Sacramento Real Estate Views

Archive for September, 2008

5 Reasons You Need a Realtor when Buying a New Home

Buying a new home is substantially different than buying an existing home.  I would know, I’ve sold many resale homes and I’ve also worked for one of the largest, publicly held home builders in the nation, Pulte Homes.

This gives me a depth of knowledge when working with a new home buyer that other Realtors who haven’t  had this experience can’t possibly know.  No amount of fancy letters behind the name of any Realtor can substitute for successfully selling new homes for a builder and working in that environment.

The Pitch: Buying a new home? Call me.  It would be a mistake not to let me represent you with my experience in tow.

Now, beyond that, here are some other reasons you want representation when purchasing a new home.

The Contracts and Disclosures

The paperwork in buying a new home is vastly different than purchasing a resale.  Realtors selling a resale use, mostly, California Association of Realtors (CAR) forms approved by the CAR attorneys in concert with the Department of Real Estate.  New home builders do not.  You’ll need someone who understands these differences to explain it to you.  Can someone whose never seen them do this adequately?  Your call, I’m just asking!

Warranties and SB 800

New homes are legislated far more than the resale side of the business.  Ask most Realtors what SB 800 is and you’ll get a blank stare most of the time.   Understanding this will help you to realize why buying a new home is so beneficial.  This is a MAJOR difference between buying new and existing homes.

Use the Builders Lender?

Using the builders lender can be tricky.  Some of the builders are using outside lenders while others have their own lenders who are under the same umbrella and affiliated with the builder.  Some Realtors will tell you that using the builders lender isn’t a good decision.  The proof will be in the fees charged and the incentives offered.  I generally recommend that the buyer uses the builders lender as the cost of using your own lender won’t be offset by incentives.  Incidentally, Pulte Homes has the best team of mortgage people I’ve ever run across.  I would ALWAYS recommend using their lender when purchasing a Pulte or Del Webb home.

Construction

New home sales consultants are trained in the current building standards of the homes they sell.  It’s part of objection handling and knowing the difference between one builder and another.  Understanding quality workmanship is critical to buying a new home.  Trust me on this.  The builder who built my home built it with components that won’t hold up in a stiff wind.  Every sales associate that works for the builder who built my home lied about quality.  They had to or they were not trained to know the difference.  Do you want to take that chance?  Knowing the difference between builders and what they build is critical to peace of mind.

and finally

GET THE BEST PRICE AND TERMS

You don’t work in the sales department of a homebuilder like Pulte without learning a thing or two about what they will do and what they won’t do.  Once I had a Realtor come and “negotiate” a sale for his client on a home that was a month from being finished.  He was trying to discredit the community and it’s pricing in an effort to get a better deal for his client.  I simply told him we don’t negotiate and asked if he needed me to leave the room to chat with his client which I did.

When I came back he asked me for a $5K discount on the home priced at base plus upgrades.  $5K…$5K!!!  I smiled and excused myself to chat with my community manager to tell her that I just saved the company $10K.   I had been authorized to give up $15K to make the deal work if need be.  By “negotiating” he cost his client $10K she didn’t have to spend.  INEXPERIENCE COST HIS CLIENT THOUSANDS!

The reason for this is knowing how the builders figure costs and where to ask for discounts. It’s not hard once you’ve worked in the industry to get the best possible price for your client.  The $5K discount cost the builder about $1,500.  That’s no discount.  This is where I can really help.

Well that’s my take.  I wouldn’t trade my experience at Pulte Homes for anything.  Some of the most professional and caring people I’ve ever worked with.  What I learned there will help me to be successful in the future.  I will always favor Pulte and Del Webb homes because they are one of the best production builders out there, bar none.

If you need representation purchasing your new home, and believe me you do, please call me at 916-532-7653. I’ll be happy to help you  or someone you know.

By the way, there are WAY more than 5 reasons to be represented when buying a new home.  Check Gena Riede’s article about her take.  It’s a good one.

Tags: cambridge, Del Webb, lennar, meritage, New homes in Sacramento, pulte, syncon, tim lewis

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.

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