In a previous blog post, I showed how, even in the dead of winter, homes will sell if:
- The owner has enough equity to price the house competitively
- The home is in great condition and
- Good marketing is in place
In this post, I’ll show how another home in the same community — College Park Woods — also sold very quickly using the same three conditions with one very counter intuitive twist.
3503 De Pauw Street | College Park, MD
Like many of the homes in College Park Woods, this 4 bedroom, 2½ bath Rambler style home was built in 1964. It’s a brick home with a fenced back yard that backs up to the neighborhood park that is managed by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC). It’s a nice, wooded park with a picnic pavilion, playground area, tennis courts and a ball field.
This home sold pretty quickly in December. Here’s why:
Condition
In the nearly 14 years I’ve been selling real estate full time, I have rarely come across a home that was so clean.
The house was vacant. More than that, everything had been removed. The appliances were all there and some of those were dated but functional. But the place was clean as a whistle. No stray rolls of paper towels or half used Windex bottles. No half full cans of paint many people leave behind so the next owner can “touch up” areas (but never do). No old tools or shelves or anything.
The carpets were cleaned and vacuumed. The windows were clean. The entire home was spotless. It was truly in “move in condition”.
The front and back yard had been mowed and edged. All the leaves had been removed. No stray garden hoses or forgotten ladders.
Bottom line: potential buyers could really visualize their stuff in the house when they came to visit the house. The could see the true space available.
Price
This is the counter intuitive twist.
I try to persuade sellers all the time that a competitively priced home will help it sell quickly. Leaving a home on the market for months in the hope of getting a higher price only costs money.
- If there is a mortgage, you still need to pay it which includes the property taxes and insurance.
- Utilities – gas, electric water. They all cost.
- Upkeep – all the little things that come with the seasons like leaf removal, mowing, snow removal, etc.
The seller of this house took the advice of their Realtor and priced the house slightly below market value. That’s right. They priced it for less than what the market says that home is worth.
This is counter intuitive because most home sellers think about coming down in price during an offer negotiation. They rarely think that an aggressive price will attract multiple buyers and that they can actually get a higher than list price offer. But that is exactly what happened in this case.
This house is now sold and settled for 101% of the list price. 4 days to complete a ratified contract and 13 days from the time the house went on the market to the time everyone was sitting around the settlement table.
In December. Winter.
It can be done. If you’re thinking of selling your home, drop me an e-mail or
give me a call at 240-417-9100
Great article. It’s actually a little funny to read when someone ‘discovers’ this truism in real estate: Price it right and they will come. This method of pricing a home in the low-range works especially well in a hot market, where you can benefit from multiple offers, which tend to be cleaner, with better financing terms and fewer conditions.
Bo Kauffmann recently posted..Buyers ask: “How Much Should We Offer For This House?”
Thanks for stopping by, Bo.
It always amazes me that most sellers would rather continue to pay the expenses involved with owning their home once they’ve decided to sell it. I don’t know how many times a client has lots valuable time and money by chasing after that last $5,000.
If someone has decided to sell – for whatever reason – pricing it well and keeping it in good condition is the fastest way to a high (i.e., close to list) price in a short amount of time.
Nicely written, Ken. It’s a question of return-on-investment really – not something that’s being taken seriously by house owners / potential sellers.
Solid post.
-Brett
Brett recently posted..homes for sale
I hear ya, Brett. I don’t think most home sellers think of the money wasted with their home being on the market for an extended period as the “opportunity costs” of selling. The money tied up in keeping an over priced home on the market could be used for other “opportunities” like paying for the mortgage on their new home or the kids college education or even just put into their retirement fund.