Concerned about how to sell my house quickly in Sacramento without the hassle of real estate agents, commissions, repairs inspections and appraisals?
Houses are just like any other product. Unless you target your marketing and house to the right buyers it may sit without any offers simply because it is not what the buyers are looking for.
Rejection is just another fact of life and if you are trying to sell my house in Sacramento, you might get the sense that something is wrong with your house, its pricing, the marketing. It is why a lot of homeowners hesitate to put their houses on the market. They fear the unknown and the uncertainty of selling. They hear about how long it might take and what it cost. It all seems very complicated and expensive.
It really isn’t, but selling houses is a numbers game. Real estate agents know this and they are either a listing agent or a buyer’s agent. Some do both, but very few do both very well because being good at one or the other requires a lot of time and focus. To that end, the real estate industry has done a really good job of marketing itself and the great outcomes, but, like any other industry, the bad and the ugly kind of fall to the wayside never to be reported on.
Real estate marketing also does a really good job of targeting buyers and sellers but for about only 60% of the market. Here is the thing… if you don’t know that, then as an agent, I have a pretty good chance to convince you that I have a reach that extends beyond my personal contacts to bring buyers to the table to look at your house. If an agent can do that then they stand a pretty good chance of getting the listing for your house. They run a couple of reports, throw in some color charts and graphs, some other glossy marketing materials, promise a few open houses and the sale is practically made… the truth is … that presentation is rehearsed and packaged so you will sign that listing agreement. That is the conventional wisdom in real estate and it has worked for the past 80 years.
That one size fits all Marketing Approach is what gives you confidence… Let’s face it, no one wants to make a mistake when selling a house. Sellers dont want their houses just sitting. They want it sold. So if the tried and true approach of hiring an agent is also the conventional wisdom, then by design, the strategy will keep most people out of trouble…. Right? I mean conventional wisdom is just a common sense and cookie cutter approach that the experts say will work. In real estate, it assumes that every house and seller are pretty much the same and as such, with just a few tweaks here and there (for your house and situation) you too will have a fast sale too.
The problem with the conventional approach in real estate is that it is a one size fits all mentality that attempts to treat every house the same. As a seller you need to know that even with all the tweaks there are some houses that it just won’t work for. You need to know that it really only works for the top 60% of the market. What that really means is that nearly 40% of all houses listed with a real estate agent expire without an accepted offer.
Stop the presses! Expired Listings Are a Huge Number
I know, if I were a seller reading this and I was trying to sell my house in Sacramento conventionally by hiring a real estate agent and planting a sign in the front yard I’d want to know what that means. I’d want to know what happened to the other 40% of the houses. I’d want to know how those numbers could impact me.
The problem is that most sellers just dont know what questions to ask because the data is just not out there. The other problem is that sellers don’t know how to hire a real estate agent and if they knew the numbers (and the failure rate of real estate agents) they would not hire the very first real estate agent that they talked to. Unfortunately nearly 80% of sellers enter into a listing agreement with the very first real estate agent that they talk to. That is insane.
So, if Nearly 40% of all Real Estate Listings Expire, What is the Solution?
First, sellers need to be realistic about their expectations when the house sells. That means that then need to also be realistic about the condition of their houses and how that translates into a competitive price. Second, real estate agents need to be realistic about the condition of houses they list and have the frank conversations with their sellers that reflect that reality. As a side note the 40% number is nothing new, it is a constant in real estate. That means, for over the past 25 years, regardless of whether its a buyer’s or a sellers market, the mortality rate has always been high for the bottom 40% of the market.
As I said, residential real estate sales is a numbers game where your house is either an A, B, C or D player. Understanding that positioning will help you manage a real estate agent, if you hire one, but more importantly it will help you to remain realistic about your houses ability to compete. There are so many reasons that It really is that simple when it comes to houses that do not sell.
Without getting too complicated let’s just say that there are five things that are “generally” going to determine if you can “sell my house fast in Sacramento”.
- Your Houses Age
- Your Houses Location
- Your Houses Condition
- Your Houses Price
- Your Marketing
If you were to give your house a grade for each of the criteria above how would it score using a scale of A+ (as the high) to F (as the low)?
Let’s look at a real life example an example.
8352 Cutler Way Sacramento CA is a beautiful house. The house was remodeled and everything was updated. Bathrooms, Kitchen, new windows and Doors. It was subjected to three inspections and an appraisal. Additional repairs were made. It sold on July 2019 for $372,000. It was in the top 10% of the houses in the neighborhood and sold in under 30 days. Our marketing also targeted the buyers that wanted to buy a house that was move in ready.
- The Houses Age (B)
- The Houses Location (B+)
- The Houses Condition (A+)
- The Houses Price (A)
- Marketing (B+)
What if the same house isn’t even close to perfect condition? What happens if the sales price is drastically unrealistic because of the houses condition (deferred maintenance, etc.) and the sales price? Moreover, what happens to that whole sales cycle and offer scenario if the house is in the following condition with the corresponding grades?
- The Houses Age (B)
- The Houses Location (B+)
- The Houses Condition (D)
- The Houses Price (F)
- The Marketing (F)
It becomes easy to see what happens when real estate agents and sellers are unrealistic about their houses ability to compete. They sit and if the numbers dont bear that out the sales data will. It is unfortunate that so many real estate agents take listings without any real plan to sell some of these houses that really should not be marketed conventionally. The 40% failure rate is what happens when all houses are treated the same, and marketed the same to exactly the same buyers that want move in ready. Some of these houses are definitely not move in ready. Furthermore many of these houses have never faced the scrutiny of a home inspection, a pest inspection or an appraisal. The truth is that they would probably fail all three and that is a bigger issue.
