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How to Get a Sweet Deal in This Sacramento Real Estate Market
If you’ve ever required special circumstances to sell your home in Sacramento, this is the market in which to do it. As a REALTOR in Sacramento, I can tell you unabashedly that buyers will agree to do some of the craziest things just to buy your house. It’s a seller’s market. Sellers rule. I keep thinking that we can’t possibly make the restrictions and conditions under which a seller will sell any more ridiculous, but then I surpass my own thoughts and beat my wildest imagination.
There is very little inventory in Sacramento. If you’ve got a desirable home, you can pretty much write the rules, as long as you’re not breaking any laws, under which you will agree to sell. Me? I just go with the flow and try to make my sellers happy. What I think about the situation is not really important. What matters is what my sellers would like to do and whether I can accomplish that for them. I don’t run around thumbing my nose at people, telling them I know more than they do, even if I do. I just find out what the seller wants, and then I determine whether I am up to the challenge. I love challenges.
I’ll show you one nutty situation. We were ready to close escrow on an Elk Grove short sale when one of the tenants refused to move out. The tenant said he’d go when the sheriff tossed him out on his ear (code for: give me some money). Two days before closing. The buyer’s agent said the buyer was canceling under those circumstances, so I put the home back on the market, with a pending rescission modifier. The confidential comments informed agents that a buyer would have to purchase this home sight unseen and close escrow with a hostile tenant inside. I received a bunch of offers. No joke.
Realizing this, the existing buyer closed.
In another transaction that closed last month, a seller did not want to move out until he moved into his new home. He was steadfast about it, and nothing I could say would change his mind. He also lived in a somewhat difficult area because this little pocket of homes sat among others that were nonconforming. There was only comparable sale. We bumped the price by 6% above that one comp and put it on the market. We received a good half-dozen offers or so, and one of those offers was cash and 4% above the list price. That means the home sold for 10% more than the last home like it. See, it doesn’t cost to hire a Sacramento real estate agent, it pays you.
On top of this, I put the seller into a contingent purchase for a short sale in Elk Grove. Elk Grove, one of the hardest places in town to buy because buyers can stand 30 deep. The contingency period didn’t last very long because I sold and closed his existing residence in 7 days. The buyer of his residence agreed to let the seller rent-back for a period of up to one year at about a $500 reduction from the monthly market rent. He has the right to move out during this one-year period with 30 days’ notice. If that’s not a sweet deal for that seller, I don’t know what is.
If you’ve got a home to sell in Sacramento, go ahead and call your Sacramento agent Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 39 years of experience to work for you.
Happy Together Tour at the Crest Theatre in Sacramento
When I first laid eyes on the groovy poster for the Happy Together Tour, the show coming to the Crest Theatre on July 6th, I was hesitant. Because the first band listed was The Turtles, and while they are an OK group from my teen years, they weren’t all that fabulous to me. I read down the list and my eyes landed on the guy from Three Dog Night, yawn, yeah. Followed by Gary Puckett and the Union Gap. OK, Young Girl get out of my mind. What? Is he a pervert, lusting after jailbait? Might be silliness. But then I saw Mark Lindsay, whom you may recall from Paul Revere and the Raiders, and hey, maybe this would be a fun show in a goofy sort of way. The clincher was Gary Lewis and the Playboys. Everybody loves a clown, so why don’t you?
I suggested the show to my husband, who immediately pooh-poohed it. He muttered something about John Lennon and the rattles of jewelry in the balcony, and then he started coughing, wheezing and singing like Tom Waits, telling me there will be nothing but 70-year-old people hobbling about in the lobby. See what I put up with? What he really means is now I will owe him one. I might have to do something dreadful like go the grocery store or eat stir-fried weeds for dinner and not moan about it.
It seemed like a perfect evening out to invite my friend, Barbara, and her husband. Sure why not, the four of us could go to the show. That way Barbara and I can bond in sisterly solidarity belting out This Diamond Ring Doesn’t Shine for Me Anymore while our husbands roll eyes and acknowledge each other’s boredom through those all-knowing glances.
I had a listing appointment yesterday over at Woodside, but I pushed it back by 15 minutes so I would have ample time to go online and buy advance tickets, prior to the public offering. I have ticket buying down to a science. I open the seating chart in one browser and starting a few minutes before the opening time, I begin clicking refresh over and over in another browser. Often, the Crest is off by a few minutes, but luck was on my side yesterday.
