The home buyer sign calls I get in Sacramento start out like this:
"I was driving by your listing and would like to find out how much the seller is asking."
First, when you're an agent like me who is managing a couple dozen listings all over Sacramento, it helps to define which particular home the caller is inquiring about. Then I question whether the caller is a home buyer or an agent. Lots of agents don't identify themselves, for some reason.
After describing the property, I feel it is necessary to level with callers. I tell them upfront:
"The price this home is listed for and what it will sell for are two different things."
I realize they immediately jump to the conclusion that it's priced too high, but I point out that it is actually priced too low. I also explain that I have multiple offers but it doesn't mean they can't write a better offer. Then I refer them to one of my buyer's agents for follow up -- it's often not a dual agency situation that I want to jump into.
My sellers deliberately price their short sales below market value to attract multiple offers. So do other agents' sellers, btw. These lower-priced short sale listings -- and listings for Sacramento bank-owned homes -- get attention and do sell for much higher prices.
A buyer emailed me from Trulia yesterday asking me to let him know when the price of a certain short sale listing is reduced. It made me chuckle because I have 18 offers on that listing, all more than list price, some at 20% to 25% more than list price.
Another buyer called me on Mother's Day to ask if I'd write an offer for her on a home in Elk Grove. It was listed at $200,000. I ran the comps, which showed similar homes were selling between $330,000 and $350,000. She offered $305,000. The listing agent called me the following day to say he had received almost 50 offers and none but my buyer's offer had a chance in a blue moon of acceptance.
What I wonder is how is it that I was the only agent in that group to look at the comparable sales?
The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available at Amazon.com
Photo: Big Stock Photo
Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, columnist for The New York Times'-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout Sacramento. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you.
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