Sacramento Real Estate is a Service Business

A Sacramento real estate agent often multitasks.

I had a terrible experience buying my home in Land Park. I didn’t realize how horrible it was at the time because I had been juggling too many balls in the air, moving clear across the country from Minnesota, and it’s only in retrospect all these years later that I realize it was too awful to wish on even my worst nemesis. Without going into gory details, I can say the thing I hated the most was the non-existant communication. My agent rarely called me back. She did not respond to emails. This was way before the age of text messages, but I imagine she would not have responded to text messages, either. It was like a vast empty pit into which I dumped questions and never got anything back in return.

Because my husband was already living in Sacramento, my real estate agent might have thought her duty was to him. She might not have realized there were two of us she needed to address. But the fact remains, she ignored me. Let’s just say it cost her. And I vowed from that experience that no client would ever utter those words about me.

I try not to assume anything. I know that my clients do not buy nor sell real estate for a living. They can’t possibly know what I know — I’ve pretty much run out of fingers and toes to count my years of experience in real estate. I try to be very sensitive to the needs of my clients. If they ask me a question, I respond. In fact, I try to answer their questions before they have a question. No question is too simple to ask. For example, when people call to say it is time to do a short sale, I make sure they understand that to do a short sale means they are selling their home. Not everybody understands this premise.

Last week I listed a home and had to point out the commission to the sellers so they understood how much they were paying me. They didn’t ask about it. But they did ask who was paying the buyer’s agent. I explain agency relationships, and not just because the California Civil Code requires it but because it’s important to know.

When clients send me a thank you after an escrow closes, they say how happy they were that I kept them informed throughout the transaction. That I responded immediately to their needs. They are thrilled. It’s the WOW factor. Others read those thank-you letters and my reviews and ask how can I be so responsive to my clients when I am so busy with work? I am a very busy Sacramento real estate agent. I sell from Lincoln to Galt. It’s because my clients are my work. When I am working, they come first. What’s so difficult about that?