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Get a Real Estate License To Buy A home
This post below, A Real Estate License Won’t Help You to Buy a Home was written in 2012 by my partner Elizabeth Weintraub and is still very relative today. Because the market is strong, every Tom, Dick and Harry wants to get a real estate license. Enjoy.
Some people in California think it’s a good idea to get a real estate license just in case they ever want to buy a home in Sacramento. Because if you have a real estate license, then you can collect a commission, which is reflected as a percentage amount of the sales price. All commissions are negotiable and generally paid by the listing broker to the selling broker, so while you might think this could amount to a lot of money, it’s generally not by the time it reaches the buyer’s agent pocket. Not in the overall scheme of things.
Yet, almost one in every 35 people in California has a real estate license. It’s hard to turn around at a party in Sacramento and not spill the drink of a Sacramento real estate agent. Snort as you may, not every person who holds a real estate license should be holding a cocktail much less trying to earn a living from said license, but that doesn’t stop them from getting drunk and / or practicing real estate.
On top of this, we’ve also got the agents who want to represent themselves to buy a home in Sacramento. Especially agents from the Bay Area. You know what they say about that, right? A fool for a client. I look at my own situation. I’ve been in the real estate business for more than 35 years, so I’m not exactly a rookie. I like to think I know what I’m doing. But if I were buying a home out of my area, I would hire a local expert. The few thousand I would earn (and I use the word “earn” loosely) to represent myself is not worth the tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, I could lose.
Besides, my expectations are very high. I’m a high maintenance client. I would not want to work for myself. Some people might call me a pain in the ass. I expect exceptional service. Nope, I’d much rather hire a buyer’s agent and make unreasonable demands of her. That’s part of the service an exceptional real estate agent provides — client management.
If you want to buy a home call Wallace & Weintraub Realtors, with RE/MAX Gold we will help you to save time a call us today at 916-233-6759.
Elizabeth Weintraub
Paying More Than List Price to Buy a Home in Sacramento
When I was a kid and allowed into a grocery store with my parents, I used to beg them to let me play the fishing game. This was a contraption set up by the entrance in Applebaum’s, close to the mechanical horse, a machine with four walls of glass, filled with little toys. A fishing line with grabby-like tongs dangled over the toys, and for a nickel, you could try to grab one. Some were worth more than others. Generally, I failed, but it was fun to play because if I won, I got a toy that cost more than a nickel. The focus was on the hope of winning and not on how many nickels I lost.
Does paying more than list price to buy a home in Sacramento get your goat? Welcome to the club. I completely understand how that can bug you. To some people, it’s a totally foreign concept, and they might believe they are paying more than they have to to buy a home in Sacramento, yet I can assure they most likely are not. Because it probably comes down to a home buyer either offers over list price or a home buyer might not buy a home at all. If you think that’s discouraging, wait until I tell you that even if you offer more than list price, you probably still won’t get the home.
Why? Because the list price you offered most likely won’t be high enough or the competing buyer is utilizing better financing methods or cash. If often comes down to the numbers.
I recall a long time ago thumbing my nose at a property because the agent suggested I pay more than the seller was asking for the home. I thought she was nuts. I could not fathom forking out another $5,000 — even if it was rolled into the loan and the difference in my monthly payment was fifty bucks. As a result, I didn’t get the home. This is how most buyers learn that painful lesson. This practice still goes on in seller’s markets, and it will continue in your children’s children’s children’s seller’s markets.
Although all home buyers are ultimately responsible for choosing their own offer prices, a Sacramento real estate agent can guide and advise you. Listen to your real estate agent. If you don’t like or trust your real estate agent, hire a different agent, but don’t try to buy a home in Sacramento without a competent advocate by your side.
If You Can’t Buy a Home in Sacramento
How do you keep pushing on when the Sacramento real estate market is beating you down? I don’t know how some buyer’s agents are surviving out there in this desert of no inventory. One such veteran agent in Sacramento told me today that he is thinking about leaving the business. This is a dreadful market because there are buyers who will never buy a home in Sacramento in this market, especially if they are looking in Natomas or Elk Grove. It’s positively disheartening for many. At an open house in Elk Grove on Saturday we had more than 100 buyers come through. So far, we have almost 30 offers. Only one buyer will win.
