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Elizabeth Weintraub’s Thoughts About Sacramento Real Estate in August
The Mushroom at William Land Park is actually a water feature.
My thoughts about the Sacramento real estate market are not necessarily everybody else’s opinion. While the market may be on fire in Sacramento real estate, it doesn’t mean that everybody is aware of what’s going on. In fact, unless you’re in the business or follow the real estate business with a burning passion, which are not equally exclusive, you might be astonished to know what really happens. The first thing I find that is a misperception among sellers, mostly, is they are underpricing their homes. They believe their homes are worth far less than their home’s actual value. I am constantly finding myself telling sellers that they can get more than they had hoped to receive. Reverse was true last year.
Some find my thoughts about the Sacramento real estate market hard to swallow. I joke around and say: whatever you think your house was worth a few years ago, just add $100,000 to it. Not in all cases, of course, but in many I am right. Especially in the $299,000 range from 2011 to 2013. Many homes in the price range are now worth at least $399,000. The upper-end price points are fairing nicely as well, too, just less demand. Much of the pressure is on the entry-level homes.
Our median price point for Sacramento County is $355,000 for the month of July, but our days on market have dropped to 18 days. Median prices mean half have sold for more and half have sold for less. When I compare this to my own production, apart from matching almost exactly median prices, my listings are doing superbly better than that. Looking over the past 5 months, from March 15th to August 15th, I’ve sold my listings on average in 7 days, with many homes selling within 4 days. My average list-price-to-sales-price-ratio during that time period is 102%. From $347,945 to selling at $354,120. That means my sellers make on average 2% more, yet I charge the same commission I have always charged for the past 43 years.
Further, most of my listings sell without any repairs, renegotiations or buyer credits, which puts even more money into my seller’s pockets. That’s what sellers have come to expect. Although, I did have a seller ask me a few days ago why we did not hold an open house all day long. What? He could not believe it was only 2 hours. I had to explain 2 hours is the industry standard for an open house and during our Extravaganza, we do hold homes open for 3 hours one Sunday every month. But I want to keep him happy, so we’ll do a 4-hour open house for him.
One of my sellers contacted me yesterday to ask about selling a home in Elk Grove, and whether I could get it sold by September. Yes, I probably can. I know her home, as I had it listed 7 years ago before she decided not to sell. I thought, oh, I have photos for this, but I looked at the pictures. Wow. My standards have changed over the past 7 years. Can’t use those photos. I’d rather be found dead and naked in the streets than publish those photos. But I did get to share my thoughts about Sacramento real estate and my incredible news that I earned number one agent at Lyon Real Estate last month. The seller replied, “I knew I liked you for a reason.” Made my day!
Photo: The mushroom at William Land Park, Elizabeth Weintraub. Last Sunday was the first time I had ever seen water pour from it. This mushroom is also a portal in Ingress.
Market Charts From the #1 Agent at Lyon Real Estate for July
15-month snapshot of housing market in Sacramento County as of July 2017.
While I did not expect to be named the #1 agent at Lyon Real Estate last month, it’s still gratifying to know the Elizabeth Weintraub Team is continuing to perform as a dominant force in the Sacramento housing market. I looked at the fact I spent a week visiting my sister in Minneapolis and a little over two weeks in Hawaii between June and July, but I never stop working regardless of where I may physically have been. That means the production we pumped out for July is pretty incredible, I suppose, given the circumstances. My team members were also visiting Europe, the East Coast and the Bay Area as well, so we all managed to get in a few trips while keeping track of Sacramento real estate.
Unlike many Sacramento Realtors, I don’t tally my active listings and sold sales. Don’t waste time keeping track until the year is over. Nose to the grindstone. My clients can’t believe it. They ask, incredulously: “How do you not know how many listings you have?” Because it doesn’t matter when they all sell. So, it was surprising to hear I am the #1 agent at Lyon Real Estate for last month. What’s even more surprising is how the housing market behaved in Sacramento County for the month of July. We saw an uptick in inventory over the previous month by almost 15%, however, that increase was not enough to satisfy the demand. The inventory is still low as compared to last year at this time. The number of homes for sale in Sacramento County is down more than 16% from July of 2016.
Below are two more interesting charts that reflect the housing market activity in Sacramento County for July of 2017.
Average square foot prices in Sacramento County over the past 15 months.
You don’t have to be a math wizard to understand that prices in Sacramento County are rising. This chart shows the average square foot price moving from $202 in May of 2016 all the way to $222 in July of 2017. It’s up over 8% from a year ago. Except for a seasonal dip in December and January, which is normal, our average square foot costs in Sacramento have been on a steady climb since then.
You’ve got questions, I’m sure. Will prices continue to rise? Will prices fall? Will prices remain the same and level off at some point? I’m fairly certain prices will not fall. For prices to fall, we would need to experience deceased demand for housing, coupled with a big jump in inventory and perhaps rising interest rates, and none of those things seem to be happening. Plus, buyers are telling us is they feel an urgency to buy now before prices go up further and they are priced out of the market all together. Few people want to be a renter forever.
Days on market in Sacramento County show a downward trend.
