1106 N. Cordova Street in Burbank closed escrow today. We had two offers very quickly after putting it on the market at the end of May, and it sold over list price at $464,000. The transaction went very smoothly -- I wish all transactions could go this well!
Here's how we got offers over listing so quickly: 1) The sellers had the home expertly upgraded. No, it wasn't a flip in the classic sense as the owners had lived there 17 years until they bought a bigger house last summer. They spent some money, and it showed. 2) It was beautifully staged. (That's the living room, above.) I thought this was essential as the house was small and I knew furniture would make it look bigger. I'll post a before-and-after video soon. 3) I marketed the hell out of this.
The inspection went pretty well as far as inspections go, although the water heater conked out and the sellers had to replace it. The buyer, her agent and his team were really on top of things and responded to everything in a reasonable, timely manner. And we had a back-up offer.
However, there's pain in every escrow. The only pain here was with the appraisal. As I said in a previous post, the first appraisal came in low. Even though the buyer was putting down a hefty sum, Wells Fargo balked. The buyer changed lenders (Great Western), we had a second appraisal that came in to value, and the lender got the loan done in two weeks (!!!). And everybody is happy!
Congrats! If you care to comment I'm curious on your take on something. Last time I actively looked at homes was mid 2009. Market was certainly deep down at that point. Back then, most listings I pursued were recieving mulitple offers 5-10% above asking, and I felt the asking prices were realistic. So it's not like they were under priced. Though I realize "realistic" is subjective, and ulitmately it's what one is willing to pay. Your sale was 1% over asking.
ReplyDeleteDo you think the "fever" is calming down on the mulitple offers/over list offers, or was it that this house was priced accuratly.
Thank you,
TonyM
Tony, thanks as always for your thoughtful questions. Re the "fever": yes, I do think the market is calming down. Now it seems something needs to be severly underpriced for it to draw multiples.
ReplyDeleteAs far as this particular house goes, well, I don't think you can ever assume anything. The sellers and I looked at the comparables, and believed we were pricing at the high end. And my experience has been that it is wrong to assume you'll have a quick sale at a reasonable price on an 880 sf. home, no matter how cute it is. If I had assumed that, I wouldn't have had the sellers pay for staging ($4k). And candidly, I wouldn't have felt the need to spend big bucks on marketing either. I guess the take-away is that in this market, nobody has a crystal ball, and old-fashioned effort brings results. Does that make sense?
Thank you. Yes, makes sense. Full on professional effort usually pays off vs hoping for the "fever" effect.
ReplyDeleteWhile the staging wouldn't effect me as I can look past the empty room or current tacky decor and vision the potential, I'm fully aware for most it's a highly emotional decision and staging has everything to do with it.
Nice to hear the market might be calming down a bit.
Thanks for the straight forward answer and good job on the marketing/sale!
TonyM