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Sacramento Realtor Multi-Tasking At Extreme Levels
Being a Sacramento Realtor multi-tasking at extreme levels is the typical environment for a successful real estate career. Yesterday, I was made aware that this skill set is something you either possess or you don’t. Realtors are often on the phone, (I have two phones) texting, emailing and putting the phone on mute, while answering questions from an assistant. We are also checking email and voice mail while organizing. I have a 40-inch monitor screen, so I have multiple windows open at the same time on my computer.
As a Sacramento Realtor multi-tasking yesterday, I saw something that brought multitasking to an all-new normal. I was working on the blog in my home office when I heard the dogs barking. I have 7 dogs by the way. It was the dog groomer making a house call for the first time, a new service we found online. The young woman shows up, thin as a rail with a baby, she is in her early twenties at best. Her name is April. She is holding a baby boy about 6 months old in a diaper with a blanket, her tools held in her other hand.
She sets the baby down on the blanket and it is starting to softly rain. My sister, Cathi, takes over getting the dogs out one at a time for our groomer. I go back to work from my command center to finish working on yesterday’s blog. In about 20 minutes my sister comes running back in. She says Toya, my smallest Schipperke dog, is going nuts and the groomer is breastfeeding. It sounded like helter skelter. I immediately go outside. April has the situation well in hand with the dog who has now submitted. She had tucked the dog over her knee and her arm and elbow are holding the dog in place. April doesn’t seem stressed at all.
April finishes up out front with 5 of the dogs. She then is breastfeeding her baby. We now have to move to the backyard to trim toenails for my two 90-pound adult German Shepherd Dogs, GSDs, Godzilla and Tangiers. My sister Cathi then holds the baby and I fetch the GSDs. First up is Tangiers. April gets behind her and starts using the electric grinder. Tangiers is moving about but that doesn’t stop April. Snip snip, grind grind, She is finished. Godzilla comes out next and he is not happy about toenail day but April sits down puts him on her lap. I hold the choker chain and leash. He soon realizes that April is not the least bit impressed with antics and grinds away on his toenails.
April then goes to hold her baby as she tells us she also nannies for three kids on her second job. She said it was hard for her to get a nanny job. Employers often wondered how she could take care of her baby and three other kids. April told us it was no problem for her to care for so many children at once. Someone finally gave her a chance, and she appeared quite happy about that. She said you have to have structure and a plan for a busy schedule with a full day, every day of multitasking. I thought this sounds like real estate, lol.
We could tell April was a very self-sufficient, determined and capable young woman. I said if you ever decide you want a career change, let us know as you would make a fantastic Sacramento Realtor Multi-Tasking. If you want a hire a team of multi-tasking hardworking Realtors, help you to buy or sell a home, call Weintraub & Wallace Realtors with RE/MAX Gold, at 916-233-6759.
— JaCi Wallace
Weintraub & Wallace
Insider Tips for Making An Offer On A House
If you are thinking about making an offer on a house, there are many aspects beyond price to consider in your offer. First of all, make sure you have hired the very best Sacramento Realtor you can find with decades of experience. An experienced Realtor is going to know the finite details and there are so many.
The price, of course, is very important. So many buyers only focus on the list price and it can be way under market or way overpriced. Our Code of Ethics suggest we do a comparative market analysis every time we write an offer. I certainly do. Not every agent specializes in listings nor have they listed hundreds properties, which makes pricing property a pure art form. So many aspects, I could write a short story just on pricing!
As the buyer, if you are obtaining a loan always make sure you have your loan letter is attached to your offer. Hopefully, you have been ran through lender automated direct underwriting. Additionally, as we are talking about attachments, have your proof of downpayment and closing costs in your name and dated in current month, always provide those to your agent.
Write a letter to the seller about why you love this home so much. Talk about celebrations you will have there and how much you love a few particular features. Don’t underestimate the power of letters. My own house had 10 offers and the seller chose an offer, due to a letter. And the seller was an agent, me.
The costs of sale in the purchase agreement are important. Always a good idea to split the costs or, in seller’s markets, pay entirely for title and escrow. The transfer taxes and home warranty can also be split 50/50. The natural disclosure company should always be noted, we use Property ID for $99. Try not to ask for personal property (lenders don’t like it) unless you expect, for example, that the washer and dryer will stay. Your good faith deposit is always important. In California, liquidated damages are 3%, so it is a good idea to have an earnest money deposit be less than 3% of the purchase price.
