Sacramento Real Estate Views

A Sign of the Times

I’ve made a change in my career over the last week.  I’ve left my position at Pulte Homes, Inc. to go back into the resale side of the market with the #1 REO team in the Sacramento region.  I’m working with REO Deal Makers at ReMax Gold.

This change will be a good thing for my career as it will expose me to another side of this business that, frankly, I had pushed away.  I realized that learning this side of the business is an essential for any Realtor looking for continued success.  There was always something that didn’t feel right about “capitalizing on someone else’s misfortune” and that thought or perception, kept me away until this week when I began my new position.

The day I gave my notice I began getting calls from potential buyers which stands out because I had told no one that I was quitting my position and starting a new one.  I hadn’t given it any of my attention, it just happened.  One of those potential buyers is a great lady I had worked with about 2 years ago named Joyce.  Joyce is from Modesto but has relocated to the Roseville area to pursue a love interest.  She is about as saavy as they come in so far as investors are concerned.  She has done more with less than anyone I know.  This is one of the benefits of educated risk taking.

Today, we went out looking at bank owned properties.  This is my first excursion into that market and, I’ll tell you, it was an eye opening.  I found myself oddly affected by entering these homes knowing that someone had been forced to leave for financial reasons.  The conditions I saw were startling.  A couple homes we saw were in good enough areas but were just trashed inside.  These were newer homes all built within the last 10 years and some were in just terrible condition while others were in better but still tough condition.  The minimum repair bill was about $8K.  That said, all penciled out as profitable in the standard investment scenario.

I found myself fighting back a little emotion after visiting our second property.  I’m sensitive to the point of being sappy sometimes.   Joyce, however, was gleeful.  All a part of experience I guess.  There was a lot of opportunity in what we saw.  I understood how she felt.

What occurred to me was this:  As a Realtor, my business is neighborhoods and communities.  I feel a responsibility as a Realtor to do everything in my power to get these homes sold to families or persons who will take care of them and act responsibly to make these neighborhoods, now blighted with properties that are unmaintained and unsightly, better than they were before.  We’ve got to make it a priority for the sake of our communities to get our region past this crisis and act responsibly in the neighborhoods in which we work.

Naive? Probably but it motivates me and makes what I do for a living worth it. Cheesy?  Sometimes that description definitely applies! Sincere? Always!

Interested in a great deal on a home?  We’ve got plenty of choices in our market at the moment.  If you’d like to make it happen, give me a call.

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Tags: foreclosed homes, foreclosures in sacramento, Sacramento real estate market

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 6:26 pm and is filed under Real Estate Market Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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