Sacramento Realtor Last Sale for 2014 Still Closed from Vanuatu

Boy with coconut in Tanoliu, Efate island

Sitting on stage with 3 other Realtors at the Zillow Summit Conference in Sacramento last fall, Brad, our moderator, asked each of us where we thought our dollar volume would end the year. I quickly did the math in my head based on my position for that particular quarter and came up with the number of $30 million. Looks like I exceeded that number this year with my last closing for this Sacramento Realtor for 2014.

Boy climbing coconut tree on Efate Island, Vanuatu

I’m pretty good at predicting outcomes and making accurate forecasts. I recall telling my assistant the exact number of closings that would probably happen while I was on my month-long vacation and how I needed her to also follow up with each of the sellers in case my WiFi went kafooey in the South Pacific, specifically the country of Vanuatu. I was correct in my prediction and a little less than half of my present escrows closed in December and the rest are rolling into January, due to buyer’s loan difficulties. Loans are tough right now.

My last home sale of the year is the third home I have sold for this client. She chose me as her Sacramento Realtor several years ago based on studying agents she found online. When I asked her what made me stand out, it was my eyes, she said. My eyes have an honest look to them, and I seem like a regular person to her, she replied. I like to think I am very direct and straight forward with people, and I also know this can make people very uncomfortable, so I use that skill to my advantage.

Grandchildren of Lietau Harry in Tanoliu, Efate island, Vanuatu

I will always tell my clients the truth, even if it’s painful for them to hear. The good news for my client for whom I closed my last sale of the year is she got a lot more for her home than she thought she would get. We argued a little over the price because I suggested a higher price, and she was happier with a lower price, or at least she thought she was happier. I guess her plumber or somebody wanted to buy the home and offered her almost $100,000 less than it was worth. She was actually asking me to represent him and put the offer together for her.

Charlie Harry’s eggs in Tanoliu

That wasn’t the best thing for her to do, though. We would get more than one offer, most likely, and eventually we did. It sold at list price without any concessions. The buyer’s loan was a bit delayed by a few weeks, but it did close. I sense overall she was happy. I sent her a text message and an email the day it closed, and she seemed relieved.

WWII Museum, Tanoliu, Efate Island

Just about the time that sale closed, I finished Neil Young’s biography by Jimmy McDonough while in Vanuatu and am following it with Young’s own memoir Special Deluxe. Sometimes we are better off not knowing the inside story of our heroes but I will say this: Neil Young, despite his follies, screw ups and drug-related future regrets, tried to keep it real. I admire him for that. I also have a regret. I regret promising an exboyfriend from Minneapolis, a recovering alcoholic whose name I no longer recall, that if we got back together I would never make him listen to Neil Young again. He was a shmuck for breaking up with me but I was a bigger schmuck to make such a promise we both knew I would never keep.

Big bananas in Tanoliu, Efate Island, Vanuatu

So, there you have it. None of us is perfect.

The point is even though I am sitting here on my humongous hammock tied by four ropes to four poles overlooking Havannah Harbor and watching ocean waves rush to shore on Efate Island, I care deeply that my clients are treated right and get what they ultimately deserve. Because if it wasn’t for them, I would not be sitting on this humongous hammock in Vanuatu with my laptop realizing it is not the geckos knocking on my door at 5 AM. It is the myna birds imitating a door knock.