I Sold It Twice
It was a modest semi-detached home with three bedrooms, one full and one half bath, and a finished basement.
In the first go round, I picked up the listing from a For Sale By Owner. Overall, it was not a bad house and it did have some updates. For the most part it showed very well. However, the owner fancied himself as a handyman, when he was actually unhandy. He put in a new kitchen, which at first glance looked nice, but upon closer examination, it showed that it had been done without measuring. Nonetheless, it did not take much to bring it into decent condition. It took us about 4 weeks to get an acceptable buyer. The inspection did not uncover many problems, but the negative conditions which were found would be taken care of by the owner, you know, the unhandyman. One of the windows, which had a wood frame around the pane was rotting. He explained to me how he would fix the window and, yes, he did talk a good handyman game. The final walk through was to be on the same day and just prior to settlement. I did not have a chance to see the repairs prior to that time so I was taking the owner's word that he had properly repaired the window. That was a mistake. He filled in the rotting section with silly putty. Naturally, there was disappointment and concern from the buyer. I suggested that we could come up with a solution at the settlement table. At the same time, I could not help but laugh at the repair job. After moaning and groaning, the seller agreed to provide money for a professional repair. The deal was done.
In the second go round, which was about a year later, I was working with the buyer. She was reluctant to look at houses in this particular neighborhood, but otherwise the homes met all of her criteria. I told her that I had a very good idea about this particular house because of listing it recently. In fact, the house was basically the same but with improvements to the unhandyman work. She decided to move forward and the sale took place.
By working certain neighborhoods and becoming an expert in that region and with those types of homes, it is actually not unusual that I would be involved in more than one transaction on the same house. In fact, when the last buyer decides to upgrade, I expect to be selling that particular house once again.
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