Selling and pets

Thinking of the accomplishments of 2015, there is nothing that sticks out more than the adoption of our dog Cisco, who was a rescue. His life was saved thanks to Hartsong Ranch. He is a funny, smart boy who adds so much to our lives. Click on the link below for a video below about pets and how to sell with them.

Selling your home with pets

What's the latest on the market? It's a rubber escrow market!

Recently, I had two buyer escrows and two listings fall OUT of escrow. Not the direction I like to see things go and always frustrating for both the buyers and the sellers. I'll briefly outline what happened and offer up my best advise on how to avoid "rubber escrows".

The first one is my listing. The buyer was well qualified and their loan was strong. However, the buyer was from out of the area which was concerning as my listing is a foothills property with the normal kind of stuff you find in a 60+ year old home which hasn't sold in 30 some years. I advised the buyer's agent that homeowners insurance was a bit of a challenge in the area. After a couple of weeks, the buyer cancelled based primarily on the price of homeowners insurance in the foothills and the cost to install a well for irrigation.

My advise: Please make sure that you choose an agent who is familiar with the type of property you are buying. In this case, the bump of insurance escalated into a deal breaker when it really didn't need to.

The next is my buyer who is very familiar with the area and chose me (an agent in the same area). The property is tenant occupied and there were several items that were undisclosed until our home inspection. Had we been told about the issues up front,in the disclosure paperwork, we may have been able to adjust our offer, negotiate a credit, or work out some reasonable solution. To have numerous very costly items dumped on us at once without a reasonable concession broke the trust that the buyers had and they had no desire to move forward.

My advise: Just disclose items you know about. Broken appliances, water leaks, costly maintenance items, easements. These things will be uncovered. Period. Better to inform the buyer and offer a solution that works for everyone.

The last two are connected as my seller put in an offer for his replacement property only to have the buyer's lender fail. The lender had known all along that my seller's home probably wouldn't meet their criteria but they stalled everyone and side stepped direct questions until the buyer was out inspection costs and lost part of their deposit. When this escrow fell apart so my client's purchase.

My advise: No matter how much I try to ensure the lender is going to perform, as the listing agent I can only do so much. My sellers now require that my more challenging listings get a preapproval from a proven lender. I always say - I don't care if the news is bad or challenging, just be honest so we can find a solution. 

I guess my take away from rubber escrow season is 1) put together an honest team, 2) educate yourself to be part of that great team, and 3) every escrow is going to have a challenge or two. Every escrow. 

However, if the buyer wants to buy and the seller wants to sell, there is a suitable solution for everyone. 

Top 5 Things I hear as a Realtor

So there are so many funny things that happen in my work. Well, some are funny...some are not funny at all.
I thought it would be a good blog to put together a top five list of things I have heard regularly in my 13 years as a Realtor. Enjoy the list and please, please don't take it too seriously.

1. Zillow says my home is worth $____________. This is typically $10,000-$40,000 ABOVE the price I provided in my detailed market analysis based on my knowledge of the neighborhood and market trends. I have yet to have a seller tell me that Zillow gave them a LOWER number. That would be a funny discussion.

2. I have a friend in real estate. Trust me, everyone, and I mean everyone, has a friend in real estate. In my opinion, I am still the better choice. Period, I stand by this one.

3. Loan docs are on their way...wait, now loan docs are on their way. Did I say today? I meant tomorrow. In a transaction with so many little things that all have to be done is a specific order, this can be the most difficult part. It seems like every set of loan docs has been late on my listings recently, when I represent the seller. Not for my buyers. My lenders rock and know what it means to get things done on time.

4. I know the contract states the home is sold in its present "as is" condition but my buyer would like me to ask for a complete remodel in the next 10 days....at you sellers expense, do you see any problem with the seller getting this done? Ok, ok, I can't make a top five list without a fourth thing on the list so I'll admit this one is grossly exaggerated. Thanks to the massive number of REO and short sales in the past few years, buyers are much more conditioned to take homes as is so this isn't as much of an issue as it was 10 years ago.

5. This was a great experience, thank you Robbie, your the best. I never get tired of hearing this.

Bay Area Equestrian Network - Classified Ads

Bay Area Equestrian Network - Classified Ads

All my listings in one place

New listings

Gateway to the Sierras! 6100 Michigan Bluff #3, Foresthill, CA 95631

Property for sale - 2656 Sweetwater Trl, Cool, CA 95614

Low inventory buying Feb 2015

Winter is a bad time to sell...Wrong!

I have met with sellers over the years who say that they want to wait until spring to list their home. While some areas may experience a "selling season", here in the Sacramento-Foothills area, the real estate market is just like the weather. It may be a cooler but it's far from frozen.

There are definite benefits to listing in the winter. For example, not everyone is doing it which means there is less competition. Why would you want to compete with MORE sellers? You wouldn't, right?
Look at the sales vs. pendings chart below.

In December, there were 1800 fewer homes on the market, and although sales were lower in December, there were more solds in December than November. Who knew so many people were willing to move during the holidays?

The chart below shows the average price per square foot. This is an interesting because it shows a market increase from last January to June and then the prices have been pretty flat.

So, there is no reason to wait for summer. The market is ever changing and who knows what interest rates and prices will do this summer. The market is good for sellers and buyers right now. This is your time, let's list!