Because I list so many homes in Sacramento, I see a wide variety of offers come across my desk. They range from lowball offers to asking price to 20% over market value. I can tell from those offers that we basically have two types of agents in Sacramento right now:
- The type of agents who talk to each other.
- The type of agents who work in a vacuum.
I also realize that a buyer’s agent can lead a buyer to water but she can’t force the buyer to drink. I’m not so sure that buyers truly understand what is going on. This climate makes me a bit concerned that buyers might blame their agents for their failure to buy a home in Sacramento when it’s the market and not necessarily the agent’s fault.
Years from now we might look back at this like the 1930s Dust Bowl. At least during that horrible episode in our country’s history it was pretty clear what was happening because you couldn’t see two feet in front of you. In Sacramento, everything looks normal. For Sale signs are in the yards. Agents are accompanying buyers to show homes. People are smiling. But it’s a nervous smile, and underneath they are depressed and worried and anxious. We need inventory in Sacramento.
Well, here’s my solution, because you know I have a solution, right? I’m not the kind of Sacramento real estate agent to paint this dismal picture and not offer you a solution. I’ve been in the business for almost 40 years, and that’s long enough to learn a thing or two. The first tip is if you’re gonna give up, then go home and crawl under the sheets and stay there because there is no room in this market for whiners.
The second tip is turn over the unturned stones. There are homes in Sacramento that are not getting showings. Not because there’s anything wrong with them. It’s because they are either overpriced homes, in need of repair, or on the market for too long. There is nothing wrong with a home that needs a little bit of work. All you need to do is adjust your attitude toward hiring a contractor or doing some work yourself. Often the prices of these homes can be adjusted a bit to compensate for the work needed. Align yourself to the fact that if you want to buy a home you need to look at all of the homes that are available and not just the cherries.
You want to know where the ants go, right? You follow the ant trail. At the end of it, you will find ants. It’s too simple of a principle for many people.
There are homes for sale in Sacramento that buyers and agents are ignoring. There is no competition for these homes. No multiple offers. No stabbing each other in the back and clawing your way over dead bodies to get to the top. These homes are sitting quietly, waiting to be discovered. Go out there and discover them. Find a way to write an offer and make it work. If you need help and want to buy a home in Sacramento, you can call the Elizabeth Weintraub Team. 916.233.6759. We’re putting buyers into homes.
A Real Estate License Won’t Help You to Buy a Home in Sacramento
Some people in California think it’s a good idea to get a real estate license just in case they ever want to buy a home in Sacramento. Because if you have a real estate license, then you can collect a commission, which is reflected as a percentage amount of the sales price. All commissions are negotiable and generally paid by the listing broker to the selling broker, so while you might think this could amount to a lot of money, it’s generally not by the time it reaches the buyer’s agent pocket. Not in the overall scheme of things.
Yet, almost one in every 35 people in California has a real estate license. It’s hard to turn around at a party in Sacramento and not spill the drink of a Sacramento real estate agent. Snort as you may, not every person who holds a real estate license should be holding a cocktail much less trying to earn a living from said license, but that doesn’t stop them from getting drunk and / or practicing real estate.
On top of this, we’ve also got the agents who want to represent themselves to buy a home in Sacramento. Especially agents from the Bay Area. You know what they say about that, right? A fool for a client. I look at my own situation. I’ve been in the real estate business for more than 35 years, so I’m not exactly a rookie. I like to think I know what I’m doing. But if I were buying a home out of my area, I would hire a local expert. The few thousand I would earn (and I use the word “earn” loosely) to represent myself is not worth the tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, I could lose.
Besides, my expectations are very high. I’m a high maintenance client. I would not want to work for myself. Some people might call me a pain in the ass. I expect exceptional service. Nope, I’d much rather hire a buyer’s agent and make unreasonable demands of her. That’s part of the service an exceptional real estate agent provides — client management.
Something else you might not know. If you’re trying to buy a short sale in Sacramento as a licensed real estate agent representing yourself, it’s highly likely that the bank will not allow you to collect a commission. That’s because you generally can’t have your cake and eat it, too. Even if it is a red velvet cake with a cream cheese filling and butter cream icing.
