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The Sacramento REALTOR with the Highest List Price
Do sellers always pick the Sacramento REALTOR who proposes the highest sales price? Not if they’re smart they don’t. They should pick the REALTOR they most trust, like and who has the experience to do the best job for them. But what if they do take the REALTOR with the highest price and that REALTOR just happens to be me? That’s what happened this summer, and I wasn’t feeling really good about the fact that price might have been the main reason I was chosen to list that pool home in Carmichael.
I’m not underestimating my experience because I’m certain my decades in the business was a motivating factor, but I had the sneaky suspicion that if I had suggested a lower sales price, that seller might not have elected to list with me. It doesn’t mean I will sell out my ethics or tell a seller a price that I don’t think the seller will get just to obtain that listing. That’s not how I work. I do try to get the seller the highest price possible, though.
The thing is home pricing is so variable. There is no single list price, actually. There is a price it should be listed at, which is not necessarily the price a seller expects to get. There is a price a buyer might offer, which is not necessarily the price at which the home may appraise. There is market value and there is appraised value, and the two are not necessarily the same thing. It’s more of a strategy, mixed with science and emotion.
Much of my pricing is based on how the home feels emotionally to me. I know that might sound a little new-agey and touchy-feely, but buyers make offers based on emotion. I try to look at the home through the buyer’s eyes, and then I turn that feeling into a dollar figure, followed by a way to justify that price to an appraiser. It’s a different approach than most REALTORS use, and it’s been very successful for my sellers.
There were REALTORS in my real estate office who thought we had priced that Carmichael pool home too high. It didn’t have upgrades. It wasn’t remodeled. Some of the appliances didn’t even work. Other REALTORS at the listing presentations had suggested sales prices that were tens of thousands of dollars lower than mine. My suggested sales price was the highest. From a sole listing viewpoint, the price didn’t make sense. From a buyer’s viewpoint, though, it did.
We sold that Carmichael pool home at list price. It closed last week. So, while I always tell a seller do NOT pick the REALTOR who gives you the highest price, in this particular instance they might have just done that and it was not the wrong thing to do. Still, I hope they chose me for my willingness to always do what I believe is best for them and not because my suggested list price was the highest.
I don’t intend to beat out a competing agent by suggesting higher prices during a listing presentation. I do what I believe is right.
What Sacramento Buyer’s Agents Want to Know
As a listing agent in Sacramento, I hear almost immediately from a lot of buyer’s agents when any of my new listings hit the market. Ding, ding, ding, my phone rings, one call after another. Especially if the listing is priced well and a turnkey home. The first thing agents want to know is if it’s still available, even if it’s only been in MLS for 30 minutes. That’s not as unusual as it may sound because my photos look enticing, the marketing verbiage is attractive and, in our competitive market in Sacramento, sometimes buyers don’t view the home before writing an offer. With digital online signing services such as DocuSign, buyers can quickly sign an offer within minutes for submission.
Of course, I check the Supra lockbox online showings to determine if the agent representing the buyer has entered the house. But that doesn’t tell me if the buyer was with the agent at the time. The buyer could live in San Francisco for all I know, but I can get a clue from the address on the buyer’s preapproval letter or earnest money deposit check. I can also just ask the agent. This is part of the information I pass on to my sellers as together we analyze the purchase offers.
The second thing buyer’s agents want to know is how much their buyer must offer to buy the home, on top of how many offers we have received. I will answer the third question but not the second, unless the seller instructs me to do it. And since it’s not really in the seller’s interest to disclose how high a buyer needs to go, few sellers will give me the go-ahead, yet buyer’s agents will still ask about it. They need to study the comparable sales and act accordingly; do their job.
Buyer’s agents will say: My buyers really wants to buy this house, so tell me how much they have to pay to get it. Well, I don’t know because it’s not my house. That’s the seller’s decision, and the seller probably doesn’t even know. If there is financing, the home needs to appraise. Moreover, if I tell that buyer’s agent how much everybody else offered, then I have to go back to all of those other agents and tell them how much the other buyers have offered. I can’t treat one agent with preference over another agent. They wouldn’t like it if the tables were turned and it was done to them. I am a REALTOR, which means I have to abide by the Code of Ethics, and I must treat all parties fairly.
It’s not just a made-up code that nobody follows.
A Tip for Sacramento Real Estate Investors
At least a couple of times a week, this Sacramento REALTOR receives an email from a potential investor or investment group, wanting to buy homes in Sacramento. Many of these Sacramento real estate investors are investment LLCs are based in Sacramento. The managing partners and owners generally hold an active real estate license and are typically members of MetroList, our local MLS. This means they have the ability to look up homes to buy to their heart’s content . . . so, why do they email this real estate agent?
I imagine there are several possibilities. Some Sacramento real estate investors desire preferential treatment, they expect to be pushed to the front of the line in the event of multiple offers. An agent can’t grant that kind of preference because it’s against the law. To sweeten the deal and tempt agents who are, let’s just say perhaps lacking in ethics training, investors might offer to let the listing agent represent them in a dual agency situation and collect up to twice the commission. Although, they would not admit this to anybody’s face.
One investor went so far as to send me his list of “preferred” agents so I could look up the identity and records of all the real estate agents who were most likely to throw their sellers under the bus to work with him. Every one of those agents double-ended deals with that investor. Nice going. I’ll be on the look-out for those guys.
A better way to buy homes in Sacramento for an investment portfolio is NOT to try to bribe real estate agents. Although, I bet a few investors are reading this and sneering at the moment, while a few others are drawing a circle with a big red X over my face. A better way to buy homes in Sacramento is to follow the listings of the agents who tend to list a lot of property.
