Back in the days when I bought homes to fix up and flip, I thought I knew everything about real estate. In retrospect, I knew the bare basics because I lived in a state where I knew little about local real estate, much less statewide, and because I wasn't actively practicing representation during those flipper years. Not at all like my crazy life as a listing agent today.I shudder to imagine how many buyers think they know what they are doing because they've done it once or twice or they watched somebody else do it. How hard can it be, they wonder? And then they find out the hard way, it's pretty hard.Not only that, but there are not an enormous amount of excellent buyer's agents running around. It can take a buyer a bit of time to find one of those guys. I see them from the other side ... 01/13/2019

The last time I checked, our MLS is owned at least 50% by a handful of brokers in Sacramento. You would think that MLS might reach out to its membership through a survey to determine which features are useful or to gather opinions on types of improvements members would like to see, but that idea not materialize.In any case, MetroList did a pretty good job improving Prospector and the profile sheets. Prospector is still a bit clunky. I would like to see a way to perform a secondary search while in the midst of the results of a primary, and that is presently impossible. The best one can do is pull up history in a separate window.You can read more about the many revisions for 2019, some of which are spectacularly significant, in my personal blog today at this link: Are You Ready for MLS En... 01/11/2019

58 Seraspi Ct Sacramento, CA 95834 Absolutely stunning 3 Bedroom 3 Bath home nestled within Sonora Springs in Natomas. Over 1,660 sq ft with a great room concept creating a wonderful space for the family. This home has the biggest lot in the community, perfect for entertaining family and friends! With new floors throughout, fresh paint, dual pane windows, and a spacious master bedroom, this home is move in ready! Close to parks, shops, and has the easiest freeway access! Don't miss out! Jake DaRosa | DRE # 01704082 BKCO Real Estate Team | DRE # 01406150916-402-5786 01/10/2019

This topic makes me think about a former and now deceased husband who liked the phrase, if you walk like a duck, talk like a duck, then you are a duck. He was a seminar speaker, one of the early pioneers in real estate. His focus was turning ordinary people into rockstars or at least making these agents believe they could become a rockstar. He taught them a way to gain confidence by "faking it until they make it." Not a concept I truly endorse but it worked for a handful.You know what else can build confidence in real estate? Closing a shitload of transactions.Maybe the reason I have difficulty wrapping my head about it is because I was born with confidence. No recollection of working to develop it. It was just there. You can read more in my personal blog today about those thoughts at t... 01/03/2019

Here is my cheery New Year's Eve message today. As Hella Rothwell and I gaze from our balcony at the ocean and Diamond Head from our top floor room at the Halekulani.It constantly astonishes me when agents display such stupid behavior in the name of building business for themselves and that they could do so without any regard for consequences as well. My question to myself is typically what were they thinking? To which your answer is they were not thinking or they would not have done it. And my response to that is they would do it anyway because they are stupid.We always want to give them a benefit of a doubt and why? Why are we programmed that way? Even cornered, some of the agents will still defend themselves and continue to do the crappy things they should not do because they told th... 12/31/2018

One of the perks of being in Hawaii around Christmas-time is my phone rarely rings. But not this year, for some reason. Why aren't people with their families celebrating? Why are they calling real estate agents? Well, maybe it's the eggnog. Or, maybe it's a sheer desire to buy a home, which can hit at any moment in a person's life, but especially around the holidays.Everybody seems happy and snug as a bug in their own homes, so maybe that's part of what drives new home buyers in December? You can read more in my personal blog today at this link: Two Christmas Miracles in Sacramento Real Estate.Merry Christmas everybody! 12/25/2018

Ya gotta love the buyer agents who think they know everything about your listing, seller intentions and how they would market, yet they really know only what they want. Which is not in agreement with your objective. But that doesn't stop them from trying to tell a listing agent how to do her job. Some even go so far as to inflate their ego, experience and plaster it in my email. I want to say get out of my email, you loser, you.Because they want me to act in a certain way that is advantageous to them. Which is not gonna happen. And they don't understand why. After all, don't agents want to put deals together? Shouldn't we do whatever it takes to get into escrow? Slimeballs, maybe. So my answer to that gibberish is no, it is nonsense.Well, you can read more about that in my personal blog... 12/22/2018