The truth is that buyers will say no thank you and the lenders will just run away from these types of houses. So what is the solution.
Real Estate is Changing
It is just a fact of life… One size fits all no longer works. It’s not that the business principles have changed. It’s that technology has leveled the playing field and now buyers and sellers have access to the same data and information that used to be exclusive to real estate agents and their Multiple Listing Services. It is why the fees are being cut and the services are being discounted.
The world of buying and selling has changed so much that today almost 90% home buyers start shopping for houses online and they are able to view 99% of the houses for sale from the privacy of their homes without the assistance of a real estate agent. Just 10 years ago that was not possible.
That shift in the home buying and the home selling paradigm is what today’s post is all about. It is about the way that the real estate market is changing especially if you are a homeowner and you are just screaming Sell My House Fast in Sacramento.
Your Real Estate Selling Options
There is no shortage of options for selling a house and don’t think for a minute that the real estate industry hasn’t noticed. Real Estate Agents, Discount Brokerages, Cash Home Buyers, Real Estate Investors, I Buyers… the options are there.
The problem is that if you need to sell your house in Sacramento, we have all been brow beaten into believing that because it’s the biggest investment/purchase that we’ll ever make we need to hire a team of experts from a field of real estate agents that are mostly part timers. How is that a solution or an advantage?
It is not, it’s just the conventional wisdom created by GREAT MARKETING when we begin to think about selling a house. The Message says to the seller, if you use a real estate agent you are more likely to get a higher price on the house. That may be true if you have the prettiest house on the block, but be careful… Conventional wisdom is not always true or for that matter wisdom.
The Truth About Remodeling, Repairs and Updates
What if you have the prettiest house on the block and it is valued at $50,000 more than all of the other houses in the neighborhood because you put $80,000 into fixing and updating it. You spent that money so that you could possibly sell it for the top of market value. Let’s also say that the house is worth $250,000 and the house right across the street just sold for $200,000 in its current condition without those updates. Let’s also assume that you listed that house with a real estate agent and that as a savvy seller you only paid 5% commission. No matter how you do the math, if the house will only appraise at $250,000 and sell for $250,000, then you spent $30,000 more than you should have you have lost money. Now add in the the additional $12,500 in commission that you paid and your equity just shrank and that does not account for all of your time and frustration during the entire process.
Leverage The Web To Get The Word Out
Stats have shown that over 80% of house buyers go to the web first to research and find houses.
So if your house isn’t on the web… how are buyers going to find out about your house?
There are lots of ways to get your house online. You can list it on websites like Zillow, redfin, Craigslist… or even setup your own website for the property.
Then, take that property listing and get it everywhere online that you can. List it on all of the classifieds websites (again, Craigslist,etc.).
Total Cost: FREE – Cheap (most routes are free, but some of these sites have paid versions)
Use Facebook To Spread The Word About Your Sacramento House For Sale
One of the best ways to sell a house is through word of mouth.
Tell all of your friends and family that you’re selling… and have them tell everyone they know.
Also, hop on your Facebook account and share the property listing with your friends and ask them to spread the word for you to all of their friends who may be interested. What you need to do is simply send your link to your Facebook friends.
There may be a person in dire need of a house. Besides, you may also get a friend who may link you up with a buyer. The importance of using Facebook over other social networks is that it is free and you only need to be connected to the internet in your computer.
Total Cost: FREE
Use of Local Dailies (Newspapers, Magazines, etc.)
One of the things we’ll do whenever we need to sell a house fast is also get our property in the local newspaper. It gets your house in front of lots of people… and one place lots of buyers look for houses is in the “homes for sale” section of the paper. Put your phone number… a link to your online listing if you have one… a picture (ads with pictures get many many more responses than ads without the picture of the house).
Add in a few of the best parts about your house… the price… and end with a clear call to action on how they can setup a time to come check your house out.
Total Cost: Under $100
Get Your House On The Local Sacramento MLS
The number one place buyers look for a house is the “multiple listing service”. That’s the fancy name for where houses go when real estate agents “list” a house.
A listing for your house will go into a central database that all local Sacramento real estate agents in our area will have access to… so they can bring their buyers to the houses on the MLS that fit what they’re looking for.
You can get your house on the MLS without hiring a real estate agent to sell your house. Some agents will let you pay a few hundred bucks to just list your house on the MLS for you and take no commission on the sale.
Sell Your House To A Cash Home Buyer Like Westbrook REI
Finally, if you really need to sell your Sacramento home quickly… and don’t have the time or money to use the marketing tips above… you may want to look at getting an offer from a local real estate investor like Westbrook REI.
We buy houses in and around Sacramento, Stockton and Modesto and can close quickly.
If you want to sell your house and are curious on how the process works… and want to see what we can pay you for your house… you can get that ball rolling in a couple ways.
- Give us a call today at (209) 481-7780: We’ll ask a few basic questions about your house… and within 24 hours we’ll make you an offer on your house. No Obligation at all. If the price works for you. Great! We can close on your timeline… in as little as 7 days.
- Go fill out this really short and simple form with your basic house info: We’ll evaluate the property as soon as we get it today… then we’ll call you with a formal offer on your house in less than 24 hours.
It’s really simple. You pay no fees. No commissions.
We just agree on a price that works for both of us and that’s it.
Let us make you an offer on your Sacramento area house . You don’t have anything to lose. And you can have your house sold by this time next week (if you wanted us to close that fast) rather than having to wait months and months to market your house yourself the traditional way.
