the buyer’s signature, along with a pile of other documents after offer acceptance.
I’m always thinking one step ahead of ways to protect my sellers yet conform to the law. That’s my job, and I take my job seriously.
The point is it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it. I don’t want my sellers ever ending up in court. Not if I can help it. And I can. Because buyers don’t care what you tell them as long as you do.
Elizabeth is traveling today.
