This website is dedicated to offering access to knowledge of properties in Santa Barbara and surrounding areas that are privately available for sale, but not offered in traditionally marketed manner. In our 23 year experience of management in the real estate brokerage industry in Santa Barbara, California, we have found many of our clients prefer their Santa Barbara properties not marketed in the traditional way, wherein the property is posted into the local Santa Barbara MLS and hundreds of agents and passers-by come into the home, look through every sq, inch of the home, and personal property, with the vast majority of those lookers having little interest or chance of buying that particular Santa Barbara home.
This has become an inconvenience and concern to many Santa Barbara area home owners and is perceived by them and most agents as a necessary nuisance to sell their home.
Our Santa Barbara property owners have spent much time, money and love creating their homes and are not entirely comfortable having their property, freely opened to what can be insensitive intrusion. They prefer a qualified, informed buyer who will have an appreciation for what they have created, and they entrust us to make sure that any potential buyers who request a viewing of their Santa Barbara home understand and appreciate the privilege granted them by touring a home. Property owners who feel this way are using reasonable prudence and care. It’s a show of trust to have someone open their home and private property for viewing, not an entitlement, and it’s the most discerning of Santa Barbara buyers who fully appreciate this.
In fact, National Association of Realtors statistics show that less than 2% of all homes sold are through an open house, and that number is actually declining with ever increasing Internet use. Traditional Santa Barbara real estate brokers rarely divulge this because they want to use the home as part of their “product line”. An open house is a low cost attempt to meet other potential buyers who, the above stats show, have a 98% chance of either not buying at all, or buying a different property. Those agents want to meet buyers, get their contact information and sell them that “other” property. So while the property owner believes they are having their home presented to many potential Santa Barbara real estate buyers visiting the open house, in fact those buyers are being courted to purchase other Santa Barbara homes for sale as well and the owners are having their home used as a comparative or a sort of property “store front” to meet buyers and potentially “switch” them to another. A “switch” is common industry practice and agents are highly encouraged to do this by the traditional brokerage.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with a Realtor trying to make an honest living, and if the property owner agrees to it, why not?! But these open house statistics are rarely mentioned, and in all fairness should be explained. Property owners have the right to know these facts in order to make informed decisions as to how their home will be marketed. Many Santa Barbara home sellers, once aware of these truths, prefer not to do business with an agency who fails to disclose this rather large salient fact? They feel their property listing is being used more to promote the agent and brokers business than serving their needs in selling their property and feel underserved and somewhat mislead. If an agent doesn’t tell you this, what else are they neglecting to disclose? (We feel it is an agent’s obligation to report this information. We in fact, offer a substantial insentive to our Santa Barbara home sellers for the privilege of selling their home and holding our unique (unswitched) RSVP open house there. Click to request information about this unique, innovative marketing approach.
It’s startling how the fiduciary agency relationship has been diminishing over the last 20 years. Agents are the property owners’ legal surrogate and expert advisor while under a listing contract. They are legally bound to do everything they can to the benefit of the property owner, including a vigilant watch over the property when showing it and to never compromise the owner’s financial position by suggesting they might take less than the list price, or suggest to “show you another property that’s a better deal”. It’s shocking how often we see new and even seasoned agents completely disregard their responsibility to property owners in this regard, putting their own interests first. An agent’s primary focus is to market and sell the home their standing in while holding that property open to the public.
That is why we created www.SantaBarbaraPocketLisings.com All www.SantaBarbaraPocketslistings.com Santa Barbara properties are researched and compared to other properties in the Santa Barbara real estate market place and are guaranteed to be unique offerings of high interest and style to most exactly fit the needs and desires of a truly qualified and ready to act buying public.
Astute Santa Barbara home buyers now have an active, up to date resource to find the Santa Barbara homes that are unique, pristine, well kept, well priced and are a custom fit for what they are trying to find, without having to sift through hundreds of properties that just won’t work for them.
We maintain an active database of unique Santa Barbara area homes and rare estate properties including Montecito properties, Hope Ranch, properties, Goleta homes, Santa Ynez properties, Carpinteria real estate, Summerland and Santa Barbara properties as well as a special focus in Santa Barbara estates. If we do not have an active seller of the type of home you’re looking for, we access our extensive database to quickly find exactly what you need and prefer.
Click here to become part of our exclusive preferred buyer program. We find what your looking for and infom you first when a property fitting you needs becomes available, most often before it hits the open market. Our sellers prefer to do business like this and our buyers are not put into overly urgent situations to purchase but are instead given the requisite time to make informed decisions about a property.
