5 Reasons Why Your Offer Wasn’t Accepted

November 26, 2008

Getting An Offer Accepted In This Market Is Tough

It isn’t easy to buy a peice of opportunity in the Sacramento real estate market today.  Getting what is perceived as a “good deal” is even harder.  Fact is, the entire market is under priced.  Why do I say that?  Just look at what’s going on out there.

Offers are being submitted, listing agents more often than not don’t respond to your offer at all in any way.  This is getting worse and buyers are very disappointed.  I’ve written extensively about this.  The professional courtesy once touted as being supreme among Realtors is gone.  I’ve had this happen to me with agents I’ve known for years.  Submit an offer and no response.  No “I got it, we’re working on it, we’ll get back to you” nothing all under the guise of “I’m too busy” or “we’re too busy”.

Is It So Hard?

I was complimented by a client in the last week who told me straight out that she was so happy that I answered the phone when she called.  Is it because I have nothing to do?  No, it’s not.  I work from 6am to at least 7pm, most days, 6 days a week.  Often times I’m working until 10pm. Honestly, I’m grateful for this as I know many Realtors who have rejected the market as it is and have chosen to fail.

It takes a split second to shoot off an email, have an assistant do it or make a phone call on the way home.  Am I asking too much?  Don’t we have a duty to our clients and fellow professionals to extend the minimum courtesy?  I think we do..

ANYWAY, now that the rant is over…

The Top 5 Reasons Why Your Offer Wasn’t Accepted…Again!

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How To Shop for Investment Homes in Sacramento Real Estate

October 25, 2008

Recently, we had a property come back on the market that had been in pending sale.  I had gotten a call from an investor, let’s call him “Jerry” who was interested in the home and said to call him if it became available again.  While watching this one, it came up I called him and we met at the property.

Jerry is Running

Jerry is working with a guy with a million bucks in the bank whose throwing it at investment homes in Sacramento.  Their strategy is that Jerry goes and finds the homes for a referral fee of some sort and Mr. Moneybags buys the homes.  They fix them up and put people in them who lease option or rent.  They are in this for the long haul and that’s a sure winner.

The only problem is that poor Jerry doesn’t have access to the MLS and is depending on the deadbeat agents he calls to help him out.  What he found is that most agents won’t write offers on homes lower than list price or make no sense to him at all.  This made no sense to me.

Jerry is Calling Lazy Agents

Jerry isn’t coming in that low.  He knows that the longer a home sits, the better chance he has of scoring  a deal for Mr. Moneybags and the homes that are fresh on the market don’t often present the best opportunity.  They are coming in all cash asking nothing back from the seller but a lower price.  Sounds fair to me but he can’t find an agent to work with who will write them up for him.

Do they think it still 2004?  I hear this all the time from agents..”How much? Oh, I won’t write that.  I have a reputation to uphold/that will never get accepted/I just like not eating” whatever the excuse, these “professionals” are basically clueless.

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EXTRA, EXTRA! The Date of the Bottom of Sacramento Real Estate REVEALED!

October 14, 2008

Now that’s pretty catchy, huh?  Hype, I know, but I just read an article by Jim Cramer from “Mad Money”, the show on CNBC, written at the beginning of September saying that the bottom of the real estate market would be June 30, 2009. I wonder what time?  Can we give Jim a call on this?  Did it change over the last 2 weeks? Jim, I want to be prepared, I really do!

I’ve watched this program many times, it’s entertaining and live.  I recommend it.  But calling the date?  I thought it satire until I read it.  He makes some great points and I would have had to agree, in substance, with his assertions if it hadn’t been for the events of the last two weeks.

See, that’s the thing with predictions like this.  Life sometimes interferes.  I find it best not to make them, as much as I’d like to.

“No, really, here’s why.”

JIm cites the following ten reasons he believes this is THE date of the end of the housing downturn and my take on how it applies to our market:

1. Declines in New Home Construction

By June of next year, we won’t be building enough homes to meet demand.  I don’t know, with all of the inventory of foreclosures in the Sacramento real estate market if this is true.  I can’t disagree with it either.

