why listing agents are like public prosecutors
Why a Listing Agent Specialist is Like a Public Prosecutor
My prediction is it’s the wave of the future: a listing agent specialist in Sacramento and an exclusive buyer’s agent versus your average Joe Blow Sacramento Agent. When you think about this, it will make more sense if you consider the way public prosecutors and public defense lawyers operate. They are both lawyers who passed the Bar. They might have had the same training and attended the same law school. But they are different from each other.
A public prosecutor works for the state, usually. The prosecutor’s job is to obtain a conviction. The defense, on the other hand, could be a private lawyer or appointed by the court to raise reasonable doubt and get the defendant out of jail. Opposite goals.
You would never see a public prosector state a case against the defendant and then run over to the other side of the courtroom and try to present a defense for the defendant. Hold on Your Honor, I have to take off my prosecutor’s hat and put on my defense hat. But you see this happen in Sacramento real estate all the time. It’s the goofiest way to do business. Based on greed, mostly.
I recall an elderly woman who called last year while I was furniture shopping. She demanded to know if I had sold a home on her street. She planned to hire only an agent who sells on her street. Even if that agent had no real experience, if the agent sold a home two doors down, that’s good enough for her. That seemed a bit narrowly focused to me. Around the corner is not good enough? She did not want to hire a listing agent specialist. But that’s exactly who she needed.
It’s bad enough some sellers consider hiring only a neighborhood agent. That neighborhood agent might sell one home every couple of months, on a rinse-and-repeat procedure. Whereas, a listing agent specialist might sell a couple of homes a week. Each with custom designed marketing plans designed to produce top dollar.
Long ago I decided against working with both buyers and sellers. I chose to become a listing agent specialist. Now that my focus is solely sellers, I have developed far superior skills than I used to possess. I see it in my results. I also chose the entire Sacramento area to be my territory. Thinking big. And now it is my territory.
My team members have been trained by me to work exclusively with buyers. Imagine the stellar service they provide when they’re showing 30 to 40 homes a week! They don’t give a hoot about sellers because their focus is buyers and what is in the buyer’s best interest. Just like my job is to protect seller’s equity. My focus is getting top dollar for sellers in very creative ways. We have opposite goals. As it should be.
We have developed highly refined ways of doing business because we specialize in client representation. Completely different experiences and strategies. Listing a home is not like buying a home. And buying a home is not like listing a home.
So the next time your agent wants to represent you as a seller and also work with you to buy a home, think about whether you would like a prosecutor to also be your defense lawyer. You truly deserve complete service with undivided attention from a professional. To learn more, call The Elizabeth Weintraub Team at 916.233.6759.