Time frames: always find out from the listing agent what the sellers need regarding closing date. If they want time in the house after closing, great, give them a week or two. This can win the offer for you. Schedule your close date at the first date the lender says they can close escrow. Shorten time for inspections and appraisal contingencies. In some instances, you can remove the appraisal contingency upfront.
Do not ask for repairs such as pest clearance or or roof repairs in your offer, which can sour the positive mood of the seller. You have an inspection time period to verify everything, so don’t ruin the day for yourself. Shorten the inspection and loan contingency dates as that will help instill seller confidence in your offer.
This does not mean you can’t ask for repairs, but it depends on what it is and how much. I usually suggest to clients that they do not ask for anything not related to safety items; for example, wiring splices and improper venting would qualify. Breakers that are not working correctly, also another safety item, a red flag. A closet door off the tracks, not so much.
There are many other items but these are a few important steps for your checklist when writing an offer on a house. Simply ask your Realtor to follow these guidelines and you will have a much better reception from the listing agent. If you want to win when you make an offer on a house, call Weintraub & Wallace Realtors today at 916-233-6957 We write offers to win!
— JaCi Wallace
Weintraub & Wallace
Top Agents in Sacramento Receive 5-Star Reviews
Most of the top agents in Sacramento tend to receive 5-star reviews, but some reviews exceed even 5-stars. Some reviews are simply coming up roses every single time.
Going on appointments is what a busy Sacramento Realtor does; however, after all is said and done, smelling like a real estate rose is no easy task at the end of each day. (This photo was taken in my rose garden.)
Talking to new people every day is the life of a listing agent. Some people will not ever turn into clients, some may take years, some things just happen in their life and they don’t list. The key to all this is to recognize that we are like the rose in this photo, vibrant, full of life, and open to all who want to linger near us.
Three listing appointments this week were ready to list and through no fault of the potential sellers, things shifted. They decided not to sell for personal reasons. No new listings today, that does not slow me down one bit. My job is to help as many people as I can, every single day. So, when the phone rings and a new person is on the line wanting to know if Weintraub & Wallace are the real deal, I can say YES.
You might ask: what does that mean to be the real deal? It means we will do what we say: sell their property for the highest and best possible price, to negotiate as few repairs as possible, if any, with the best possible terms. We will over-communicate throughout the transaction. Now, to accomplish all this may sound easy but there are pages and pages of action items to make all this happen.
You know why clients hire us? They see the hundreds of 5-star reviews our clients post, additionally, the 1,100+ closed sales, these results speak volumes. This provides clients searching for an agent to have confidence in our abilities to deliver 110%. Every. Single. Escrow. When top Sacramento agents receive 5-star reviews, you can bet we earned it.
What drives us to do a job that is often 18 hours a day, 7 days a week? It is that sole client, we know we made a real difference in their life. It wasn’t strictly that we sold their home, it was everything in between.
When we get that special online review where a person puts their heart onto a page, we feel our work was so valuable. What a great feeling and we go right back to work to make it happen again and again.
Yesterday, we received a Zillow review for our exclusive buyer’s agent, Josh Amolsch. The review was lengthy, full of praises for the great work Josh had provided this client. He clearly put their interests in front of his own. The client was over the moon for Josh. When top Sacramento agents receive 5-star reviews that go above and beyond, it is even more special to us. This is not an EZ job. If it was, everyone would do it.
Josh is all about integrity and placing the right information in front of me so that I can make the right decision for myself.
Mallorie Rose
There is a price for success, but it is a price that Weintraub & Wallace Realtors suit up for everyday. We can’t imagine doing anything else. To say we are committed to our job would be an understatement. Selling real estate is not a job, it is a lifestyle. Call Weintraub & Wallace today at 916-233-6957 to obtain your real estate objectives…
— JaCi Wallace
How to Find Sacramento’s Hidden Inventory “Pocket Listings”
As we roll into a very hot spring real estate market, one way to find a home is to seek Sacramento’s hidden inventory “pocket listings.” I did just that when looking in the Boulevard Park area of Midtown Sacramento. A long term client of over 21 years was looking for a home in the area. She had now, of course, become a dear friend. When we were house hunting, it became quickly apparent there were so few homes for sale in this area.