Locally, construction starts are way down and there isn’t nearly the inventory there was just 8 months ago.  Pulte homes has just laid off more people and the builders are running very lean operations.

2. FHA Restructuring Loans, Reducing Foreclosures

Because of the FHA taking over some high interest rate mortgages and turning those into lower interest, fixed 30 year notes, Jim predicts a decline in foreclosures that will reduce the inventory to much lower levels creating more demand.  Hmmm….we’ll see.  A lot has changed in the last two weeks.

We’ve seen a slowdown in foreclosures but the word on the street is that there are still more to come.  As the economy falters and unemployment rises across our region, now at 7.4% I’ve heard, it may make it very hard for people to keep their homes.

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90 Year Old Woman Shoots Herself, Saves Home

October 11, 2008

Before anyone gets any ideas, please understand that Capitol City Foreclosures does not recommend this strategy to anyone.  While effective in this case, it’s highly risky and may result serious injury or death.

Desperate Times, Desperate Measures

I could literally “go to town” on the banks in the current Sacramento real estate market.  What’s going on in real estate right now is by far the most crazy I’ve ever seen.  The rules have changed and the banks are running the show while failing on Wall Street.  The inmates running the asylum.

Addie Polk, 90, from Akron, Ohio, purchased a home with her husband in 1970.  Her husband passed away and Addie ran into hard times, like so many others today, and began missing payments.  Fannie Mae assumed the loan and then filed the foreclosure documents.

Sheriff’s deputies had tried, and failed, to evict Addie 30 times before.  Guess they really do have a heart in Akron!  This time, she took matters into her own hands and not seeing a way out of this, shot herself twice in the upper torso, was bleeding to death before a neighbor climbed into an upstairs window and came to her aid.  She had arranged her pocket book, car keys and life insurance policy neatly where the could be found clearly indicating that she had intended to commit suicide over losing her home.

Addie Polk is recovering, doctors said that she’ll make it fine.  Two shots in the torso at 90 years old and living to tell about it is pretty darn tough.

“The Appropriate Thing to Do”

The bright side of this is that Fannie Mae forgave the loan and lifted the foreclosure proceedings.  They thought that under the circumstances, it was the “appropriate thing to do”.  With all that’s going on out there that is completely inappropriate, I’m glad that they got this one right.  The home is now hers to live in until she no longer needs it.

A comment I saw on an Ohio.com says, “Addie Polk is to the foreclosure crisis what Rosa Parks was to the civil rights movement.”  Fantastic analogy, wish I had thought of that as it seems true for me as well.

Times are tough right now and it’s not over, not by a long shot, so far as I can see.  That said, this will end it always does.  It happened in 1929, 1987 and now again in 2008, all three in October.  What’s with October?

I found an interesting list of stock market crashes on Wikipedia.  The reasons seem to be the same.  When will we learn! :)

Stay dry out there.  If you’re thinking of buying or selling a home is Sacramento, please contact me.

Source: CNN.com

DUDE! Get a Clue!

October 5, 2008

I speak to a lot of buyers.  Our phone rings off the hook most of the time. We’ve got 8 buyers agents handling the calls that come in, one of the few teams in the Sacramento region you can depend on to get a return phone call.  I got a beauty last week, worthy of a post.

Dick is Delusional

This guy is an investor, let’s call him “Dick”, and owned an investment property right around the corner from a fourplex we have listed.  This property has been in and out of escrow a couple of times over the last 6 months or so as there is a ton of repair work to do on it and most investors, without a construction background, frankly, are more squeamish about those types of things than they should be and tend to shy away.

Dick calls me to ask about this property and I tell him that it’s now available, again.  He says he wants to make an offer on this one and I let him know that there is quite a bit of work to do on it, he says, “yeah, yeah, I’m a contractor and own another right around the corner, that &*%$ doesn’t scare me”.

Um…ok..

So I told Dick that I’d heard there was an offer on the table but the property hadn’t gone into pending sale yet and that I’d find out what I could about it.  I called him back and let him know that there had been a couple offers submitted since the most recent price reduction and that my thought was that he’d probably have to be about $15K higher to have a chance at consideration.  That seems to be the way it goes in our market when there are several offers on any given listing.

