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Short Sales in Sacramento: Why Active Contingent Short Sales Get All the Action

By
Real Estate Agent with Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker DRE #00697006

sacramento short saleIt seems that Sacramento buyers and their agents don't pay much attention to a short sale listing until it goes into "active contingent" status. The minute one buyer wants that home, then everybody else in town wants it as well. Desirability increases when an offer has been received. It's like the nerdy guy at the high school dance who brings a hot date. If he came alone, other women wouldn't give him the time of day, but the minute he's seen in the company of a beautiful woman, other women are falling all over him.

Active contingent means the seller has accepted an offer and sent it to the bank.

I get a ton of phone calls every day from agents asking about status on my "active contingent" short sales. Mostly they want to know if I have any offers. I explain to them that "active contingent" means there is a offer. In some cases, I may have as many as 18 to 20 offers on my short sale listings. Especially if the home has been on the market for at least 3 to 4 weeks.

I wonder where these agents are working in Sacramento that they seem unaware that an attractively priced short sale home in a desirable location most likely has more than one offer.

Yet they continue to write offers. Last night I received another offer for a short sale home in Sacramento. I have at least a dozen offers on that home. Does the agent hope all 11 back-up buyers are going to disappear by the time of short sale approval?

Yes, it's a fact we have very little inventory in Sacramento, but this kind of activity is bordering on desperation.

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.

The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available at bookstores everywhere and Amazon.com.

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Elizabeth Weintraub is co-partner of Weintraub & Wallace Team of Top Producing Realtors, an author, home buying expert at The Balance, a Land Park resident, and a veteran real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown, Carmichael and East Sacramento, as well as tract homes in Elk Grove, Natomas, Roseville and Lincoln. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put our combined 80 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at RE/MAX Gold. DRE License # 00697006.

Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of RE/MAX Gold. Disclaimer: If this post contains a listing, information is deemed reliable as of the date it was written. After that date, the listing may be sold, listed by another brokerage, canceled, pending or taken temporarily off the market, and the price could change without notice; it could blow up, explode or vanish. To find out the present status of any listing, please go to elizabethweintraub.com.

Comments (6)

Myrl Jeffcoat
Sacramento, CA
Greater Sacramento Realtor - Retired

Elizabeth - You bring up something in your comment, "Active contingent means the seller has accepted an offer and sent it to the bank," which I hadn't thought about before.  That designation actually demonstrates that is a "real" listing and can possibly be acquired. . .Maybe!  Of course lots depends on the bank!

May 27, 2009 02:07 PM
Heather Fitzgerald
REALTY WORLD-Harbert Company, Inc. - Greenwood, IN
REALTOR Greenwood Indiana Real Estate

That is fantastic that you are receiving so many offers on your Short Sales!  I read your blog about pricing and am wondering if this is a route for my area for us to go on our short sale listings with my office.

May 27, 2009 02:38 PM
Terry & Bonnie Westbrook
Westbrook Realty Broker-Owner - Grand Rapids, MI
Westbrook Realty - Grand Rapids Forest Hills MI Re

WOW I haven't seen that kind of activity in a long time . I hope we will keep reducing inventory this summer.

May 27, 2009 02:49 PM
Sally K. & David L. Hanson
EXP Realty 414-525-0563 - Brookfield, WI
WI Real Estate Agents - Luxury - Divorce

Don't ya love real estate ding dong school ? Active with offer...does that mean there is an offer ...so what would you think it would mean...pending...do you think it will close...duh duh duh....

May 27, 2009 11:50 PM
Melissa Zavala
Broadpoint Properties - Escondido, CA
Broker, Escondido Real Estate, San Diego County

I do not understand why others would not understand what "active contingent" means. I think the hope might be that those agents think that maybe if the buyer walks away, they will be in first position?

May 28, 2009 03:42 AM
Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL
Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

Our local MLS was talking about having Active Contingent status, but never did. Now they added a line

Ownership: where we can put Potential Short sale. Just crazy. We know it is a short sale, wh the heck it is potential. The system is very confusing. Agents get the offer and submit it to the Lender, but in the system it is all shown as Active until the Lender's approval.

So unfair to agents. You work with MLS, send listings to people, they would like to see the  property, you call, and they tell you that they have been negotiating for 5 months now. So awkward.

I would love if we have Active Contingent, I envy you

May 28, 2009 04:07 PM