This Sacramento Realtor’s Last Closing of 2017 was a Dream Sale

Realtor’s last closing of 2017 made 2 families completely overjoyed.

When I first spoke to the seller of this home in June, I did not realize his home would become this Sacramento Realtor’s last closing of 2017. Both he and his fiancé were so charming and sweet, they captivated me. However, the home was in North Highlands. Now, I know not every agent in Sacramento is eager to take a listing in North Highlands. Some agents feel the price points are too low, but I will work with any reasonable seller who wants to sell. Doesn’t matter to me if the price is $2 million or $200K. Same process, same tools, same skills required. Sometimes the $200K sale is a lot more work. Sometimes the $2 million is a lot more work. But it’s all Sacramento real estate.

I fight for all of my clients, if that’s what it takes. And I really wanted to help this couple start a new life elsewhere. I get vested in my listings. The first thing I noticed when I visited their home was they were in the process of repainting the walls. The walls were gray. But they had chosen a bright white. The project was about halfway completed. I did not want to create more work for them but I also had to speak up. Yes, they needed to return the walls to gray. White? Bad color.

The back yard was a dirt racetrack. The house, a bit on the small side, with only one bath. But oh, did the home exude charm. Vaulted ceilings covered in wood planks. We put it on the market in mid-November and received a quick offer from a buyer who did not really appear all that dedicated to the purchase. Things his agent said made me think they were writing more than one offer in our tight market. Which is never good for a seller. And against the law.

We came back with a strong counter offer. Sure enough, the buyer wilted into the weeds. At that time, I did not expect it take so much longer to get another offer that it would be a Realtor’s last closing of 2017.

After the first offer, nothing for 3 weeks, despite repeated open houses, digital marketing and blogging about the home. Our days were sliding into Thanksgiving. Slower market. However, in early December, yowza, we received four offers, bam, bam, bam, bam. One of those offers prompted me to write a blog about the worst purchase offer ever.

It came from a Realtor who had showed the home during our last open house. My team member who hosted the open house sent me a picture of this agent’s business card, because she found it amusing. I, in turn — and I’m not proud of my behavior, btw — forwarded the image to my sister. We all joked about it. My open house agent said the Realtor handed her a second business card for some side venture, like running a hot dog business or something.

Well, I did not expect to get an offer from this particular Realtor, but we did. I felt bad that we had made fun of her. I should not have sunk to that level. So to be fair to everyone, we countered this Realtor’s buyers and others. In the end, we came to an agreement with a buyer on December 11th. What was amazing about our real buyer was her lender. The MLO managed to get the loan approved, funded and closed in 18 days. With 3 loans simultaneously recording for down payment and closing cost assistance!

This is pretty unheard of. Mind blowing. Remarkable. Further, we sold the 1954 home AS IS without any repairs or renegotiations. The agent on the other side was extraordinary. She returned every document on time, in an orderly manner, which almost never happens. I’d work with her again in a heartbeat. Such a dream sale once we found the right buyer.

But the nicest thing about this Realtor’s last closing of 2017 is the fact we made two families gloriously overjoyed. Just in time for the New Year, and the last closing of December for me.

On a side note, I had originally scheduled 5 more closings for the last week in December, but all 5 rolled into 2018. I put another into escrow this week, but yesterday, the investor canceled.  Which is a blog for another day about how you can’t trust some 1031 investors. I had thoroughly questioned the level of commitment, because my gut said don’t trust the guy.

Oh, well. It’s been a good year, 2017. $36 million good.