2010 Sold for $525,000
Represented Seller
House Condition:
This home was an estate sale in overall good condition and had been well maintained, with some upgrades throughout the years. But the rambler was covered in carpet with elusive hardwoods underneath. I recommended that the heirs take up the carpet and redo those floors to give the home the competitive edge it needed. They resisted and felt it was unnecessary to spend money on what was new, fine carpet. When it comes to my client's best interest I'm dogged in my pursuit of the ability to sell the house for the most money and best terms: that carpet was in the way of that goal!
Buyers don't have a ton of imagination about a house. In fact, they have none! They see what is there and not the possibility of what could be there. If they can see the possibility they triple and quadruple the costs in their minds to correct the issues. In this neighborhood every other listing in the active market had lovely hardwood floors and we needed those exposed in order to compete with the other homes.
Just pricing lower is not the answer! Carpet allowances won't bring the buyers into the home in the first place.
The lower level – walkout – was an incredible selling point for any family which wanted a second living space. But there, with old vinyl tile and a dingy, dark feeling no one wanted to spend any time in the space. That level needed the carpet from above!
But the real problem in the house was the amount of clutter. Everywhere you looked there was furniture, collections from QVC, books. Stuff. Lots.of.stuff. Buyers cannot see through that at all!
Market Condition:
Kensington is a desirable area and this particular neighborhood of smaller, older homes is a tight community which the neighbors all love. But houses had been languishing on the market for months and I knew this house would be in the same boat unless it was carefully presented and priced exactly at market to attract a lot of young families looking there.
Condition Recommendation and Corrections:
With an overall fresh paint job, completely emptied out and flooring in the correct shape, the house was ready for market. Overall, the estate spent about $5000 to get the house ready for market – in move in condition – and I managed all the vendors to ensure they got the work done and submitted invoices to the executor of the estate.
- everything removed
- carpet removed
- painted
- staged
And of course, professional photography to highlight all the changes:
Pricing Recommendation:
The comps for the neighborhood suggested a price of no more than $525,000. And to get that, and be the next house sold, would require the condition that buyers covet. And it needed to be staged using the collection of furniture, rugs, art and lighting which I have on hand exclusively for my listings.
With condition set and photos as the lure, the families came in droves to view the house. The open houses were jammed over the weekend – the result of the direct, targeted campaign to get them there via the Internet! We got one offer very quickly. Sentrilock keeps a record of who is in the house and that allowed me to contact them and let them know of the offer so their clients could compete. This strategy effectively brought in more offers and in fact the winning offer was one of the agents I reached out to!
The other offers weren't so much for getting more price but for making sure we could tighten up all the terms in the offer which won. Price and terms were met by having the other offers. If we had worked only with the first offer there would have been a price and subsidy concession but with competition, it forced the buyers to put their best foot forward and stop negotiating. Financing and appraisals were standard at the time so the effort was to control the initial agreement as well as any renegotiating of price at the next steps.
Conclusion:
The house was under contract within the first week and settled quickly thereafter. In fact, the house settled before any other homes in the area actually got any offers!
Keys to Success:
- Thinking like a buyer… That price range was not going to attract a lot of buyers with excess cash to fix things. No carpet! Between the down payment and the closing costs, there would be no leftover cash to fix up things, which would have put a serious damper on interest.
- Having more than one offer so we could get terms in our favor. Reaching out to agents with active buyers to ensure they knew there was an offer in place.
- I know how to successfully prepare a house for market, so it became a matter of executing the plan in order to be the next house sold. Two heavy listing agents there had listings which were stale and/or overpriced for their condition with many, many days on market. My listing moved in days because of the work we put into it..
Many owners seem to feel they need to use someone who knows their area as the "neighborhood expert." Understanding the relative value of one part of the county to the next has helped me to work in a wide variety of markets. It has established the knowledge of core real estate practices and my project manager past has helped me successfully implement the steps required to be the next home sold anywhere.
What homeowners need is not the neighborhood expert but the expert who can guide and advise on how to get any house sold in any market. A carefully executed plan will ensure success! Core real estate has very similar characteristics in our area. For sellers considering agents, it's crucial they understand how the overall plan will be executed to bring the house to a successful sale. It's of very little value to have someone who markets themselves heavily in the area if the sign simply stays in the ground…
The home needs to be prepared, it must be priced exactly right and the marketing needs to be targeted directly at the buyers – like a bullseye…
My goal is not a series of signs in any one neighborhood but a series of successful signs anywhere I have core competency! My plan, which I execute consistently, is to find buyers for the property. Period.
About Josette