This time of year is generally a bit slower than it's been this week before Christmas. You'd think people would be off enjoying time with their families, wrapping presents, attending parties, but instead they are out looking at homes in Sacramento to buy. One set of buyers were boarding a plane when they stopped to sign homebuying papers.It's been super hectic. Another set of buyers canceled because they suddenly realized, I guess, that they didn't know what they were doing, but then two more went into escrow. That seems to be how it goes. One escrow blows up and two more take its place. You can read more in my personal blog today at this link: Christmas is a Perfect Time to Buy a Home in Sacramento. 12/21/2018

I'm going to date myself a bit, and tell you a little story from the dawning of my childhood.  In the decades ramping up to the 1960s, America's cities weren't plagued by graffiti on fences, walls, bridges, and just about every surface vulnerable to a spray can.    However, I was born during World War II, and there was one little graffiti icon, which occasionally appeared on fences, buildings, a wall or two.  It was nearly always the same, or similar in appearance.  The text, "KILROY WAS HERE" usually accompanied the well-known distinctive doodle, a bald-headed man (possibly with a few hairs) and a prominent proboscis peeking over a wall with the fingers of each hand clutching the wall.  The little cartoon character was widely known among those who lived during World War II years in the... 12/19/2018

When home sellers refuse to sign a counter offer, as a listing agent, what can you do? The sellers are your clients. Listing agents must maintain a fiduciary relationship with sellers. We must represent our clients to the fullest of our ability and always keep their best interests at the forefront. As a Realtor, we need to place those interests above our own. To some agents that means agreeing with their clients and doing precisely what their clients instruct them to do. For other agents, it is a different story. You can share your experience and / or read more in my personal blog today at this link: Seller Says I Won't Sign a Counter Offer. 12/16/2018

Buying real estate is similar to having a baby. You tend to forget how painful it can be because the rewards are so great. If you could remember, you might not want to do it again. In my opinion, selling is much easier than buying but it can also be stressful.One of the ways that I help my sellers avoid stress is by always being available for them, as much as I can be. And answering their questions, no matter what they ask as it is important to them and they deserve an adequate and informative answer. You can read more in my personal blog today at this link: How Do Home Sellers Get the Money at Closing? 12/15/2018

Yesterday morning I spotted an email delivered to my inbox that contained a brand new listing. I have targeted specific neighborhoods with hotsheets in MLS (boy, that's an old term, hotsheets), to keep abreast of all activity. In this particular neighborhood, an interesting new listing popped up. But when I clicked on it, no photographs.I waited until late afternoon and checked again. Still no photographs. This made me wonder if it was on purpose, and what an odd thing to do. You can read more in my personal blog today at this link: The Kiss of Death for a Sacramento MLS Listing. 12/10/2018

Things are beginnng to look up in November in Sacramento. December has taken off like a bang, too. At least for me, I don't know how well other agents are faring. I can tell you that September and October were very slow months, which has been out of the ordinary for me. Did not take very many listings or close as many as usual. However, right after Thanksgiving, the market seems to be renewing itself.I managed to list 5 new homes in Sacramento over the past couple of weeks and sold five. You can read more in my personal blog today at this link: Sacramento Housing Market November 2018 Report. 12/09/2018

I am fond of saying that I could buy my own island in French Polynesia if I had received every offer that buyer's agents said they were sending over the past 40 years. Because it is true. I find buyer's agents are often FAR more excited about the prospects of a house than their buyers are. They tend to see and hear what they want and glam on to every positive thing a buyer says, sometimes not listening to the negatives.You might be surprised to hear how often agents say to me: oh, my buyers are so thrilled and they are filling out an application to get preapproved. And then they never even call their mortgage rep. Can't be bothered. You can read more in my personal blog today at this link: Should You Tell a Seller When Agents Are Sending an Offer? 12/08/2018