Bank of America had just sent me a revised counter for a Cooperative Short Sale, moving a few fees around when I realized, OMG, it was 9:59. Time to go to the secret link to buy tickets. Darn. The website said tickets were not on sale. Like a person with a psychological disorder, I drooled and clicked refresh again and again and again, and whoa, I was in. Just like that. I entered the code, and the website took me to a page to select tickets. I could not believe my eyes. Front row and center seats, four tickets were mine! That almost never happens. My heart raced. My eyebrows got stuck together.
I clicked buy and the website took me to a new page, one that I had not seen before. Oh, no, something new. It wanted my user name and password. Did I have a user name? I quickly tried to open a vault where I store passwords. It did not immediately respond. That’s because emails were hitting my email account at the same time an update was about to take place from Adobe Reader. Everything slowed. If I had a dog, I would have kicked it. No, not really, I would never kick a dog. I might kick a Republican, though.
I looked through possible user names and could not find a name for that website. It was then that I noticed the continue button. I clicked. Now it wanted my credit card information, which I threw on the page from memory. I could not believe we got front row and center seats. My eyes were spinning in circles. Breathing became difficult. My fingers trembled.
I clicked BUY.
The screen returned to my credit card information. What the? I know I put the code in the box. I entered it again. The screen returned to the page with my credit card information and missing 3-digit code. I entered a completely new card and a new code. The screen returned to the page with my credit card information. Was this like the movie Groundhog Day? Do I have to listen to Sonny and Cher over and over? Oh, I see, it had unchecked the box that I checked NO to whether I wanted insurance. I clicked BUY again fully confident that now the sale was complete.
Big red letters: Your Time Has Expired. Start Over.
Ahhhhhhh. I unleashed a string of unpublishable words. My cats ran for cover, paws over their little kitty ears. And just like that, I ended up with Row 2 tickets. Row 2, where I will have to sit and stare at the people who are sitting in Row 1, IN MY SEATS.
Yes, I realize how petty and shallow these thoughts are, and how I should be strung up my toenails because female babies in China are being murdered and we broke the planet and honeybees are dying and the air is so bad over Mauna Loa that it will never be safe to breathe again, while I am spending my valuable time left on earth griping about having to stare at the back of the heads of those people who will be in my seats at the Crest Theatre for the Happy Together show.
Reasons to Make New Mistakes as a REALTOR in Sacramento
Several journalists called yesterday to talk about real estate. One reporter wanted to discuss the market, multiple offers, and which way the market was heading. Any little thing could upset the apple cart by summer. Our market is squirrelly. Another talked about stripping homes for sale and vandalism (for a local Sacramento publication), a sorry state of affairs in town. The thing about being a busy REALTOR in Sacramento is the fact I always have something to talk about. There are zero days in which nothing whatsoever goes on. Something is always happening.
I shot photos of a home in the Med Center and signed a listing there yesterday. The craftsman bungalow will go on the market next week. It wasn’t until I arrived at my next destination in Gardenland that I realized I had left my camera bag and accessories at the first house in the Med Center. That’s what I get for not carting out all of my real estate belongings in my travel bag. When I left home yesterday morning, I thought I did not need to pack up my stuff in my travel bag because I wasn’t transporting my usual number of electronic gizmos, folders and lockboxes. But when I make an exception to my usual business practice, that’s when I can forget an item or leave it behind. So, it was really my fault that I left the camera bag and had to go back for it. Altering the status quo.
It’s another reason to always do things the same way. It prevents one from making mistakes. I take care not to make mistakes and especially not to repeat mistakes. If you repeat a mistake, it means you did not learn from it the first time around, and that makes you kind of a moron, I hate to say. The main thing to take away from a mistake is the lesson you learn. Making mistakes is the silver lining to messing up. One more thing to chalk up and swear you won’t ever do again.
It’s better, of course, to learn from somebody else’s mistake but we rarely do that. No, the great lessons in life we seem to be bent on learning ourselves first hand. Of course, it doesn’t help that we have our parents and other authority figures trying to give us advice. Like if you sit too close to the TV you’ll go blind. That’s just wrong and stupid. But in the back of your mind you might wonder about it. And when you realize just how wrong and stupid that kind of advice actually is then you begin to doubt everything else that person has ever told you, and you’re back to learning lessons the hard way. From experience.
