offer negotiations: A Perfect Window of Opportunity Gets Blown
- 12/26/18 08:25 PM
When a listing agent deals with enough buyer's agents, the same story often pops up over and over. It is this crazy talk of commitment, dedication, and unrelenting love for the property, when much of it is puffery. Some buyer's agents will say anything to get into contract. Even when presented with a perfect window of opportunity to get their client a house, they can still come up a day late and a dollar short. True, some make promises without talking to their buyers, thinking they can talk them into whatever the deal is. They don't realize or perhaps they don't care … (3 comments)
offer negotiations: How NOT to Buy a Home in a Seller's Market
- 03/08/18 08:44 AM
Whenever I am managing a multiple-offer situation and cash offers arrive, I am automatically wary. Because I've seen too many situation in which the cash buyer entire intention is to buy the home for less. If not on the front end, then by all means on the back end. They are often insincere, which is a nice way of saying they will lie to your face. The thing that gets me is they believe this approach works. I've watched them try it over and over on my listings, and it doesn't work. Makes me wonder where it does? And do they not … (9 comments)
offer negotiations: Tie Breaker Criteria for Picking the Best Offer
- 12/28/17 09:46 AM
Many agents, if you ask them, do not like being involved in multiple offer situations. It can stress out some agents. They probably tend to prefer dealing with one buyer at a time, not juggling things, and not trying to maximize seller profit potential. Just slide the transaction into escrow. On the other hand, I am pretty much the opposite of that sort of attitude. I love the challenges inherent in multiple offers. It's a way to analyze and strategize for the sellers. But sometimes it just comes down to the final straw, especially when two offers can be almost identical to … (11 comments)
offer negotiations: The Holidays Seem to Bring Out the Best in People
- 12/07/17 09:00 AM
Of course, I'm being facetious. You would like to believe that people are calmer, friendlier around the holidays, right? I know I sure would. But a lot of tempers seem to be flaring up lately over small misunderstandings. Some people just grab and run with it, throwing bombs on the sidelines. But what else is new? Well, I guess this holiday season also allots time to receive insane offer submissions. It's not just pricing that can mess up an offer. It's all of the other components together. And like I mentioned in my personal blog, it's kinda hard to top the worst … (20 comments)
offer negotiations: A Sacramento Seller's Counter Offer Needs Fast Response
- 11/11/17 12:04 PM
What a week this has been. I've been working all week on putting 3 listings into escrow, and every day there's some new awful twist happening. Finally, yesterday, I managed to slip all 3 into escrow, and then, before I could breathe a sigh of relief, one wiggled back out, like a stinkin' gecko stuck in a door jam. Darned buyers can't sit in escrow for all of five minutes without freaking out. A buyer's agent called me yesterday to say his buyers really loved one of my listings. Only problem was we had a counter offer out. I told him his … (13 comments)
offer negotiations: The New Catch Phrase for Breaking Fiduciary
- 08/10/17 07:26 AM
It used to be that agents would come right out and ask listing agents to provide all of the details about their sellers. They'd say things like: why is the seller selling? You might laugh, but that was all the rage for decades, to try to determine the seller's motivation. Because if you could establish the seller was desperate and absolutely needed to sell, why, you could better negotiate. Motivation was a huge question. Like, if the seller was transferred out of town, that particular seller might accept any ol' offer just to split. Nowadays, and especially in this strong seller's market … (14 comments)
offer negotiations: How Old Listings Get 2 Offers on the Same Day
- 08/07/17 08:18 AM
Everybody in our Sacramento real estate market is pretty much used to the notion of multiple offers. That's because we have such a scarcity of homes for sales and too many buyers who want to buy a home. It's that sort of recipe that can drive multiple offers in just about any real estate market. We find this scenario playing out across the United States right now. But what about that lonely house that has been sitting quietly all by itself. Month after month. Languishing. Looking sad. Maybe you should buy that, right? You can read more about that in my personal … (6 comments)
offer negotiations: Some Listing Agents Sell the Same Home Twice
- 07/05/17 04:53 PM
Selling the same home twice is not high on my list of things to do, but generally the second time around it's a lot easier. You've already got all of your reports, the disclosures have been completed and the preliminary title report has been issued.
