sacramento real estate: Does the Refrigerator Stay in that Sacramento Home?
- 08/04/16 02:42 AM
Is your refrigerator running? As a kid, I used to love to make prank phone calls and ask random people that question, just so I could say: well, you better go catch it, hang up and erupt into fits of laughter. How long ago was that? OK, I did that again just last week. Maybe not. Maybe I thought about it.
Because that question of whether the refrigerators stay with the home continues to pop up in Sacramento real estate. Sometimes agents routinely include that item in the purchase contract when the seller has no intention of leaving certain kitchen appliances, and … (5 comments)
|
sacramento real estate: What's Happening in Sacramento Real Estate?
- 08/02/16 11:38 AM
I've been super busy lining up new listings for our fall Sacramento real estate market. Plus I'm preparing for an upcoming vacation in the Mediterranean. We're spending a few days in Lisbon, cruising to Morocco (hello Casablanca), on to the Rock of Gibraltor, then party-time at Ibiza, relaxing on Mallorca, ending with 5 days in Barcelona.
My laptop is my buddy, and WiFi is abundant for Facetime and email. I always stay in touch. I can't help myself. Doesn't matter how much fun I'm having on vacation, I still can't stop working.
But before I go, let's take a look at the … (6 comments)
|
sacramento real estate: Buying a Home in Sacramento Means Negotiating Your Offer
- 07/31/16 03:09 AM
With some homes in Sacramento, it's very easy to manipulate the situation in order to sell a home for more than list price. Of course, an obvious way to do that is to price the home low, below market value, and try to stir up a feeding frenzy, but that kind of strategy can also backfire. Many homes sell with some sort of negotiation.
I might advise buyers if they definitely want the home, to offer list price, providing it's a fair price. There is nothing wrong with offering a fair price. If it's an 80% desire, maybe offer 5% less. If … (4 comments)
|
sacramento real estate: Where are the Sacramento Sunday Open Houses?
- 07/17/16 02:24 AM
In some parts of Sacramento, it's not a good idea to hold open houses on Sunday because there is no traffic nor excessive interest in certain neighborhoods. However, the Capitol Corridor area always pulls in visitors, and we see good results from our Sunday open houses.
It doesn't necessarily mean that a buyer will sit down at the kitchen table to sign an offer, but it does happen. It generally means a Sunday open house is the buyer's first exposure to the property or perhaps a second visit, and that's enough to bring an offer the following week.
You can read more … (6 comments)
|
sacramento real estate: Buyers and Agents Benefit From House Hunting Tips
- 07/16/16 03:54 AM
Many buyers today pick out their own homes to view, but it still doesn't mean that an agent should not exercise due diligence and make sure those homes fit the buyer's parameters. On top of that, many buyer's agents have the ability to expand the criteria and search for homes in such a way the buyer cannot.
Real estate agents possess the power to tweak criteria to match a profile using resources available only to real estate agents, not the public, among other amazing powers. The public thinks they have the resources but they do not. You can read more about this … (5 comments)
|
sacramento real estate: Buying a House in Sacramento Sight Unseen
- 07/15/16 02:03 AM
Buying a house in Sacramento sight unseen is not only a common occurence for the investors of roboagents, but also some home buyers want to try it so they can submit more than one offer on a variety of houses, which could be prosecutable if the sellers cared to pursue it. It's unethical for the agents whose buyers can't afford to buy more than one home, at the very least, yet it goes on because there's a buck to be made.
The roboagents who represent large investors churn out purchase offers like clockwork on a regular basis, and they could give a hoot … (10 comments)
|
sacramento real estate: Agents Who Insist on Making Decisions for Clients
- 07/14/16 02:13 AM
Not that long ago, a buyer's agent in Sacramento asked if my seller would be willing to let the buyers store stuff prior to closing in the seller's garage. Even though the seller had moved out and the place was vacant, I advised the seller not to do it. It makes me very uneasy when buyers ask for early possession of any sort because of all the things that can go wrong, and there is a long list of stuff that can happen.
I advised my sellers to refuse. The buyers would still close on time. There was no other problem. I … (10 comments)
|
sacramento real estate: The Trouble With Sacramento Home Contractors
- 07/01/16 01:46 AM
As real estate agents, we often give contractor referrals to our clients, but it's our client's responsbility to hire the contractor and make her own decisions. Further, as a solid business practice, I never let contractors put my name on inspection reports and I also ask my clients to order their own inspections. It's their home.
The problem that arises, though, is when you ask a contractor to inspect an item to render an opinion, and the guy (I say guy because it usually is a guy but it could be a woman) instead issues an estimate to replace said item, … (5 comments)
|
sacramento real estate: Wonderful New Listing in Tahoe Park Sacramento
- 06/28/16 11:43 AM
Whenever I take a new listing, I walk through the home to imagine how a buyer will feel, and then I try to convey that feeling to people who read my words. It's a knack some Sacramento Realtors possess. When you're in the business as long as me, which is over 40 years of real estate, you get to immediately recognize the stuff buyers will love when you spot the features.
This is such a home in Tahoe Park. It's stunning, and the fact that an artist lives in the home is readily apparent in every room. You can see all the … (7 comments)
|
sacramento real estate: Mastering the Art of Communication Can Mean Silence
- 06/14/16 09:01 AM
Have you ever noticed people who talk themselves into more trouble than they probably deserve just by not knowing when to shut up? They talk and talk and dig themselves a deeper and deeper hole.
Sometimes it comes off the top of their heads, OK, maybe most of the time. They just don't think before speaking. Like that poor fool in Sacramento who came up with the slogan of taking the short bus to beer at Special Ed's. You don't have to ask what are people thinking because it's obvious they are not.
You can read more about this in my personal … (7 comments)
|
sacramento real estate: Is the Customer or Client Always Right?