Will you look at this chart of the average days on market for Sacramento County? It is unbelievable. Last year at this time, the average time to sell a home in Sacramento County was on the upswing. Not in 2017, though. Ever since February, our days on market have been falling. My average days on market for most of my listings is probably close to 4 to 5 days, so I am beating the average countywide statistics. I put a home on the market on Thursday night at midnight, and by Monday morning, it is often in escrow, with multiple offers.
This is a fabulous time to be a seller in Sacramento County. If you’re thinking about waiting until next year, you’re playing with the odds. If there is a 50% chance of rain in the forecast, it means you need to carry an umbrella because it’s going to rain. The time to sell a home is now. I’ve been in the business for 43 years, and I’ve never in my entire life seen a better time to sell a home than today. Don’t count on the market continuing in the seller’s favor. It could level and become neither a seller’s nor a buyer’s market. The only constant is change.
If you’re thinking about selling your home, why not call July’s #1 agent at Lyon Real Estate and bump up your odds of success? Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. I’m never too busy to take on new business. Lyon Real Estate has almost 1,000 agents in Sacramento. We are the largest independently owned company in Sacramento and a market leader.
Charts: Trendgraphix, used with permission.
There is a Buyer for Every Sacramento Home
In the mind of this Sacramento real estate agent, there are no bad homes to sell in Sacramento because there is a buyer for every Sacramento home. I have learned this the hard way over decades, and I’m sharing you the pain of wondering if your home will sell because it will. You just need the right buyer for it. There is a buyer for every home. Even homes that are in the wrong location or have some other sort of defect.
Now, an experienced real estate agent will figure out from the get-go who that buyer is and target that buyer. You don’t need 20 buyers for your home, and you don’t need 15 multiple offers. A seller needs that one buyer who wants the home and will close escrow at terms agreeable to both parties. It really is that simple. There is no need to complicate the situation.
For example, last week I listed a couple of homes that are very different from each other. One home is close to the Foothill Farms neighborhood, near Madison. The sellers were concerned that they needed to rip out the carpeting and replace it. They also were thinking about pulling off the wall the entire tub and shower combination and installing new. A cabinet drawer was not seated properly in the kitchen. That drawer was a concern for the sellers. I made my suggestions, which were minimal and probably not what I imagine the sellers were expecting to hear. I helped them to locate a couple contractors.
I also correctly identified who the buyer would be and, sure enough, that’s exactly who we are in escrow with today. I described that person to a T. That’s who bought it, too. And this is not a person I personally know, in case you’re wondering. This is what experience brings to my sellers. They can pay the same for a new agent as for an experienced agent, and experience tends to provide better results.
The other home was an astonishing disaster. Not at all what I had been expecting or what the sellers had imagined. They hadn’t seen the home in 25 years. It was, for lack of a better phrase, a shambles. But have no fear, there is a buyer for this kind of home, too. That buyer is a flipper, a person who will try to negotiate the lowest price possible to maximize future potential profit. I know the kind of buyer we’re dealing with, and we have a few of those buyers right now vying for this home. The right one will buy it. Because there is a buyer for every home.
There is a Limit to How Much Help a Sacramento Real Estate Agent Can Give
Elizabeth Weintraub can help with relocation referrals.
If your home isn’t selling in Sacramento, call Elizabeth Weintraub, a top-producer Sacramento real estate agent, to fix it. She’ll know exactly what to do, what’s wrong with it and how to correctly price that home. That seems to the general consensus lately based on some of the phone calls I’ve received. While it is true, and I try to help everybody if I can, there are only so many hours in the day and, besides, let’s face it, if it’s not my listing, I don’t get paid for this assistance. I am not a nonprofit entity. Agents don’t work for free (unless they’re working on short sales in bankruptcy). If you’re not planning on canceling your listing, don’t call me. This agent cannot interfere in another agent’s listing. If you’re canceling your listing, though, that’s another story.
People call and say I found you online, and you seem to be so smart with great reviews, I need some help. Sure, flatter and then stab me in the heart when you say you’re working with another agent. I’ve asked sellers why they stay with an agent who is not producing results and whom they complain about, because I don’t understand that attitude. It sounds so defeatist. Maybe it’s like people who are attracted to torture and get off on it, what do you call those people, there’s a noun for that, oh, yeah, politicians.
Another agent in Sacramento asked yesterday if I would be willing to meet with him privately and advise on best real estate practices and marketing plans for his brokerage. Do I look like a representative at the Small Business Association? I am a hard-working real estate broker who sells real estate under the Lyon banner in a four-county area in Sacramento. I run a business. My own business. I have team members who support and work with me. My own clients to take care of and produce results for. Even if the agent was willing to pay me, I don’t work in the field of agent support.
This is what happens when a person gives advice on the internet. People tend to forget that you are a business entity who works 12 hours a day in her own business. That’s not to say I don’t answer a quick question here and there or that I wouldn’t help an agent if I could be of assistance, but that’s not really my job.
My job is to sell homes for my sellers and make sure home buyers get into a home. If you want to buy or sell a home in Sacramento, please call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916 233 6759. If you need a referral to an agent elsewhere, I’ll be happy to assist.
