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About Sacramento Realtors Making Decisions for Clients
Probably one of the hardest things a Sacramento Realtor does daily is to pull herself out of the transaction and let the parties make their own decisions. I often see other agents earnestly advising their clients and getting very upset when the clients choose the opposite action. They might believe the clients are making a life-altering mistake or they are offended that the client hasn’t taken their advice, and what they generally tend to forget is the all-important fact that, hey, they don’t own the house, for example, the seller does, or their buyer is about to.
The other thing is just because a client disagrees with her agent doesn’t mean the client is wrong. Clients make decisions based on the way they perceive the information at hand and from their own life experiences, which might be very different from the way a Realtor interprets the situation. We are not White Knight agents, and should try to not get so wrapped up in a transaction that we can’t be impartial, if need be. Sacramento Realtors need to be the individuals with clear vision and a focus. We are the people our clients rely on. We are often the bedrock, the guide.
As a top producer Realtor in Sacramento, there are times that I find myself believing my clients are making an error, which is why I bring this up. Because I quickly let go of those thoughts, especially when the client is adamant. My job is to explain the pros and cons of a situation to my clients and to allow my clients the dignity of making their own decisions. If I were remiss and did not fully deliver the facts as I see them, then I would be at fault, and I never want to be at fault. I can even say, I think you’re making a mistake, but that’s where I draw the line.
Clients need to make their own decisions, and Realtors should deliver the information that will help clients to format the best solution. Realtors cannot and should not try to make any decision on behalf of the client.
Although, when I receive an offer for one of my sellers, I will try to share my thoughts on the offer, but whether to accept, counter or reject is always up to the seller. Because you never know which way it will go, never. If you think you do, you’re only fooling yourself. That’s what I’ve learned over the past 40 years in real estate. We can’t accurately predict all outcomes. Sometimes, even the strangest things will happen. The consequences, though, whatever they may be, belong to the client.
What Kind of Sacramento Real Estate Agent Does That?
It’s not unusual for an agent to hire this Sacramento real estate agent, or for any of my clients to have held at some point in their lives a California real estate salesperson license, because roughly 1 in every 35 people in California has a real estate license. Having passed the real estate exam and being entitled to practice real estate for 4 years, however, is no guarantee of knowledge, and it certainly does not reflect experience, yet there is a certain comradery among us agents.
I say this because I just closed a real estate transaction in Fair Oaks for a couple of sisters, one of which is a real estate agent. They found me online and read many of my blogs, articles on About.com, and were impressed with my decades of experience. But they still wanted to interview several other agents. Actually, I don’t know if they ever did because after they hired me it didn’t matter. I presented a strong case to choose me over another agent they were considering because I have a strong case to present. I don’t have to sugarcoat any facts or make myself sound better than I am to attract clients.
After the sale of this particular duplex closed escrow, I called to let the sellers know I had received confirmation of closing. It’s important that I speak directly to the sellers when a transaction closes, even if we’ve been communicating all along through email or text. I don’t want take a chance of a technology failure to deliver the news. So, I do the old-fashioned thing: press my Bluetooth earpiece and demand a phone call.
Sellers often like to reminisce during these types of conversations, and this seller was no different, even though she was a real estate agent. She said that what I did to truly earn my commission in her eyes was how I handled the situation when we received an offer that was $9,000 below list price. I advised her to issue a counter offer at list price because I believed she could get list price.
I didn’t deliver this advice off the top of my head. I studied the way the offer was written, reviewed the proof of funds (it was all cash), looked up the history and production of the buyer’s agent, analyzed the deposit check, among a myriad of other things that I do upon receipt of a purchase offer. Sellers pay me to think, not to react without consideration. I’m not a messenger, I am a negotiator. Given the present inventory on the market, and the attractive price of this duplex, I believed the seller could demand list price so that’s what I advised her to do, to counter back to list price. Which was accepted, btw.
There is a fine line between telling a seller what to do and advising a seller. I am not a White Knight Agent. I don’t make decisions for my clients. I deeply care that my clients are informed, and I deliver my advice based on experience and knowledge. I’ve worked with agents who get themselves all worked up into a lather and somehow superimpose themselves into the escrow, which creates horrible nightmares. I don’t lose sight of my position nor fabricate answers for my clients.
The seller asked out loud yesterday, after her reflection on events: What kind of agent does that? What kind of agent tells a seller she should counter? I guess this one. She seemed to be blown away that a Sacramento real estate agent would actually do what is best for her client. Although, I don’t really understand why. We have a fiduciary to our clients. It doesn’t matter to me if the seller wants to accept a purchase offer or send a counter offer or ignore the offer as long as the seller is happy. I suppose I should ask her for a review.
How to Work With Emotional Real Estate Agents
Do you ever have days when you feel compelled to tell some whiny person to just put a sock in it? I’m not talking about my husband, in case he’s reading this and wondering. It’s the buyer’s agents who can get all excited and turn into white knight agents, turning up the volume and drama over some piddly little thing, when the agent hasn’t even spoken to the buyer. A Sacramento real estate agent can’t take this kind of stuff personally because it’s not personal. It’s some other agent’s misaligned ego that’s doing the talking.
This is not to say that to be successful in real estate that an agent needs a skin as thick as an Everglades alligator. To the contrary, good real estate agents need a really big heart and hearts can be broken. More important is the ability to put situations into perspective, to be calm, rational and think things through before reacting.
I suspect that the aforementioned is called adulthood, although I’m not really sure. Because not having any kids to use as a measuring stick, I’m not certain I have fully developed into an adult. The days all sort of look the same to me, and then one day I look in the mirror and I’m over 60. Unsupervised because my parents are dead and gone. Nobody to account to but myself.
People tell me I have an even temperament. Probably because I am not the type of person to explode as my immediate reaction to something seemingly stupid — even if inside my brain I’m thinking WTF, I don’t say it until I’ve thought through the situation. Like, take a buyer’s agent who asks me if the seller will accept, oh, say, $50,000 less on a brand new extremely well priced listing. An agent will ask that question because buyers asked.
Instead, I wonder why that agent has not studied the comparable sales in the neighborhood. I wonder why the agent hasn’t taken the time to educate her client. I wonder why the agent is in real estate, and how long it will take before she ends up behind the counter at Starbucks. But I don’t say any of those things. I just ask why. Asking questions is the best way to diffuse potentially explosive situations. It’s also a good way to find out what another person is really thinking before jumping to conclusions.
