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Establishing Priorities from a Top Sacramento Listing Agent
Establishing priorities comes very easy to this top Sacramento listing agent. For example, after 44 years in the real estate business, I know what is important. People who rely on you. Younger agents are often all over the board on this but not me. Just like Lyon Real Estate values its agents and makes agents its #1 priority, I identify with that approach and have established my own priorities. Lyon has always been good to me (except that one time a long time ago). Everybody makes mistakes.
But I am not a drama queen.
If a loose cannon gets bent out of shape, Lyon will smooth it over because they take care of their agents. I know without a doubt that the managing broker of my office always has my back. No matter what. They know me, my personality, my quirks, as I’ve been working at the Sacramento midtown office of Lyon for 15 years now. That’s a long time not to jump ship, fly the nest. Because Lyon is a good brokerage. #1 in Sacramento. I am also its #2 agent, out of 17 offices and almost 1,000 agents.
Establishing priorities for me means I never ask my team members to do something I would not do myself for them. I screen many of our buyers, too, and will jump into any transaction if I am needed. Barbara Dow and Josh Amolsch are not just team members to me. Or only marvelous exclusive buyer’s agents, which they are. They are also my dear friends and I love them to pieces. Moving heaven and earth for either is not too much to ask.
All three of us have a method of operation identical to each other. Establishing priorities for us means one thing. Our clients come first. They always come first. Like yesterday, I caught a community theatre performance of The Addams Family the Musical. What a hoot. But a client texted and wanted to discuss a potential buyer. I shared all the information I had during intermission.
Sure, I could have gone to the concession stand and picked up a bottle of ice cold water, but no I sat thirsty in my seat (because I am demented) and texted with all of the parties involved. Primarily the seller. My sellers know everything. I keep no secrets. Because I only work with sellers I care about and, sure, some are more challenging but that does not make anyone any less deserving of stellar service. I care about each and every client.
Some of this is probably because my own immediate family, outside of my husband (also an orphan), has shriveled. My brother died a year ago, my parents are gone, and I have only a sister and niece, whom I rarely see. An aunt in New York who doesn’t write. My other sister has faded into non-existence, blended into a lonely wall in her house where she sits all alone.
In a way, the sellers I work with become my family. My team members are also family. I dunno, do you think that is weird?
How Long Did It Take to Sell a Southside Park Bungalow at 411 U Street?
Before I tell you how long it took to sell a Southside Park bungalow over on 5th and U Streets, I can share a few other details leading up to this. I know people see the days on market and wonder if they should go into Sacramento real estate. It all looks so easy. Although it is not that easy, and I suspect some people find it difficult to believe. They do not understand why the professional agents, those like me with four decades in real estate, can turn over inventory so fast. Couldn’t possibly be because we know what we’re doing, now could it? Must be because the market is so danged hot.
Well, I’ve got news for you. The market is not all that danged hot anymore. I keep saying it, but we are on the tail end of the seller’s market. Because I’ve weathered four decades of real estate and been through a dozen up-and-down markets, I know how to adjust to market conditions. My marketing is chameleon-like. It changes with the market movement. You know how chameleons change colors depending on their environment? If they land on green grass, they turn green. They become brown when crawling up a tree trunk. Well, that’s what I do.
I first started to work on this property last April when I was in Hawaii. In fact, continued to work on it when I made my next trip to Hawaii in June. We got the pest report, which was minimal, not even $500. Which is unusual for a Southside Park bungalow home built in 1927. The seller took meticulous care of this home. We made a number of trips to the house to advise the seller on preparation.
While looking over the comparable sales, I decided to advise the seller to increase the price he initially had agreed upon. We could get more money, given the competition at the time we went on the market. Sure enough, first day on the market, an interested buyer popped up. She has $100,000 to put down. But she spent too much time thinking about making a purchase. Enter a second buyer. Then a third buyer.
The third buyer, well, I thought we’d get an offer from that agent but in the meanwhile, the agent with the second buyer called. Of course, I let her know about buyers #1 and buyers #3. We could get an offer from either one of those buyers any minute. So she swooped in with an offer for her buyers and the seller accepted. Just as a courtesy, I let the other agents know the Southside Park bungalow is now pending.
