By Living Room Realty, May 24, 2021
Congrats to the Sellers at 6927 SE 78th! We had 8 FANTASTIC offers, and honestly, my clients would have been happy accepting any one of them.
To prep the home for market, I emphasized the importance of a good first impression. Curb appeal is real! My clients put on a brand new roof, painted the exterior, and cleaned up the landscaping. We decided to list in spring to optimize the front yard’s blooms. In the weeks leading up to the listing, we toured nearby open houses to get a sense for what activity would be like. A few days before listing, I was able to chat with a few listing agents of nearby properties that had gone pending the prior week. This informed our pricing strategy as well as calmed some Seller nerves.
Thanks to this intel, we knew it would be busy. After 50ish showings over the weekend, my clients were thrilled with the eight offers that came in. However, I let them know that we should take every offer with a grain of salt. In this market, where buyers are having to compete and push the edge of their comfort zone, we’ve been seeing a lot of transactions terminating. For this reason, we accepted a backup offer as soon as the property went pending.
Good thing, too. After a week, the first buyers terminated without even asking for any repairs – cold feet! We notified the second positions buyers, who were ecstatic, and just to cover our tracks, extended the third place buyers a new backup position. This second time around went easy-breezy, and we moved quickly to remove the inspection and appraisal contingencies. Even though these second buyers had lost a week of their transaction, miraculously we ended up closing on their original close date, thanks to strong communication from their agent and lender.
We can’t prevent bumps in the road, but we certainly can plan for them. In the end, the house sold for $70K (20%) over list price with minimal concessions and in just under a month! More importantly, both sides of the transaction felt like it was a win. Cheers to my clients as well as the happy new homeowners of this darling home!