I don't mind it that much if I have to sell a home twice. Especially when it's in my sellers' best interests to find another set of buyers. That's the thing. There is always another buyer. Some agents will do anything to close a transaction. I've seen them in action. They are desperate for a sale. But … (7 comments)
offer negotiations: Einstein Rejected Quantum Entanglement as Impossible
- 06/26/17 07:27 AM
Quite a few of my discussions with buyer's agents in Sacramento follow the same type of protocol. They talk, I speak, and then they go off on some tangent that shows they did not hear a word I said. Like the guy who called to pitch a lowball offer. The message I received was his buyer wanted to pay a certain price. Then, when I spoke to him, he had an even lower price range he was considering / exploring.
If he had pulled up the stats on the property to see the approximate unpaid balance of the mortgage, that would have … (8 comments)
offer negotiations: Do Realtors Know if an Offer is Likely to Close Escrow?
- 03/01/17 07:28 AM
I imagine some of you will take exception with my blog this morning, and that's OK. I don't mind a little disagreement when I know I am right, LOL. It's such a tight market in Sacramento right now that I have to slip listings into MLS on a staggered basis to keep my sanity. Plus, with Z&T removing the ability to post listings manually from agents and brokers, it's made me change where I put my name on the listing, and now I'm getting all the phone calls from agents. Most of them are combing my pending inventory or finding it on … (9 comments)
offer negotiations: The Sacramento Real Estate Market is Snooze You Lose Right Now
- 02/26/17 08:06 AM
It's all about timing in Sacramento real estate. Yesterday, as I juggled responses to multiple counters my sellers generated and discussed the 9 offers we received, I received an offer on a property that had a counter out of its own. It was an usually high activity day for a Saturday. Just prior to that, I had a buyer's agent call about the property with the 9 offers, asking things like how much is the gardener? Hey, stop asking questions about the price of the gardener and start thinking about getting an offer to me before 3:30 when I have a … (14 comments)
offer negotiations: It's Not Worth What You're Asking, Said the Buyer
- 07/29/16 02:13 AM
I hear this at times from buyers: it's not worth what you're asking, as though an opinion from the peanut gallery holds any water in Sacramento real estate. For starters, home buyers are not experts. They often barely tour only a handful of homes in Sacramento before making an offer, and at that they're viewing only homes for sale, which has little bearing on the prices homes sell for. But they have opinions, and I like to hear those thoughts. As a Sacramento Realtor representing sellers, it's good to know where they are coming from, even if it's from outer space. … (1 comments)
offer negotiations: After the Initial Thrill of an Offer Wears Off
- 04/04/16 04:54 AM
There's no doubt about it, I can be a bit cynical at times. So when my sellers receive a purchase offer my first inclination is what are the buyers trying to pull? I can't help it. I wish I could but it's embedded in my DNA. People can talk about win-win situations and how everybody needs to play on the same team, and that's the biggest pile of crap that's ever been sold to real estate agents. The facts are you've got a seller and a listing agent, who hopefully are in synch. And you've got a buyer's agent and a buyer, … (13 comments)
offer negotiations: What a Multiple Counter Offer Means to Sacramento Buyers
- 01/19/16 03:23 AM
As a strong Sacramento listing agent, I often hope for a multiple counter offer situation for my sellers. Why wouldn't I? It puts my sellers in the driver's seat, makes them feel like they are in power, and they are, and it drives up the desirability of their home among other buyers. Everybody wants what somebody else wants. Being able to create a multiple counter offer situation means the sellers will probably get what they want. Yet it doesn't mean that just because we received a bunch of purchase offers, that any particular offer except for one is worth accepting or even … (4 comments)
offer negotiations: Making an Offer Before the Open House in Sacramento
- 09/21/15 01:52 AM
Increasingly I've noticed that some home buyers in Sacramento are very eager to get an offer submitted to a seller on a Saturday before the first open house. Their thoughts are, I suspect, that another buyer will swipe their dream home if they don't buy it first. So what do they do under these circumstances? They take a brand new listing that's only been on the market for a few days and try to knock tens of thousands off the list price. Even though the list price may be very attractive. They are so worried that another buyer will steal their home … (12 comments)
