Quoted in an article in Sactown Magazine about listing strategies in the current Sacramento real estate market...

In this month's Sactown Magazine I was quoted extensively about the Sacramento real estate market. In many areas and price ranges, the market conditions favor sellers. As such, it is imperative when listing a property to employ strategies that will maximize exposure to buyers, maximize disclosure to potential buyers, and maximize net proceeds...and minimize surprises.

Surprises are expensive, and they may cost a seller big-time when conditions are discovered mid-transaction. I wrote a blog post about disclosure versus discovery a couple years ago. You might think -- "oh but this is a seller's market so why would I need to do anything like that?"

The very best advice I can give a home seller to maximize selling price and net proceeds is to obtain pre-listing inspections for the property, and disclose the reports to potential buyers in advance, BEFORE responding to any offers. With our current Sacramento real estate market favoring sellers, it is most advantageous for sellers to disclose as much as possible in advance -- when the home goes on the market -- so that buyers may make informed purchasing decisions while they are still in competition with other buyers. Often times, with the heat of the market, while competing with other buyers, many buyers will offer to buy the property as-is with full knowledge of the findings of the reports.

That is the key...while buyers are still competing with other buyers...because often once the seller accepts an offer and the house is marked pending, most buyers move on and get excited about other property. Alternatively, if sellers do not disclose inspection reports up front, and then buyers complete their own inspections a few weeks into the transaction and discover issues not previously disclosed, this provides the opportunity for a secondary negotiation which often leads to price concessions or seller-paid repairs.

Sellers -- to maximize your net proceeds: disclose, disclose, disclose. I provide my sellers with a few key pre-listing inspection reports as a part of my listing services at no added expense (in addition to many other things). I can not tell you how many times these reports have earned or saved my clients tens of thousands of dollars.