This is how buyers lose a home. Not acting fast enough.
411 U Street, Sacramento, CA 95818 is pending after 5 days on market. Darn, I’m all out of listings again.
Closed Another Woodside Oaks Condo in Alicante Villas
Some agents have implied that selling a Woodside Oaks condo is too difficult because they believe the HOA dues are too high, so they take too long to sell and agents won’t get a fast sale. Me, I’ve never worried about fast sales. Like I told a seller today, he should go on the market by early June to capture what’s left of our spring market, but he can also wait until he’s ready. Now is optimum for highest concentration of buyers. But if he’s not ready, I’m not gonna push. I’ll wait until next year. Makes no difference to me, although it might to him.
The story of the sale of this Woodside Oaks condo started in January, when I was still working from our second house in Hawaii. I talked with the seller about her objectives. Studied the photos. The flooring was painted cement. A few of the accent walls were deep purple. Nice urban vibe but not right for the market. I suggested painting the walls and installing engineered wood.
This seller had called me because she found out I had just closed another Woodside Oaks condo in that complex. I was happy to help, and I love this complex. It’s so quiet, especially with speed bumps up and down Sierra, and most of the layout is not aligned with Sierra. The HOA amenities make it feel like you’re living at a resort. I’d gladly take any condo listing in Alicante Villas. They are apartment conversions but you’d never know it to look at the units.
We went on the market in early April and immediately attracted an offer from a referral. The referral was a Realtor. Who should have known that she can’t buy that condo as an owner occupant when her first home had not yet sold. There is a 70% rental occupancy in that complex, so no non-owner occupied loans allowed. No sooner did we go into escrow than this situation reared its head and the whole thing quickly canceled.
Enter next buyer, a few days later. This buyer did not offer list price, which was aggressive pricing, yes, but this a seller’s market. We countered at full list price and the buyer accepted. Now, one of the stipulations was the home is sold AS IS, no credits, no repairs, no renegotiations. Sure enough, the buyer asked the seller to repair several plumbing leaks and replace an electrical receptacle, which the seller refused.
However, the appraisal came in $2,000 low. The reason being an agent at my own brokerage with another listing in the complex blabbed to the appraiser and divulged the the sales price of her pending sale. Which was less than ours. So the appraiser came in $2,000 low. Why do appraisers do that, do you think? He could have certainly given us $2,000 for the new flooring and excellent condition of the condo. Petty.
Since we won rejection of the repair request, the seller appeared willing to split the difference in the appraisal with the buyer. Although I suggested she make the buyer pay the entire difference. It was not the seller’s fault the buyer was forced to get a loan. But I also leave these decisions up to the parties. It’s not my house. She can follow my advice or no.
Ultimately, the seller’s choice was to eat $1,000 and the buyer paid $1,000 more. We closed on the Woodside Oaks condo a few days early, on May 10th. Then, the evening of the 10th, the buyer’s agent emailed me a notice that was attached to the door. Guess he did not do a final walkthrough with the buyer or he would have caught this a few days earlier, and not after closing. When there is no seller liability over an unknown circumstance.
It was a notice from the Sacramento Building Permits and Inspection Code Enforcement. Which means some anonymous person contacted the County and filed a complaint, claiming there was unpermitted construction going on at this condo. Except, of course, there was not any unpermitted construction. Was it a neighbor? Was it another agent in the complex? Agents are fiercely envious and would throw their own grandparents under the bus.
Doesn’t matter. It’s the buyer’s problem now. Thanks, friendly good-doer, NOT.
548 Woodside Oaks, #5, Sacramento, CA 95825 closed on May 10, 2018 at $174,000. If you’d like to sell a condo in Woodside Oaks, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.
Why Agents Should Explain all Home Selling Documents to Sellers
Explaining all home selling documents to sellers helps to avoid confusion later.
