Franklin TN Home Sold After 118 Showings!!
In July 2011, I sent a letter to an expired listing located at 1420 Holly Hill Drive in Franklin hoping to meet with the sellers to discuss the possibility of listing their home. The sellers did, in fact, call me.
In the process of preparing their competitive market analysis, I found their home to be priced a little high for the surrounding area. It was a large home with 4,406 square feet which included a finished basement.
The sellers lived in the Redwing Farms neighborhood of Franklin TN. There hadn't been a recent sale in that section of their neighborhood for many years. I was forced to look outside Redwing Farms to nearby homes with finished basements. Within a two mile radius was Belle Vista. It was a new construction neighborhood being developed by Norfolk homes.
Normally, I would not compare a home built in 1989 to new construction but the neighborhood's close proximity with basement homes required that I price this listing to compete with that neighborhood. The big difference between the homes listed in Belle Vista and the seller's was that the seller's house was on 1.2 acres.
Although this was an older home, the sellers had completely renovated the kitchen, master bath and finished the basement in 2010. The one thing this house didn't have was an open floor plan. I explained that the updates would help to sell the house but the traditional floor plan was going to have a negative impact with buyers.
I suggested we list the home for $10,000 less than our Belle Vista competition. This was going to be a $40,000 drop from their previous price. The owners said they would need to think about it and they would be in touch. Surprisingly, they contacted me the next day and agreed to list the home at $459,900. Within a week, I had professional photos taken and put the home back on the market.
We had a record number of showings right out the gate. The sellers were surprised as they had only had two showings with their previous agent. This was a good indication that the home was priced right. Unfortunately, no offers were coming in. The only negative feedback we were receiving was that the house didn't have an open floor plan. 
We continued to have a steady stream of showings. Finally, after several months, the sellers agreed to drop the price to $449,900. The seller couldn't believe we weren't getting any offers. Showings were strong but the feedback remained the same--no open floor plan.
After a year on the market and a total of almost 90 showings, the sellers decided to let the listing expire and re-visit selling in the Spring.
About two weeks later, the sellers called. They were receiving 20-plus calls a day from agents looking to list their home. They couldn't take it anymore and asked that I come out to re-list their home.
I brought the home back on the market with a new price of $435,000, well-below market value. Within 10 days, we had our first offer. Unfortunately, the buyers had low-balled. But the sellers took my advice and countered. The buyer came back with another counter this time at $400,000. We were still too far apart. The seller countered again but the buyers rejected it.
Two weeks later, we received an offer of $400,000 from different buyers. Two different buyers had landed on the same price. The seller once again countered. This buyer rejected the counter. At this point, I was fairly certain that this home was never going to sell.
All during this time showings continued to be strong and in some cases we had second and third showings. Another 10 days passed and we received another offer. This time, however, was within range of a deal. My sellers countered and within an hour we were under contract. This Franklin TN home sold after 118 showings for $420,000.
The purpose of this post is not to brag about the number of showings. Although, it certainly was a record number. Clearly, if the home had been over-priced the showings would have ceased. The point I am trying to make is that sometimes you just have to wait for the right buyer to come along.
After all this time, the family who finally ended up buying this house lived right around the corner. They had driven by the for sale sign every day for over a year. They didn't let that influence their decision about purchasing this home. When they finally decided to buy, they made a reasonable offer which eventually led to the sale of this house.
As real estate agents, we advise our clients to carefully consider every offer. What is the market telling them their house is worth? The market told us it was worth $400,000. However, my clients chose not to believe that was what the market was saying and kept the house listed. When the right buyer came along, they were able to broker a deal.
Franklin TN home sold after 118 showings!!
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