I called an agent in Midtown who works Boulevard Park and he had lived in the area for many years. Mentioned I was looking for something updated about 2400 square feet. There was nothing like this in the MLS. He said he actually had clients who had talked about selling, let me ring them. They were away on vacation in a very exotic place in the world at the time.
He had a key and they said go ahead and show it, we are willing to sell for the right price. I took my clients there and they loved it. A beautiful updated single-story with a cute yard where they could entertain. This home looked like it was in an architectural storybook magazine. It had stained glass leaded windows and a basement that would make a terrific wine cellar. In the back was a common area off an alley. The streets in front have an island running down the middle with grass and trees, it is just a lovely neighborhood.
Our excited buyers wrote an offer, and the seller’s agent, a wonderful man and a terrific agent, presented and the seller accepted. This was an example of Sacramento’s hidden inventory “pocket listings”. By definition, it means a potential listing in my pocket, that is not actively listed on the market. It takes a willing buyer, a willing home owner and real estate agents who can put a painless transaction together. We did just that.
The buyers and sellers bought each other a bottle of wine for the final walkthrough, and it was a wonderful transaction. Simply no stress as each side wanted the best for each other and it was such a win-win. The seller’s agent drew what is called a one-party listing agreement, good for only my clients, and we closed escrow! If only all transactions went this well.
I wrote a blog yesterday called searching for a home is like an Easter egg hunt. Hunting for pocket listings means we call every agent we know and maybe some we don’t, to ask if they have any of Sacramento’s hidden inventory “pocket listings.” You basically find a listing where there wasn’t one!
Being resourceful and helping clients is what being a top producer is all about. If you are having a challenging time finding the home of your dreams, call Weintraub & Wallace Realtors, powered by RE/MAX Gold and caffeine. We usually have a few pocket listings coming up. In fact, we have several, one currently in Elk Grove and another in Natomas, so call us today! (916)-233-6759.
— JaCi Wallace
More on Translation App Tricks for Real Estate
If you have been using a translation app in real estate, I have more translation app tricks to share. You may recall that I wrote a blog on this subject a while back. Yesterday, something very interesting happened, I received a call from a Chinese buyer with limited English speaking skills. While on the call, I tried to converse using the “Translate Me” app on my cell phone, but the app was not working properly. Then, quickly I used another app, “Google Translate.” It worked perfectly. Free apps, you know. Should not complain.
Unfortunately, after several tries, the female caller had hung up. I had politely kept asking her to speak, please. The app only works if the other person actually speaks, and she had not responded. When I called back, her voice mail was full.
Now, there is a particular setting in the app called Conversation. You click on it after you have selected the languages. In this case I had chosen a Chinese dialect and English. You may not know this, but there are more than 200 Chinese dialects and really no such thing as a Chinese language. Most common is Cantonese or Mandarin.
Here are more translation app tricks in real estate that are so cool. As you speak, what shows on your screen is the conversation written in both English and your selected foreign language, however; it also speaks aloud in the foreign language. If you have your phone set to speaker, the caller can hear you speak and your voice is translated instantly to a different language.
When the buyer speaks, it translates onto the screen in English for me to read but does not speak English out loud. This is the perfect approach for language translation on a cell phone. Additionally, if we were communicating in person, it would work the same way.
This call, however, made me wonder if she had read my previous article or if someone who spoke Mandarin had told her about it? How did she find me? How did she know to ask immediately when I said hello, “You speak Chinese?” I’m going to call her back today using this app. The hope is I can leave her a voice mail message in her language, as there are always more translation app tricks to apply in Real Estate.
As a top Sacramento Realtor, I look forward to extending help to many clients who speak other languages. I am planning to work with our exclusive buyer’s agent, Josh Amolsch, who is very tech savvy. He can help perfect the use of this app for our entire team. We can help so many people that ordinarily we would not be able to understand us or visa-versa.
If I lived in China, I would want to work with a very experienced local top producer Realtor and, if that person knew how to apply translation app tricks to help me, I would hire that agent in a Shanghai minute!
If you would like to work with a real estate team that uses technology to overcome any obstacles in the homebuying or selling process, call the Weintraub & Wallace team today! 916-233-6759.
— Jaci Wallace