3778 Robinridge Way Sacramento, CA 95823  Welcome to this great 3 bedroom 2 bath home with office/ possible 4th bedroom. This home boasts an open room concept, granite counter tops, multiple living areas with 2 fireplaces, and a spacious master suite with walk in closet. Situated on a large lot it's perfect for spring get togethers and BBQ cook outs. Ideal location provides community parks within walking distance, nearby freeway access, shopping, and plenty of local restaurants and eateries. Perfect for the 1st time home buyer!  Michael Brown | DRE # 02065385BKCO Real Estate Team | DRE # 01406150916-282-9130  12/07/2018

The Southside Urban Villas were all the rage when they were built 11 years ago. That's because little infill development was happening in Sacramento at that time. Most of the homes you could buy near Southside Park, which borders Land Park going toward downtown, were much older, vintage classics. And then this subdivision of 34 individual free-standing homes popped up.They contain all the bells and whistles of course, for a care-free lifestyle. Granite counters. Cherry cabinets. Charging station for electric car. I would not be surprised if the Mill at Broadway was fashioned after this complex. Favors young Millennial professionals. You can read more in my personal blog today at this link: Lock-and-Go Lifestyle by Downtown Sacramento is a Tri-Level. 12/05/2018

 Rarely do I oversleep in Hawaii, but this morning I did not wake up until the Lowe's contractor guys were hitting my Ring Doorbell, which chimes very loudly in our master bedroom. BTW, I highly recommend getting the Chime feature doohickey for that contraption. Pulled me out of a sound sleep.I had almost forgotten about the conversation I had about buyers with an agent yesterday. Maybe because I was too busy fending off the agents who wanted to "discuss" sales prices on certain properties. They were trying to "build a case" for their lowball buyer. That buyer sitting on the sidelines, watching the market. That buyer who mistakenly thinks they know the neighborhood oh-so-well, only to watch that dream house fly into escrow with two offers. You can read more in my personal blog today at ... 12/03/2018

Some agents learn how to sell real estate by memorizing sales techniques and making canned statements. It works for them, I guess, but it's never been authentic to me. Yeah, yeah, all the world's a stage and we are but bit actors, still, it doesn't seem the way to go in my mind. The way to go is to make clients happy. Genuinely happy.Not to try to trick them into being happy because that's impossible. You can get away with it for a short period of time, but in the long haul, clients will see right through those shenanigans. You can read more in my personal blog today at this link: Formula to Exceed Client Expectations in Sacramento Real Estate. 12/01/2018

Let me be clear that I am not badmouthing all agents. It is always just a few that ruin it for the rest of us. One thing I have noticed over my 40+ years in real estate is there seems to be a) no shortage of scumball agents and b) that puts us always on high alert that a client could confuse the good agents with those guys.And by "guys" I mean women or men or any other combination of gender preferences. You would think that by the time a seller has contacted an agent and indicated they want that particular agent to represent them that they would have some iota of trust in that agent. But some people don't trust anybody. They don't read reviews, either, so they automatically lump us in with the scumballs.If you like, you can read actual examples of this behavior in my personal blog today... 11/28/2018

Yes, my prediction for today is December real estate sales in Sacramento could be much stronger than you might expect.  There is a lot of doom and gloom talk going around, and I see the numbers, too. Sure, interest rates are climbing, sales prices have appreciated, and now we are moving into a more balanced market.As with every year, I also move my business home base operations to Hawaii. There are not a lot of face-to-face meetings toward the end of the year, so it's easy for me to sell my listings no matter where I am physically located. My phone is attached to my wrist. Makes it very handy when grocery shopping except when Safeway shoppers wonder why I'm talking to my wrist. They shake their heads: those crazy old haole (white people).I make this prediction for December based on the ... 11/27/2018