A Stressful Start
As I parked my car, I thought, “Ok, one of my favorite floor plans in the suburbs. We are going to need a new sidewalk, but it has a great front door. I’m late, and they haven’t answered my text, so I hope they aren’t irritated that I’m late!” I am not usually late the first time I meet someone, so my stress level was off the charts. I just wanted to calm down before I walked in because I didn’t want to bring that energy to the appointment.
My day was so busy, but I let all the business of the day go with each step to the front door. As the sellers showed me the house I started to get excited! The floor plan did not disappoint. I could instantly see the potential.
Seeing the Home’s Potential
We toured the house and talked about how much they wanted for the property. I introduced them to a program called Compass Concierge. The whole time I was in the house I could feel its energy. It had been loved, it had a good flow, and I knew someone would appreciate the cedar siding, the large yard, and the layout, even with its imperfections. BUT the challenge in the market was: buyers were not willing to take on ANY major projects, and this home had a few that would have caused uncertainty for any buyer.
Preparing the House for Sale
The homeowners had thoughtful questions during our first meeting where we talked about what the process of listing their house would look like. They shared their dreams and their fears. They were starting a new journey, one they hadn’t faced before and it was exciting!
Later, we talked about letting go of the home and what we needed to do to position it for buyers. Our goal was to take away as many potential objections as possible. Things like, “the house needs paint,” or carpet or things that would not only add cost to the buyers but also the inconvenience of construction. We wanted a buyer to be able to not only imagine themselves living there right away but we wanted them to be able to move in without having to do anything.
Budgeting and Renovating
I put together a budget and options of things that need to be updated. Things like new sidewalk and driveway, new hardwoods floors, paint, roof, door hardware, lighting, and since it was early spring we need the normal spring landscape cleanup. We used Compass Concierge to borrow from the equity in the home so that the seller did not have to use savings, it was cheaper than using a credit card, and much easier to secure money than getting a second or a line of credit on the house. On our list of things to change or update, I only had one non-negotiable, and the sellers understood why it mattered most. It took us one month and $90,000 to complete the updates! We made a pact at the beginning that if one problem led to another… as it often does… we would talk it through, check the budget, and decide together how to proceed.
We stayed within budget, added a few extra details, and saved money on other line items.
A Color Mistake Turned Win
Of course, with any construction project, we had a glitch. I walked in as the painters were finishing, I realized they painted the trim the wrong color. The seller wanted a dark trim, I wanted lighter. The painters used a color that I gave them. It was our mistake, we pulled the wall color instead of the darker color. It wasn’t the plan, but it turned out gorgeous. I called the sellers after catching my breath and said, “I think it looks great, but if you don’t agree, we’ll change it.” Thankfully, they were in the letting-go mindset, and because it looked good, we decided to keep moving forward.
Staging and Design Magic
Staging came next. The sellers had a vast array of furniture, including a piano. Before painting, we pared it down and picked what we loved most for the look we were going for. I asked them to save their art because they had incredible, unique pieces. Everything else went into storage. Once construction wrapped up, I moved into design mode, and the house was photo-ready in just a couple of days.
There were definitely times the sellers didn’t fully see my vision, but they trusted the process. We worked hard together, many long days and evenings, and watched the house evolve.
The Results
When we listed, the average days on market in that neighborhood was 45. Zillow’s Zestimate was $1,204,500, and Homes.com said it was worth $999,000 to $1,106,000. We sold in 27 days for $1,210,000. If we hadn’t done any updates, the house would have been worth under $1,000,000. The buyers fell in love and ultimately purchased this house because we took care of all the big-ticket items and they could move right in.
We sold faster than any of the other houses that we thought were our competition. Because we prepared well, we didn’t encounter any major inspection issues and the buyers were excited to make this house their home.
A New Chapter for the Sellers
As for the sellers, their next chapter fell into place beautifully. The perfect home came to their attention the day before I called to say we had an offer. When they accepted the offer, they confidently made an offer on the new home. It was an exciting few weeks for the sellers – balancing selling and buying a house at the same time is a lot of coordinating and planning!
I love when this happens. The sellers followed all of my suggestions, they trusted the process, trusted the updates and staging, and trusted that it would all work out, even when things felt uncomfortable. And it did.
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