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Sacramento Agent to Agent Referral: Who Ya Gonna Call?
This agent to agent referral in Sacramento is a new occurrence for me. I mean, I have a small group of agents I consider if I ever need to refer a seller to somebody else. Which is rare. At times, there are some sellers we elect not to work with. But we would not refer those to a friend. Maybe a referral to an agent we don’t much care for. I spotted one of those agents today who listed a rejected listing. You know, the pushy, aggressive, so rude, how do they ever stay in business kind of agents. If I had thought of that agent when we rejected the seller, I would have referred the seller in that direction. However, the seller found the agent the seller deserved. Without any help from me. How win-win.
On the other hand, I have a good friend, an experienced agent, to whom I might refer a client who needs more than I have to give. Usually, these clients are extremely high maintenance. It is always about what the client deserves. But I have never called an agent I did not know out of the blue and offer up a Sacramento agent to agent referral. Lo and behold, that happened to me in reverse last week. An agent I did not know offered me a client who needs a change of pace. It’s a neighborhood I know well, and the home is a little bit challenging, but I thrive on challenges.
At first blush, I had to ask myself the hard question. The hard question was: am I getting this referral based on my solid reputation or was the agent handing the referral over because of an axe to grind. Like, was I the agent’s foe? I am a competitor, after all, but no, the answer to that was no. The agent wanted the best Sacramento Realtor for the job, and thought of me. Very flattering.
Cannot believe my suspicious nature wondered if this was a set up, LOL. It makes me feel good to know the agent has confidence in me to perform. The agent also wants what is best for the client. I don’t mind taking over somebody else’s listing. Not unusual for me to often end up listing homes that previously did not sell for some reason.
I figure out what it takes to sell that home, and then I do it. Therefore, I am very grateful for Sacramento agent to agent referrals, and I hope to avail myself to more.
When Home Sellers Hire the Second Listing Agent
In my real estate business, which covers the Sacramento Valley over four counties, it seems more and more sellers are calling me to ask why their real estate agent can’t sell their home and asking me to be the second listing agent. In fairness to my fellow real estate agents in Sacramento, some of those situations are not always the first agent’s fault. Or, it could be simply a personality clash between the parties. Whatever the reason, the fact remains I pick up a good number of listings and sell them when other agents cannot. It goes in cycles but this year that number seems to be much greater.
Fortunately, as the second listing agent, I do sell those listings. And I sell those homes at top dollar; it’s not like I list them for less than the previous sales price, because usually the price stays the same. What I look for is what are the challenges to selling the listing. All listings contain some kind of challenge and there are no slam dunks in this business. It’s easy to pick out the attractive selling points but it’s much more difficult to address the challenges, isolate the drawbacks and make those bad things appear insignificant. But that’s a specialty developed through decades of experience, I guess. It’s why my homes for sale in Sacramento tend to sell for more money –well, that, and I tend to play well with others.
I just closed a home on Friday that had previously been listed by another real estate agent for 5 months without selling. The first thing I do is scrutinize what the other agent has done and then, as the second listing agent, I don’t do those things. That’s an oversimplification but my goal is not to duplicate failure. Looking up the first agent’s listings, it was clear that most of that agent’s inventory is languishing on the market for an extremely long period of time. You’d expect to see long days on market for a short sale but not in a bunch of equity listings.
I studied what I did not like about the photographs and marketing comments and eliminated those negatives from my marketing strategy. Further, the previous agent did not hold open houses. Some mega real estate companies do not support agent open houses. Lyon Real Estate, where I work, is a big proponent of open houses. It’s true that most buyers don’t buy directly from an open house but the publicity does help to sell that home. Lyon Real Estate is the market leader in the Sacramento Valley.
My charming group of dedicated real estate agents on the Elizabeth Weintraub Team worked diligently with me to sell that home. I kept in constant communication with the seller, advising her of our efforts. I’m happy to report that the home sold. For all cash. There was no appraisal to contend with, so the seller got exactly the price she wanted — which was excellent because the comparable sales were few. The home is situated on a busy street but I worked around it. It was also overbuilt in comparison to other homes in the neighborhood, but I worked around it.
Most of my clients call me first, thank goodness. But it’s OK if I am the second listing agent. It’s not that difficult to cancel a listing contract. If your home hasn’t sold and you’re shopping around for a new Sacramento real estate agent, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. I don’t mind being the second listing agent. I will get the job done for you.
Can a Sacramento Real Estate Agent Guarantee Service?
How can you guarantee a client will be perfectly happy with your services? I mean, you might be providing extraordinary service and your client could be half bonkers, unable to recognize this gift of superior excellence. Or, you could be a crummy Sacramento real estate agent or doesn’t give a crap what others think — rendering any guarantee of happiness and satisfaction totally worthless. I believe a guarantee of satisfaction means the person providing the service will make it right. It’s not like if one finds a fly in one’s soup one can be served another bowl of soup, but it’s a similar concept.
I offer my clients a 100% guarantee of satisfaction. If they are unhappy for some reason, I will go to any lengths to make them happy. The secret is to try to not let it get to the part where they are unhappy. Sometimes, it’s beyond an agent’s control. For example, let’s say I explain over and over to a seller that when we get the short sale approval letter, we will most likely be given 30 days to close escrow. I explain the entire short sale process. I talk about how quickly we’ll receive an offer, the 6 to 8 weeks it will probably take to get the offer approved by the bank, and then the 30 days to close.
I’ve been selling real estate long enough to know there are some words a client does not hear, and if the words are heard, they might not be understood. Thirty days to close is one thing if a client is thinking about the 30 days between March 1st to March 31st. It’s quite another when she realizes if a sale closes on March 30th, she might not find a place to move because most rentals are available on April 1st. That’s a dilemma.
Fortunately, I have an answer for that. Another agent might say, nope, you’ve gotta close on March 30th. The bank said so, and the bank rules. This agent whose blog you are reading will, on the other hand, work to make her seller happy. I promised her.
So, now we have a closing date of April 11th. It’s not just lip service or meaningless words I stick into my biography. I really mean it. A personal guarantee of 100% client satisfaction. That’s my mission.
