My brokerage calls me a listing agent because I represent a lot of sellers and sell their homes. Most traditional real estate practice guidelines push for agents to list homes, especially in California, because that's the bread and butter of this business. However, regardless of how many listings I sell, at the end of the year, I tend to end up with production consisting of about 50% sellers and 50% buyers.
Unlike some agents, I rarely represent clients in dual agency. It would take an unusual situation for me to work in dual agency because it's virtually impossible to represent two sides in a transaction and adequately do my job. I prefer single agency, with defined purpose.
Clients sometimes ask which I prefer to represent: Sacramento home sellers or Sacramento home buyers. That's a tough question. I like both. There is an incredible amount of work involved upfront on a listing -- the paperwork, photographs, marketing -- and it continues when I answer buyer's agent's phone calls to encourage offers and negotiate those to contract. On the other hand, most of the work is on the front end.
With buyers, it's the luck of the draw -- sometimes I show one home, sometimes 100. Rarely is the first offer accepted, and we negotiate counter offers. I help buyers get preapproved for a loan, select an offer price, research the home's history, and I am present during home inspections, sewer inspections, walk-throughs, thoroughly monitoring the closing process. Toss into the mix that I am also a short sale agent who lists a lot of short sales in Sacramento, the Sacramento spring market is ripe with activity, and I'm constantly busy wearing one hat or the other.
The thing is I believe that wearing a buyer's hat one day and a seller's hat the next gives me unique insight into how to market my listings. I can look at the listing from the buyer's point of view, which is what makes my listings sell. Agents whose business is primarily listings may not be sensitive to how buyers perceive that listing. By taking off my seller's hat and putting on my buyer's hat, I can view that listing objectively. I use that information to effectively market my listings.
I know what Sacramento home buyers want. They tell me every day. I also know which properties are likely to sell quickly with multiple offers and which are going to languish on the market. I couldn't imagine doing business any other way. I believe understanding both sides of a transaction is paramount to a successful closing.
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Certified HAFA Specialist
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.