Home selling documents are not as simple and straight forward as some of us like to believe. Especially when you’re been in the real estate business for as many decades as I have, I have probably forgotten about more documents than the existing home selling documents we use today. We Sacramento listing agents can become complacent and assume sellers know everything when sellers usually know very little.
Even if the seller has sold homes in the past, almost every transaction is different, unique in some way. The home selling documents can also vary from transaction to transaction.
My client reminded me of this yesterday. I was working away on my computer set up out on my lanai, often pausing to look out at the white sail boats on the horizon when my phone rang with the song Sigh No More from Much Ado About Nothing. That’s my clue that I have a text. I love that melody. It makes me receptive to text messages. See how I set up those things?
My client had just arrived in Boise, Idaho, brrr. She texted me photos of the snow and remarked about the cold weather. We talked about a few things and then she said she was working on fixing an electrical problem and correcting something else in the house. I wondered why. So I asked her. She said the buyer put defects on the home selling document so she was fixing them.
Hmmm . . . I reminded her that the buyers did submit a Request for Repair, but that was for pest work, and we rejected it anyway. Her home is sold AS IS without any repairs. Certainly no electrical. My client said she found the repairs noted on the CR. That did not make sense to me. I asked for an explanation.
Well, she sent me the buyer’s agent AVID (agent visual inspection disclosure). The agent noted a few things that he knew did not work properly. This is why my client thought she needed to fix those things.
No, she doesn’t need to fix anything. I explained the home selling document is simply a disclosure. Sure, there have been times when a seller has argued with me over my listing agent AVID, demanding I change disclosures I made, and it can’t be done. Each agent makes his or her own disclosures and they stand on their own merit. It’s not a request for work. It can even be wrong. It’s just an agent’s observation.
I cannot begin to tell you how relieved my client sounded in her text message. I’m glad that I probed and discovered which of the home selling documents she misinterpreted. We Sacramento Realtors can’t take any document for granted. Sellers don’t work with these daily like we do. We need to stop and explain more. Nobody is ever offended when an agent tries to help.
Timing on Market is Key With Sacramento Listings
Timing on market in Sacramento can help to generate excitement and higher offers.
Part of the problem I am facing as a top listing agent in Sacramento, odd as this might sound, is with timing on market; I can’t keep any listings in inventory. Soon as I put a home on the market, we get a bunch of offers and it sells. I honestly don’t think I’ve had a listing stay in active status longer than a week lately. I compare it to the days when I used to put together large dinner parties. I could spend 3 days on my feet, chopping, cooking, creating a Chinese feast and, within 20 minutes, the food is devoured and gone.
Everybody has this impression that I have a whole bunch of listings when I might have 2 or 3 active listings all together. This is a far cry from the days when I handled 75 listings at once, back in the days of short sales when it could take 6 months to a year to close. In those days, the listings piled up. I was generally at my computer at 5 AM. Now that I am taking a couple of new listings a week on average, it’s almost like I’m on vacation. I have plenty of time to invest in taking care of my clients.
I’m working through the Memorial Day weekend, too, but many other agents are not. Buyers are taking a break from looking at homes, too. There is a spectacular new listing in Curtis Park ready for the market, but why would I advise a seller to put it on the market over Memorial Day? I would not. Because I want what is best for my seller and the highest price. I do not want days on market accumulating due to low demand on a holiday weekend. The odds are the home will sell by the first Lyon open house extravaganza in June.
Timing on market is key. If we went on the market today, when fewer buyers are looking, we could very easily a) not expose ourselves to the largest pool possible of buyers (which drives demand and price) and b) our days on market by next week would be 10. By just holding back a little bit, we can come on the market with a huge explosion!
Besides, everybody will be back at work Tuesday morning and wishing they were not. They will be looking at homes online, you can betcha. And here will be this brand new listing, shiny and happy and ready to buy. Not some dated thing that had the tires kicked by lookie loos over the weekend. But I am a huge proponent for timing on market. I’m not one of those agents who throw everything into MLS, whenever, without thought, in hopes something will stick for a fast buck.
My sellers deserve better. They deserve a prepared marketing plan with a purpose, and a Sacramento Realtor who cares about them.