- 06/13/16 02:04 AM
An agent near and dear to me was mourning a loss yesterday because her buyers suddenly decided that they should work only with the listing agents on properties. Those buyers ran into what they felt was a possible unethical situation in which the listing agent had his own buyer, so their offer with a different agent was not accepted.
They completely overlooked the fact that the buyer the listing agent was working with lived next door to the sellers in Sacramento, and the sellers knew the buyer, which is why the sellers accepted that offer. It had nothing to do with the … (5 comments)
|
sacramento real estate: Concurrent Closings in Sacramento are Very Doable
- 06/07/16 01:20 AM
Sometimes I run into resistance regarding concurrent closings in Sacramento from other agents. You know, say my seller wants to sell and buy a home, and close both transactions at the same time. When we present the offer to the listing agent of the home my client wants to buy, those agents sometimes balk at closing both on the same day. They think it can't happen.
Not only can it happen, it does happen. Over and over. You just need to handle it correctly. Much of that means staying on top of the agent on the other side, and making sure the … (4 comments)
|
sacramento real estate: What is Your Greatest Fear as a Buyer Agent?
- 05/30/16 02:33 AM
Have you ever had an agent call you all upset over something and was unable to clearly enunciate the problem? I'm sure you have. Not only do we deal with our client's emotions in the Sacramento real estate business, but we also need to manage the emotional rollercoasters some buyer agents present.
Not every agent can remain calm under pressure. Once anxiety hits, it actually disables some agents and can cause miscommunication because they are facing their biggest fear. What is your greatest fear as a buyer agent? Apart from the homeless bag lady stuff . . .
You can read more … (5 comments)
|
sacramento real estate: May is the Month for Sacramento Listing Agent
- 05/17/16 11:05 AM
For buyers, it's the month of April, but our inventory was low in April, and it's still low now. A week ago we had 2,222 listings in Sacramento County, and that number dropped to 2,172 listings as of yesterday. For sellers, it's May. This past week, I think I've put 4 new listings into MLS and another quite possibly tomorrow, on top of looking at another home in Davis on Friday.
I love this activity. Even when I am interrupted by a contractor asking for payment, and I hand over a check, and he says it's too low. I give him another … (4 comments)
|
sacramento real estate: Is an Agent Allowed to Talk with An Appraiser?
- 05/09/16 04:06 AM
The people I am nicest to in the world, besides, say, a masseuse or maybe a mixologist, would be an appraiser. I'm probably even sweeter to appraisers than I am to my own family, even my own cats, if I were to guess. And there a lot of different types of people in the world who can irritate me, but appraisers are not one of them. I never treat their phone calls or emails as an irritation nor non-essential business, like some agents do.
I am more than happy to supply comparable sales, talk about the market, my listing, its particulars. Even … (8 comments)
|
sacramento real estate: New Listing in South Land Park With a Pool
- 05/03/16 10:32 AM
No matter how many listings I take -- and I've sold more than 500 homes over the past 5 years according to MLS -- I still get excited. You can imagine how many I've sold over the past 40 years! Especially when the home is simply over-the-top gorgeous.
I can get suckered in with my own advertising, though. In fact, I was telling the seller of this home in South Land Park that I loved the photos and virtual tour so much that it almost made me want to buy the home myself.
Not that I need a home because I have … (10 comments)
|
sacramento real estate: The Dreaded Condo Mailbox Key in Sacramento
- 04/30/16 02:44 AM
As a standard practice, whenever I am close to closing out a transaction, I always email the sellers to remind them to leave the all the keys to the house, the mailbox key, the remote controls and any manuals in possession in a kitchen drawer. I let them know the buyer's agent will retrieve the key from the lockbox to enter.
Some ask what they should do with the key they use to lock up with. Not everybody can run out quickly through the garage as the door closes. But I've never had a seller say they would not leave the mailbox … (8 comments)
|
sacramento real estate: How to Hold Title as a Married Couple
- 04/18/16 02:32 AM
When married couples ask how they should hold title to property when buying a home, it is a subject that Sacramento Realtors don't really want to answer directly for fear of being held liable for practicing law. We're not lawyers, even though we may appear to be.
Most people just pick joint tenants, but there are definite advantages to holding title as community property with rights of survivorship, which wasn't even an option back in the 1970s when I was an escrow officer in California.
Things have changed but not not enough to suit many of us. Some things are still kinda stuck … (3 comments)
|
sacramento real estate: The Process of Making Decisions Involves Options
- 04/17/16 02:35 AM
Everybody processes making a decision differently. Take my husband for example. We were discussing this morning on the phone that he left town without buying fresh vegetables. One of the choices I offered up is a choice he would never consider, so my options are different than his.
He is the kind of guy who, when he runs out of vegetables, will say to himself, hey, I should go to the store and pick up some vegetables. Whereas one of my options might be, you know, maybe I just won't eat any vegetables this week.
You can read more about this in … (10 comments)
|
sacramento real estate: A Surprise May Await a HELOC After Closing
- 04/08/16 03:15 AM
We have a lot of buyers in Sacramento right now who are overlooking repairs that need to be done to a home. They still pay over list price even if the walls were clawed to shreds by cats, as evidenced by a recent sale in Sacramento. Because of buying homes that are in need of repair and not asking the sellers to fix them up, many buyers want to obtain a home equity line of credit after closing.
Not so fast. Few homebuyers realize that they might not be able to secure that HELOC right away, even if they have the equity … (1 comments)
|
|
|
|
Is your refrigerator running? As a kid, I used to love to make prank phone calls and ask random people that question, just so I could say: well, you better go catch it, hang up and erupt into fits of laughter. How long ago was that? OK, I did that again just last week. Maybe not. Maybe I thought about it.
;)
;)
;)