Dick Loses His Mind!

Dick then says “this is &*^%@ and isn’t there a law against this? Doesn’t the &^#%$ seller have to sell it at what it’s listed for?  This is a *(&$%# bait and switch!”

At this point, I can see I’m dealing with a huge, well, Dick and it’s probably better if I wish him the best of luck and be on my way.  While trying my hardest to back out of the conversation and hang up he says “no, no wait a minute.”  I say, “ok what can I help you with?”  He says “here’s how this is going to go..” I’m laughing at this point “I want to write an offer at ($40K lower than where I thought he’d have success) and either you can write it or I’ll get my other agent to write it. What’s it going to be?”

Needless to say, I submitted nothing for Dick.  And what a Dick he was.  The home is now in pending sale at about what I told him.  Dick is sitting out in the cold instead of building his own portfolio. Attitude is everything, so they say.

Don’t Resist the Sacramento Real Estate Market

The lesson here is don’t resist things as they are.  The quickest way to fail, as Dick has clearly illustrated to us, is to resist or go against the flow of the market. (thanks for the lesson, Dick!)

It’s not easy to read this market.  We, because we deal with so many of these homes, have noticed trends that will help our clients to have success where other agents run headlong into brick walls. (some of them actually seem to enjoy it, they do it so much!)  There are plenty of GREAT deals in the Sacramento and Placer county real estate markets right now.

Dick’s problem is that he wants the world to fit into his mold.  Geez, that’s just not going to happen now or anytime in the future.  To be resistant to this makes Dick’s life and those around him a living hell.  Having said that, what do I know?  He’s probably a well adjusted happy person who was just having a bad day.

Let’s hold onto that thought, it’s better for us!

Need help negotiating this market?  Give me a call or email and I’d be glad to help you.

Government Bailout = Opportunity In Sacramento Real Estate

September 28, 2008

The current financial mess has left some buyers a little reluctant over the last few days to pull the trigger and buy Sacramento real estate.  Instead of seeing 10 to 15 offers on hot properties, we’re seeing more like 4 to 7 offers on our listings.

This is an opportunity for you to have less competition for homes in the Sacramento area and get the best deal possible as a result.

Make no mistake, I’m still seeing those incredible deals getting 10 to 20 offers per home but there is a trick to this, a strategy and you need one to be competitive in this market.  Regardless, great deals still abound and it’s time to make the most of it and build wealth for the future.

Enjoy and, as always, thanks for watching!

Why the Banks are Failing in Sacramento Real Estate

September 24, 2008

Seriously, while I know this and worse is going on in Sacramento real estate, it still amazes me.

The financial system in this country is failing and while there may be a perfectly logical answer for what’s going on our there, this sure seems out of whack.  What do you think?

Can you imagine having selling a home, having 3 full price offers and then saying “well, come to think of it, I’d like, say, 50% less money than what you’re offering so…OFFERS REJECTED!”  As a former manager of mine used to say, O-M-G! (talk about an awesome manager!)

It’s no wonder banks are failing left and right, they are BRAIN DEAD!  If I hadn’t seen this myself, I wouldn’t believe it.

Enjoy and, as always, thanks for watching.

Why is it SO Hard to Find a Good Realtor?

September 23, 2008

In this market, you’d think it would be easy to get someone to return a call to help you buy a home.  You’d think.  It’s not that easy and I don’t understand why. It used to be you couldn’t kick a rock without uncovering a Realtor with his/her hand out asking if they could take you out to look at homes you were not interested in.  That was a different market, to be sure!

Realtors can be funny people and I don’t know that I’ve ever understood them and probably less now that I’ve got the experience with real sales professionals in new homes.  In new homes, it’s a completely different mindset and level of professionalism.  I wouldn’t trade my experience there for anything.  I’m glad I did it.

If you need someone to help you find a home, please call me.  If I’m busy and can’t help you, I’ll be glad to refer you to someone who can.  In either case, you’ll get a return phone call, I gaurantee it.

Enjoy and, as always, thanks for watching!

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