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A Tip for Sacramento Real Estate Investors
At least a couple of times a week, this Sacramento REALTOR receives an email from a potential investor or investment group, wanting to buy homes in Sacramento. Many of these Sacramento real estate investors are investment LLCs are based in Sacramento. The managing partners and owners generally hold an active real estate license and are typically members of MetroList, our local MLS. This means they have the ability to look up homes to buy to their heart’s content . . . so, why do they email this real estate agent?
I imagine there are several possibilities. Some Sacramento real estate investors desire preferential treatment, they expect to be pushed to the front of the line in the event of multiple offers. An agent can’t grant that kind of preference because it’s against the law. To sweeten the deal and tempt agents who are, let’s just say perhaps lacking in ethics training, investors might offer to let the listing agent represent them in a dual agency situation and collect up to twice the commission. Although, they would not admit this to anybody’s face.
One investor went so far as to send me his list of “preferred” agents so I could look up the identity and records of all the real estate agents who were most likely to throw their sellers under the bus to work with him. Every one of those agents double-ended deals with that investor. Nice going. I’ll be on the look-out for those guys.
A better way to buy homes in Sacramento for an investment portfolio is NOT to try to bribe real estate agents. Although, I bet a few investors are reading this and sneering at the moment, while a few others are drawing a circle with a big red X over my face. A better way to buy homes in Sacramento is to follow the listings of the agents who tend to list a lot of property.
How would Sacramento real estate investors do that? It’s easy. Sort of like Twitter. Just set up a hotsheet search in MLS using that agent’s identification as the parameter — which is noted on every listing and can also be located under the Search tab for Agent / Office. Then, when that agent lists a new property, bingo, the MLS will email it to the investor who set up the search. I suspect a few Sacramento investors already have hotsheets set up for my Weintraub listings because some of them call me within minutes of a new listing hitting MLS.
If their offer is the best for the seller, the seller takes it. Sometimes, the early bird gets the worm. Investors don’t have to resort to under-handed tactics to buy homes in Sacramento.
Which reminds me, there is an article published today in the Billings Gazette (Montana) about investment groups. The reporter interviewed this Sacramento REALTOR and used my comments in a sidebar. You might be interested in reading Investors Hunting for Gold in Billings Real Estate Market. That advice applies nationwide.
Why Agent Feedback is Crucial to a Sacramento Agent
One of the services I provide for my sellers are listing updates with agent feedback. Nobody wants to list her home for sale in Sacramento and then hear nothing back whatsoever from her Sacramento real estate agent. A seller who never receives any communication from her agent might think her agent isn’t working on selling that listing, when little could be further from the truth. The agent could be working her tail off but just not pulling up any buyers. Some agents think if they have no news or no good news, then a seller doesn’t want to hear about it, but a seller wants to know everything.
Every night, before I leave my home office — way before my husband starts hollering at me to turn off the computer because dinner is ready — I check my home showings for the day. Each lockbox has a serial number engraved on it, which I register for each listing. As a result, I can lookup an online report to see who has accessed my Weintraub listings. The report tells me:
- The time the agent opened the lockbox to get the key
- The name of the agent’s broker
- The agent’s email address
- The agent’s office number
- The agent’s cellphone number
It’s also a helpful report if an agent has accessed a pending listing that should never, ever, be entered without express permission from the listing agent. Yet, some buyer’s agents will not bother to read MLS showing instructions or they figure the listing is vacant so it doesn’t matter. It does matter, and this Sacramento real estate agent will follow up to get agent feedback. My sellers deserve it. This is why in some areas of Sacramento where this kind of unauthorized activity is notorious, I might suggest a seller not allow a lockbox or I might remove it when the homes moves into pending status.
Every night I email agents for agent feedback to ask what their buyers thought of the home they toured that day. I offer my assistance. I try to find out if the agents have any questions or if their buyers have questions. I’m looking for positive and negative feedback, because my seller wants to hear all of it. And then I send the feedback to the my seller, even if it’s feedback I am afraid my seller might not want to hear.
Based on the agent feedback, we can make adjustments, if necessary, to the listing. It’s not always the sales price, either. You can bet that I will take a positive feature and run with the benefit when buyers gush over it. If there is a negative aspect, I’ll offer a solution.
If you want to buy or sell a home in Sacramento, call your Sacramento real estate agent, Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759, Lyon RE. Put 39 years of experience to work for you.