How would Sacramento real estate investors do that? It’s easy. Sort of like Twitter. Just set up a hotsheet search in MLS using that agent’s identification as the parameter — which is noted on every listing and can also be located under the Search tab for Agent / Office. Then, when that agent lists a new property, bingo, the MLS will email it to the investor who set up the search. I suspect a few Sacramento investors already have hotsheets set up for my Weintraub listings because some of them call me within minutes of a new listing hitting MLS.
If their offer is the best for the seller, the seller takes it. Sometimes, the early bird gets the worm. Investors don’t have to resort to under-handed tactics to buy homes in Sacramento.
Which reminds me, there is an article published today in the Billings Gazette (Montana) about investment groups. The reporter interviewed this Sacramento REALTOR and used my comments in a sidebar. You might be interested in reading Investors Hunting for Gold in Billings Real Estate Market. That advice applies nationwide.
Article 16 and a Sacramento Agent’s Listing
It’s not often that I have to ask another real estate agent to stop contacting my clients, but generally when I remind an agent that asking sellers pointed questions about selling their home — apart from making sellers uncomfortable — could be considered interference in another agent’s listing and a violation of Article 16 of the Code of Ethics, the offender stops.
Article 16 pertains only to a REALTOR. Not all real estate agents are REALTORs.
The agents might get ticked off at me for calling them on it, and some of them do. Comes with the territory; it’s a risk I take. There are agents who practice ethics and those who don’t. Those who practice ethics respect agents who do, and those who don’t, well, it doesn’t really matter what they think.
Agents sometimes interfere because they haven’t stopped to consider the consequences of their actions, or they feel that what they are doing is innocent (in their minds) and they haven’t looked at the hard, cold facts of how a Sacramento real estate agent or anybody else with a rationale mind might view it. Some agents think they are “helping” and they forget / overlook that they are interfering. I get that.
But if I sit on the fence and say nothing, I am perpetrating this behavior.
It’s a fine line to walk in this business.
Last week I asked an agent to please stop emailing my client with questions about selling her home. This particular seller’s name and personal information is not in MLS. If a buyer’s agent has questions, the agent can ask me, and I’ll be happy to assist. I don’t care if the agent knows the seller from church, through another professional association or spotted the seller at the gas station and struck up a conversation at the gas pump. Buyer’s agents are not supposed to grill, discuss or ask represented sellers questions about selling their home.
Like I said, this seller’s name and contact information is not even listed in MLS. There was no permission given to contact the seller. It’s bad enough when an agent calls a seller to schedule a showing, for example, and asks how many offers the seller has received. Big no-no. But agents have absolutely no right to even call a seller when the showing instructions state otherwise.
The real estate agent responded that the agent was not emailing my client, the agent was texting.
I see. It would seem that this Sacramento real estate agent might need to explain that:
- sending emails
- texting messages
- calling on a walkie-talkie, cell or landline
- writing letters
- dipping one’s finger in vanilla to write a secret message on white paper
- sending up smoke signals or
- standing out in front of the seller’s house and yelling
are all methods that are unacceptable behavior to contact the seller of a listed home to discuss details about selling the home.
All we are trying to do here is get to the closing table in one piece. We are all in this business together.
Is a Sacramento REALTOR a Necessary Evil?
Be honest, is a Sacramento REALTOR a necessary evil or a good thing? I guess how a real estate agent is treated by a potential client is pretty good evidence of what that client thinks about real estate agents and REALTORs in general. There are sellers in Sacramento, for example, who clearly exhibit that they think REALTORs are worthless pieces of crap but a necessary path to selling a home. The troubling part is there are agents in Sacramento, on top of REALTORs, who will accept any kind of abuse to get a listing, that these kinds of people can continue to get away with rude behavior.
Maybe it’s this wild and wooly seller’s market in Sacramento that brings some of these people into the marketplace. I seem to be receiving an unusual number of phone calls from potential clients who appear to be as obnoxious as the day is long.
Where does a Sacramento REALTOR draw the line? First, I say give the potential client a benefit of a doubt. Maybe the potential client has had a bad experience in the past, which is not all that unusual, unfortunately, in real estate. Just like with any profession, you’ve got your good agents and your not-so-good. Second, I like to have several discussions with a potential client before accepting a listing.
If I notice a client talks over me, doesn’t listen to my advice nor seem to care about what I have to provide, quite frankly, I’m not interested in his or her business — because that person has exhibited a disregard for my services. That kind of attitude can lead to trouble and frustration down the road, a place I prefer not to stroll. I don’t engage in one-sided conversations just to pad my bank account.
I know there are agents who don’t care. I could not imagine being one of those agents. Their attitude seems to be that it’s OK to laugh all the way to the bank. If I had to be that kind of agent to survive, I’d quit the business. And that’s not to say there is anything wrong with those agents because there isn’t. In some ways, I admire their tenacity and ability to turn off. Somebody has to work the dredge, otherwise they’d all turn into FSBOs. I’m just glad it’s not me.
It’s a two-way street for this REALTOR. I value your business just as much as you value the experience and professionalism you are hiring. If you honestly believe all REALTORs are identical and it’s your right to exhibit little respect, I’m not your REALTOR.
I believed that principle when I sold $3 million a year, and I still believe it when I’m selling $30 million. My self respect is not for sale. Furthermore, that loss of business is not my loss.
However, if you want to hire a Sacramento REALTOR who has integrity, experience and a passion for helping people, you can bet your bottom dollar that I will treat you like the precious client you are and perform above your expectations. And that’s how I get the great client reviews I regularly receive. By carefully choosing my clients.
Please feel free to call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916 233 6759; I always answer my phone.
