Elizabeth Weintraub • Sacramento Short Sale Agent • Land Park

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Who Picks the Sales Price and Determines if a Listing is Overpriced?

I get a pile of newsletters that cross through my email each week, many of which I do not open. I just look at the headlines. I send out my own newsletter every week to thousands and thousands of subscribers. About.com will not let me tell you how many subscribe to my homebuying newsletter, but it's an astonishing number. I don't know why people care what I have to say or why they even read it. Some send me emails that say they have no interest in real estate at all, they just want to see what I write. Which floors me.

Lately, the sentiment I see throughout the real estate industry appears centered on overpriced listings. Much of it is giving advice to sellers but mostly to their agents. This advice is do not overprice and do not take an overpriced listing. In some ways, this is very insulting, and I'm gonna tell you why.

The notion that we as real estate agents, for example, are the Know-all and Be-all in real estate is absurd. You heard me. Yes, we are real estate professionals but that doesn't mean we know exactly how much a home should sell for. Because we don't. We know the price that is likely to attract a potential buyer; we know how much previous buyers have paid for similar homes. We know what is in pending status and the inventory on the market now, but we do not have a crystal ball. We are also not appraisers, but that's a whole 'nother story.

As a listing agent, I can help a seller to choose a sales price, but I do not choose the price for them. I am a Sacramento listing agent who works at the discretion of the seller. The seller has a very high percentage stake in the sales price, more than 90%. My stake is a relatively small slice of the pie. My job is to sell the property. I market real estate to buyers. I am a salesperson. The day a listing agent forgets that is the day an agent should quit.

Agents: I say get off your high horse. Who do you think you are? I want to grab these people by their shoulders and shake them. Stop proclaiming to the world that you and only you know the magical list price number for a seller. You don't. You don't really know how much a buyer will pay until you try to get it. You don't really know how much a home will appraise for until an appraiser appraises it.

I have sold homes in my life that never in a million years should have sold at some of the prices they sold at. According to me. But I got the price the seller wanted. Because that was my job. My job is to sell real estate in Sacramento. I am very clear and focused on that job. If I believe I can sell it, I'll take the listing.

I just had another home in Sacramento appraise yesterday at a value that astounds the neighbors. It astounded me that a buyer was willing to purchase the home under the terms and conditions it required, including price. Not only was the buyer willing to pay that price, but the home appraised at that price. I listen to my gut instincts, but I also listen to the seller. Then I formulate a marketing plan, and I sell that home. Real estate is not a black-and-white business. It's a moving business. Constantly in motion.

 

sacramento short sale agentcerfified hafa specialist

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Certified HAFA Specialistelizabeth weintraub

 

equator certified platinum reo elizabeth weintraub

Elizabeth Weintraub reviews My Sacramento Real Estate Listings

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 the four-county Sacramento area. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate. DRE License # 00697006.

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

Lyon Real Estate is not associated with the government, and our service is not approved by the government or your lender. Even if you accept this offer and use our service, your lender may not agree to change your loan.

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 Lyon Real Estate.

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.

 

43 comments • Elizabeth Weintraub, Sacramento Short Sale Agent, Land Park, East Sac, Lyon RE • August 18 2011 10:54AM

If the Seller Were French He'd Slap My Face Twice With a Glove

sacramento listing agentAre listing agents prone to sabotaging their own real estate transactions? It's easy to do. I almost did it. And I certainly know better. Nobody is infallible in this business, you know. I've been in real estate in some form or another since the 1970s. Yet, I almost put my big, fat foot directly into my mouth last month and am sharing this story in hopes of preventing this mishap from happening to somebody else.

First, let me say that this listing was not a short sale. Yeah, I know, people tend to think of me as strictly a Sacramento short sale agent, but that doesn't mean I don't sell other types of listings because I do. In fact, my short sale experience probably makes me uniquely qualified to sell almost anything since short sales often result in what feels like 10 times the work. Not only do I have to sell the home sometimes more than once, but I am almost always required to bring the bank highest and best, so my Sacramento short sales sell at the top of the market most of the time.

In this particular transaction, the home was owned by the seller free and clear, meaning there was no loan involved. It had been in his family for decades, and the seller was the executor of the trust. There were 5 or 6 other relatives involved. The seller confided in me that he was tired of being responsible for the home and wanted to sell it as quickly as possible. We priced it at market value.

Shortly after the listing hit the market, an agent called me. Said he was interested in acquiring the property for his own portfolio. He also asked if I would represent him, and he shared with me how much he wanted to pay. When I heard his suggested lowball price, I immediately said, "Ah, I don't think so. The seller will never take that." I regretted those words 5 minutes later. What the? Why did I say that, I wondered? That was pretty stupid. It was stupid, and it was presumptuous. If the seller were French he'd slap my face twice with a glove.

I do not know what the seller will do. I never know what anybody will do. Even if they tell me what they will do -- swear up and down what they will do -- I still don't know what they will do because I am not them. My fiduciary responsibility is to look out for their best interests, not to dictate the terms of those interests.

I sent the seller an email and told him about the verbal offer. "You can say yay or nay," I offered. I did not say anything else. I didn't push him to take the offer, issue a counter offer or to reject the offer. This was his decision. His family's home, his decision. I simply stepped back.

We're closing today.

Photo: Big Stock Photo

sacramento short sale agentcerfified hafa specialist

---

Certified HAFA Specialistelizabeth weintraub

 

equator certified platinum reo elizabeth weintraub

Elizabeth Weintraub reviews My Sacramento Real Estate Listings

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 the four-county Sacramento area. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate. DRE License # 00697006.

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

Lyon Real Estate is not associated with the government, and our service is not approved by the government or your lender. Even if you accept this offer and use our service, your lender may not agree to change your loan.

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 Lyon Real Estate.

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.

 

89 comments • Elizabeth Weintraub, Sacramento Short Sale Agent, Land Park, East Sac, Lyon RE • January 13 2011 10:23AM