Slow November Sales & SR Update

The Sacramento Bee’s Jim Wasserman published his monthly article on the Greater Sacramento real estate market today, “November home sales slow.” There were no surprises as he reported November sales volume was the lowest it has been in nine years and year-to-date sales of 38,208 in Sacramento and surrounding counties was 16,129 fewer than last year. In regards to median price the story also reported declines. The good news was the continued decline in inventory and some comments about where the market my go in 2007.

Surprised Realtor Update #1: Things have gone from bad to worse over the past two days. My clients did make a decision to respond to the sellers counter offer, which I believe was the right thing to do, and as with the original offer the “respond by” time came and went without a word from the seller’s agent. This morning I found a fax waiting for me rejecting our offer. Interestingly my clients are not disappointed because the seller’s agent’s lack of courtesy caused them to emotionally disengage from the property. The good news is they have another home that has moved to the top of their list.

Every agent knows that buying or selling a home is one of the largest and most important financial transactions most of us will ever be involved in during our lifetime. Knowing that, how can any agent fail to understand and treat the emotional side of this important transaction with such callous behavior?

Seller’s tip number 182: Make sure your agent knows how to use the telephone.