And just think, if you never made another mistake in life, you might stop learning. And that would be absolutely horrible. Life is one long lesson.
So, if you’ve got a question about real estate in Sacramento, buying or selling a home or just want to talk with a REALTOR, it’s OK to call Elizabeth Weintraub. I’ve always got a perspective to share.
Does Your Sacramento Agent Charge Too Much?
How would you like to be in a business in which a potential client asks you to come over to her house, in the dark and cold after business hours, so she can pick your brain without making any kind of commitment and argue about how much you charge? Thousands of sales people do this every single day. It’s not that much different for a Sacramento real estate agent, either. I’m fortunate in that most people who call me have already decided to hire me, so when they make an appointment for me to view their home, it’s because they are ready to go on the market. I would not want to stay in this business if every single appointment was a 33% chance of being hired because the seller had to interview 3 real estate agents in Sacramento before making a decision.
Not because I couldn’t outshine and win the business because I perform well against the competition, but because the odds are against my favor, so I’d eventually want to stop doing it. 100% or long shot? Which is smarter? Given the choice of visiting a seller because she tells me she wants to hire me or visiting a seller who is not sure what she wants, which do you think a Sacramento real estate agent prefers to do? Which would you want to do?
One thing sellers like to discuss is how much it will cost them to hire a real estate agent. I don’t blame them, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I used to think the commission was a big deal. It’s not a big deal. Especially if you’re apart by only 1% of the sales price.
Oh, sure, you say, easy for you to roll off the tip of your tongue because it’s not your money, it’s the seller’s money, but I’m telling you it’s not a big deal. It’s a far bigger deal how much a seller gets for her home. The sales price and the agent’s ability to market and negotiate for the seller — to be that seller’s advocate and fiduciary and try to get the seller the highest price possible — that’s far more important.
I have never had a seller tell me I charge too much. I have never had a seller tell me she didn’t get enough for her home and that I should have worked harder for her, because I would be crushed. It’s never happened. Knock on wood, it never will happen. I focus on the seller’s needs and the seller’s rights — that’s the secret of my success.
I did have a former neighbor once tell me after he closed escrow that he picked a friend of his instead of hiring me because his friend charged him 1% less than I proposed. But you know what, he made 12% less on his sale than I would have directed him to do. He gave up many thousands in profit in exchange for that little tiny 1%. To put it into perspective, he lost almost $30,000 over that bad decision. Sellers should not look at the small percentage an agent receives for the work she does but instead should focus on the huge percentage they make selling the home. Experience doesn’t cost, it pays. Hire an experienced agent you trust and that’s all you need. Don’t be penny wise and pound foolish.
Can you always find an agent somewhere who will charge a little bit less than a veteran with many years under her belt? Sure, you can. It’s in the nature of the beast. Is it in your best interest? Probably not. It’s just not enough to work yourself into an anguish over.
Why Not Hire a Top Sacramento Real Estate Agent?
Wouldn’t you like to go away on vacation and come home to find your home has sold for many thousands of dollars over market value? You don’t have to put up with buyers traipsing through the house, or agents calling for an appointment at all hours. No time consuming open houses. Nope, you just pack your bags, enjoy your vacation and maybe once a day, if you feel like it, check email to tally the latest offer that arrived in your inbox. You can kick back, relax, and let your Sacramento real estate agent do all of the work.
In fact, you might have been able to hire another agent in Sacramento for a little bit less, but why? Commissions are negotiable. Why would you do it, though? Why would you give up all of that extra money just to save a few bucks on the commission? That’s like cutting off your nose to spite your face. It’s like driving down the street and throwing money out of the window. It’s being penny-wise but pound foolish. Yet, some Sacramento home sellers don’t know any better. They tend to think that all real estate agents are the same, and homes sell themselves by sticking a sign in the yard. Little could be further from the truth.
Last week we had 68 showings and 14 offers for a home in Elk Grove! The home sold while the sellers were on vacation. I had met with the sellers to discuss strategy, marketing and home staging months before we went on the market. I have a certain way I do things because I have found that over 35-some years in the real estate business that my way of doing things works. It’s why I am successful. I constantly strive to improve my performance. Money matters. It matters to my sellers. Immensely.
If money matters to you as well, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916 233 6759. Experience doesn’t cost you. Experience pays off. Because you deserve a top-notch Sacramento real estate agent. Don’t you?
