QUESTION: We are currently in a global coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. Can now possibly be a good time to sell your house?
KEITH: First off let me just say that this house we are in right now got two full price offers within 3 days. I have seen hotter markets, like in 2016, but this market right now in Sacramento is good and is characterized by a lack of inventory (that is 'not enough houses for sale compared with home buyers ready to buy them').
QUESTION: Who says it is good?
Continued....Sacramento: Selling during the coronavirus pandemic Here is an article from the Home Buying Institute HBI. Sacramento's housing market right now has a low numbers of for sale listings based on historical numbers. A lot of people are re-locating to the area. There are many things driving the phenomenon but as the article states "WE ARE STARTING TO SEE MIGRATION FROM URBAN CORES"
Here is a graph: TOP 10 Metros by Net Inflow #1, Phoenix, AZ, #2 Sacramento, CA, #3 Las Vegas, NV (REFERENCE BOOKMARK)
QUESTION: So are you saying now is a good time to sell?
Selling is an option here and now. If you had asked me a couple of months ago, I would have said it may be better to hold on until after the pandemic when more buyers are out. It has been the opposite!! There is just a lack of sellers.
Now, to be clear -- It doesn't mean you can't wait until later and maybe sell for more. It just means that if you are thinking 'I can't sell now because of COVID' you are wrong.
QUESTION: What about this project we just completed here?
I had thought initially that 'I'll need to hold this re-modeled house for a while' just applying common sense to the situation and the sense of immensity of the pandemic. It was really not until the last couple of months that it became more clear that the housing market was doing it's own thing during the pandemic. This property when I listed it received two full and more than full price offers within a day or two, and there was even a sight unseen offer made!
QUESTION: Where should the viewers turn if they have any questions about their property or any other real estate issues.Call Sacramento Sell a House Fast at nine one six two five zero 3241 or use the contact form.
QUESTION: Should you set the price really high when selling your house to get the most you can?
KEITH: Actually setting the price too high probably is counter productive. The house will sit on the market and get stale. After a while people will figure 'There is something wrong with that house'. Then if you take it off the market and re-list, it will still retain its listing history.
QUESTION: Can you list it too cheap?
KEITH: There is a trick to listing houses. You want to look at the actual like comps, not just go with the Zillow value. Normally if you put it a little below the competition you will get an opening 'pop' with multiple offers.
Continued....Marketing your House
QUESTION: How have you sold your own houses?
I have sold off my rentals and also re-habbed and sold houses. I have always got multiple over asking price offers, except for one which was just one full price offer (that was a while ago).
QUESTION: Should you stage a house?
For me the best is a clean, newly painted house that is not cluttered. There is no problem with a vacant house or a house that has light furniture. No excessive clutter is a good thing.
QUESTION: What about a house with unique features?
The more unique a house is may make it harder to sell. A unique house needs a specialized marketing plan, needs to be fixed up to show well and needs to be priced right.
QUESTION: Do you worry about 'leaving money on the table'?
Yes somewhat. In a good market you can't really give something away. Let's say your house is worth 200k. You list it for 100k, you are probably going to get offers up to 195k. If you list it for 190k you will probably get offers up to 195k, just the same.
QUESTION; If you list a house do you have to accept a full price offer?
No, the seller is not obligated to accept a full price offer.
QUESTION: Do you have to respond to offers by a certain date.
Often offers will only be valid for a certain time period. The buyer can optionally still accept a signed offer (that they made to the seller) that comes back in late but is not obligated to.
QUESTION: What if I counter an offer but then later decide that the original offer was OK?
Once you counter offer, the original offer is null and void and the buyer is not obligated to respond to your counter offer.
QUESTION: Can you help me sell my house?
We pay attention to detail and do everything to help you
>>set a selling price
>>prepare your house to show well
>>professional photographs
>>A for sale sign
>>Listing in the Multiple Listing Service and other popular real estate web sites such as zillow and redfin
We do this all while saving you money on your property.
QUESTION; What should I do if I am interested in discussing this more?
Contact us using the or use the contact form.
QUESTION: Why use us to sell your house? You get a full service local agent at a 1% listing fee. The co-operating seller's agent gets 2.5%, so your total out of pocket is 3.5%. Compare this to the 6% charged by other full service brokers. On a 400,000 house your total costs would be $14,000 instead of $24,000 making for a savings of $10,000.These are some of the previous projects we have done. All of the projects were cherried out and sold within 1 week of their listing. Although most things went as expected, there were also some unexpected 'whoops' moments. It helps me now in that I can go through a protential property and estimate rehab costs fairly closely.