Your Realtor can help!

Always consult a realtor prior to selling! Our clients got a notice in the mail telling them that the zoning changed on their  home from residential to commercial, and they were ecstatic. They thought that would surely equal a big bump in sales price. They moved out, and allowed their estate salesperson to sell everything from inside the home, assuming it would be torn down. They didn’t consult with anyone besides family and neighbors. It was a choice they would end up regretting. Their home is surrounded by other modest inner city single family homes. The make up of their area is not commercial. Their lot size is small, so not a good candidate for development. Perhaps one day, if the area changes, the commercial zoning will bring value, but at this point, the highest and best use of their house is as a single family home. This realization hit hard. They now had a house where the actual furnace and kitchen had been stripped out, as well as original light fixtures, doors, and hardware. A home can’t get financed for a mortgage without heat and a kitchen. The seller was faced with either looking for an investor with cash (which equals a discounted price) or putting in a kitchen and furnace so we could market it to a future home owner. They decided that they would prefer to get the house back in financeable condition themselves, so we set about getting bids for the work. In the meantime, they let us know they would be open to not going through that and selling off market if someone would step up. So, as we were getting bids, we started to reach out to all the agents we work with, to see if anyone had an investor that the project would be a great fit for. It didn’t take long for a fellow Living Room agent to bring us the perfect buyer. We met everyone’s needs, and now my sellers can stop thinking about their old house and move on to their next chapter! The lesson here is of course, that you should always consult your trusted real estate advisor before making big decisions when it comes to selling a home. Allowing the kitchen and furnace and other elements to be removed, cost them more than $50,000. All in all, they got just a couple thousand bucks for those items. A hard but valuable lesson, and we share this story in the hopes to help others avoid such a loss. If you are thinking about making a move, or selling an investment, please reachout to us! We would love to help you strategize how to get the most equity out of your home!