Should you hire a real estate broker, even if the neighbor wants to buy your house? Is it really worth it to pay a real estate commission? Many times homes are sold off-market, to the neighbor, or a friend of a friend… sellers feel it makes good sense – save money on the commission!
Last week I sold a property in West Covina – a Trust sale. I made my recommendations and my team got to work, making minor repairs, replacing doorknobs and light fixtures, a thorough cleaning, yard cleanup and manicuring, and then staged it. My recommendation to my client was not to waste money on renovating the kitchen and bathrooms – staging would create a huge appeal that would draw attention away from the outdated tiled kitchen and bathrooms.
I got the property ready for market in one week, and waited my usual 10 day period to expose the property to the market. We got 19 offers, over asking price. One of the offers was from the neighbor across the street. We made a request for highest and best from all buyers, and the neighbor was in the top two, increasing the purchase price by $90K. I then picked up the phone and negotiated with the top two offers, and was able to bring up the neighbor by another $20K, and, the buyer agreed to remove all their contingencies. Property was listed at $849,900 and sold for $990,000! That’s $408/sf, while the highest sold comp is at $387/sf and is completely renovated with new bathrooms and kitchen. My client is thrilled. Presentation is critical. So is negotiations and that extra push and effort by your agent. Our services are available throughout California. Check out the property below:
Category: Real Estate Staging
We recently created our first virtually staged 3D Tour… on a Trust sale requiring court confirmation. The property is the former residence of the Laemmle family…Carl Laemmle Jr., the producer of Dracula and Frankenstein. Carl had this home custom-built for him back in the day, perched up on Tower Grove Drive in Beverly Hills, 90210.
The house was not staged at the seller’s request, but we did virtually stage every image of the 3D tour and put them together into a video… check out the video via the link below! It’s amazing what technology can do.