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When Your Real Estate Buyer Cannot Speak English

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

Even when people speak perfect English, Sacramento real estate agents can have a bit of difficulty understanding what they say. Like, yesterday, I felt like such a fool. I spoke to a buyer at great length. Sometimes, I forget to ask for a name upfront because I'm so focused on the conversation at hand. So, toward the end of the phone call, I asked for his name.

This guy said his name was Bryan, and he spelled it as B-r-y-a-n. I thought he spelled it because I would otherwise have written Brian. My habit is I always ask people how to spell their names, especially nowadays with so many creative ways of spelling things.

I emailed him some information. Then he responded with his name of Ryan! You can read more in my personal blog today at this link: Tips for Working With Non-English Speaking Buyers in Sacramento.

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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 (8)

William Feela
WHISPERING PINES REALTY - North Branch, MN
Realtor, Whispering Pines Realty 651-674-5999 No.

Yes, asking for correct spelling.  I usually ask the buyer and seller to print their names on the contrats first page ane then I have it right.

Dec 12, 2017 02:36 PM
Gayle Rich-Boxman Fishhawk Lake Real Estate
John L Scott Market Center - Birkenfeld, OR
"Your Local Expert!" 503-739-3843

Oh, sometimes it's so hard to hear what someone is saying! I often have to put them on speaker phone to have better sound, but then, if you or they interrupt, you don't get the full sentence. Like you, I often have people with some kind of accent. I want to be respectful but honestly, sometimes I totally miss what they're saying! 

Dec 12, 2017 06:47 PM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

William Feela Well, at least you're in front of them. That doesn't happen much in California.

Dec 12, 2017 09:43 PM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Dealing with people who don't speak your language is tough, Gayle Rich-Boxman Fishhawk Lake Real Estate but it's less so than dealing with people who do. At least you can pick up the phone and smooth things over when there's a misunderstanding with a person who speaks the same language.

Dec 12, 2017 09:45 PM
Joan Cox
House to Home, Inc. - Denver Real Estate - 720-231-6373 - Denver, CO
Denver Real Estate - Selling One Home at a Time

Elizabeth, oh crap!   Sometimes cell phones distort voices and words, and this can happen, and always feel kind of silly when that happens.

Dec 14, 2017 08:22 AM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

William Feela Even when I am absolutely certain that I know how to spell a person's name, I ask anyway.

Dec 14, 2017 09:56 AM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Gayle Rich-Boxman Fishhawk Lake Real Estate We work with a lot of clients who do not speak English in Sacramento. We are a very diversified city. Time Magazine in 2006 called us the most diviersified city in America.

Dec 14, 2017 09:57 AM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Joan Cox I don't. When technology fails, I hang up and go about my business, LOL.

Dec 14, 2017 09:58 AM