Ever Hear of Groups of Buyers Touring Sacramento Short Sales Without an Agent Present?

Wouldn't you know it -- I try to take a day off yesterday to undergo a sinus lift (oh, the joys of aging) and, by evening, I received 7 or 8 offers, 3 potential listings and two buyer leads. I also received a very strange email from an agent about my listings. I think he combed MLS looking for a Sacramento short sale agent and then copied all the addresses of active short sales. But back to him in a sec.

So, late yesterday morning, I'm lying down in the dentist's chair under a blanket with a mask thing on my face that's blowing laughing gas up my nose. The oral maxillofacial surgeon is sitting at my side, wiping stuff that feels icy cold on the inside of my arm, is about to jab in the needle, and I'm mentally thumbing through my BlackBerry. I feel the anesthesia beginning to work and realize I have but seconds to go. Good thing I had turned off my BB.

The operation was successful this time -- it had failed a few months ago. So 90 minutes later they wheel me out to my husband's car, my head swimming in drugs, and I'm holding an icepack on my face. I tell my husband that since we're so close to one of my short sale listings in Elk Grove, I'd like to drive by it to make sure the gardener we hired has mowed the lawn. After all, I can't tell the seller to pay the gardener if the job is uncompleted. I feel responsible for it. Why can't I stop thinking about real estate, he asks?

He thinks I'm totally insane, but he drove over there anyway. I guess he knows better than to argue with me when I'm in la-la land -- or any other land for that matter.

When I get home, I take more drugs, go to bed and later read my emails. In one of them, this agent says he has 30 to 40 buyers who want to buy short sales in Sacramento. Although he was perfectly capable of sending the email, he specifically requested that I not reply to his email but instead call him. I smelled something fishy. He apparently wants to talk because he needs to talk me into something, I figured. Plus, anybody with 30 to 40 buyers should be in escrow, not sending out emails. I can't really talk very well; I'm grumpy, but I call him.

Was he a flipper? He said no. He said each buyer would purchase their own home as a first-time home buyer. Something's not right. What did he want? He asked if he could set up a time, say 10 AM to 5 PM on a Saturday and Sunday when he could send over all these buyers to tour my short sales. He explained that I did not have to be present (good because I can't be in 5 places at once) but neither would he. Would any agent accompany these buyers? Apparently not.

The answer was no. Unequivocally no. This isn't a public flea market. This is a professional business where an agent's presence is required to show a listing. Secondly, my short sales are selling within a week; my sellers don't need mass intrusions. Anybody ever hear of something like this?

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Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying 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 through bookstores everywhere and at Amazon.com.

Sacramento Short Sale Agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, has the answers to your Sacramento short sale questions.

Photos: Big Stock Photo