The Tale of Multiple Offers for a Home in Rancho Cordova
When I first inspected the home in Rancho Cordova that I was about to list, I instinctively knew I could make this the type of home that would fall into multiple-offer territory. That’s what 40-plus years in the real estate business and thousands of transactions gives you. You can explain this to sellers, but they don’t always believe you because how could this Sacramento Realtor standing in their living room be able to accurately predict how fast the home will sell and to what kind of buyer? Experience matters.
To attract multiple offers, I tend to shun bluntness because some buyers won’t make an offer if they know it will be a battle, and we generally want every interested buyer to make an offer. I don’t often advertise the fact in MLS, as general practice. Yet, I do network with agents. One of my very favorite real estate agents called when this home hit the market. She was working with a buyer and hoped to submit an offer; reiterated over and over how this home in Rancho Cordova was perfect for her buyer.
Well, it didn’t happen. My friend didn’t show the home in Rancho Cordova. During the dozen or so offers we received, my friend called to say her buyer had jumped ship. Simply abandoned her out of the blue. The buyer instead selected an agent from the Bay Area. Since the buyer was no longer working with my friend, my friend told me all about the buyer, her hopes, dreams, desires, and I now possessed an extremely accurate profile of this particular buyer. Information I could use during multiple offers.
It’s a small world in Sacramento real estate.
I advised my seller to counter only two offers. The rest were not even close to the sales price this home sold for, which was 10% over list price. How can you work in real estate in Sacramento and not know this is a seller’s market? This market reminds me of fishing for mackerel in Maine. You dangle your dropper lines with a bunch of mackerel flies over the edge of the boat, like this home in Rancho Cordova, and a half dozen mackerel will jump on the hooks. We pushed that buyer to increase her offer, to bridge an appraisal, to buy the home in its AS IS condition and to make the offer contingent on finding a replacement home.
It was open season. My fiduciary is to the seller.
As a result, the sellers bought a new home and closed concurrently with the sale of their home in Rancho Cordova. The buyer even gave these sweet people a few days to move. I had helped my sellers to make a few minor repairs and to employ my home staging tips prior to going on the market. They were amazed with the fabulous results. Even though there were outstanding repairs, our strategy came from a position of strength and experience. Because experience matters in your listing agent.
If you’d like to sell a home in Rancho Cordova or anywhere in Sacramento Valley, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. You can also search for Rancho Cordova homes.