offer negotiations: Negotiable Items in a California Residental Purchase Agreement
- 08/29/15 01:46 AM
We do not exist in a vacuum and the world does not revolve around us, but tell that to some Sacramento Realtors. I may try to explain that we can't arbitrarily change the terms of our California Residential Purchase Agreement, but having a buyer's agent stick her fingers into her ears and hum to herself doesn't mean I didn't say it, that it doesn't matter. Some agents think it's perfectly OK for a buyer to change lenders 2 weeks into a transaction, and go with some out-of-area, supposedly cheaper-rate mortgage lender who couldn't find a local appraiser with two maps and a … (14 comments)
offer negotiations: Negotiation Tips for Sacramento Listing Agents
- 08/22/15 02:34 AM
I consider myself very lucky to have developed a skill that allows me to step back from transactions and look at the situation more objectively. It helps that I close a lot of homes, not only because it makes me objective when there is absolutely zero internal conflict over losing an escrow, but I continually learn new approaches. Being in the business like I have for more than 40 years doesn't mean a Sacramento Realtor stops acquiring new skills or refining the skills she already possesses. An agent on Active Rain asked the other day if we ever get burned out on … (9 comments)
offer negotiations: When a Buyer's Agent is a Day Late and a Dollar Short
- 12/08/14 01:06 AM
It was a weird Sunday for purchase offers to be flying into this Sacramento listing agent's email. When I travel on the road (not driving), I'm generally reading my emails on my cellphone and opening attachments, hoping that I don't lose my data connection. I read just so far to reveal the sales price, and when it's really low, I stop reading the offer and forward it to another email address so I can send it to the seller without the buyer's agent's address in it. The first offer I opened was the lowest I had received among quite a few … (6 comments)
offer negotiations: Where Have All the Counter Offers Gone?
- 10/26/14 01:50 AM
Some agent called me earlier this morning to say Wow, you are the first agent to answer her phone! Well, no shit sherlock, it was 8:15 Sunday morning. What did she expect from agents? Huh? Give us all a break. I am the only agent crazy enough to answer her cellphone. I'm just sitting here reading the Sunday newspaper, petting the cats and waiting for counter offers to come back. Sometimes we can send out a counter offer to a buyer's agent and the agent vanishes into the woodwork. The least one could do is let me know whether the buyer … (13 comments)
offer negotiations: When Home Buyers Intend to Cancel a Contract Before Acceptance
- 10/03/14 01:27 AM
There are days recently in Sacramento real estate when I feel like some of us agents are the butt-end of a joke about how many home buyers it takes to screw in a light bulb or buy a house. Is the third time a charm? The fourth? You tell me. It seems buyers are signing purchase contracts like they are rockstars signing autographs for fans. Here's one for you, and one for you and one for you. They'll go through countless hours of counter offers, too. See, my sweet, isn't this fun, we're getting all of this attention? But they have … (11 comments)
Broker-Associate at RE/MAX Gold, Midtown and Sierra Oaks Sacramento office. Co-partner Weintraub & Wallace Realtors. Selling since 1974. Homebuying expert at The Balance. Weintraub & Wallace sells homes from Galt to Lincoln. <
Author Bio: Elizabeth Weintraub is a Sacramento real estate broker, author, home buying expert for The Balance, a Land Park resident, who specializes not only in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento but sells extensively from Elk Grove to Lincoln. Weintraub is prominently known as the #1 Sacramento Short Sale agent throughout the Sacramento four-county area. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 40+ years of real estate experience to work for you.
When a listing agent deals with enough buyer's agents, the same story often pops up over and over. It is this crazy talk of commitment, dedication, and unrelenting love for the property, when much of it is puffery. Some buyer's agents will say anything to get into contract. Even when presented with a perfect window of opportunity to get their client a house, they can still come up a day late and a dollar short.
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