I love Meeting the Neighbors at my Open House!
Today at my Open House for my condo listing in Seattle's Magnolia neighborhood, it was a little slow.
The condo already had an accepeted offer on it (on the 8th day) and is STI, but since I had already put an ad in the Seattle Times for the Open House I wanted to follow through. A little different from last week when there were lots of interested buyers passing through, and neighbors interested in seeing the condo.
I love meeting the neighbors! It is a lot of fun hearing about the neighborhood and finding out what they think makes the neighborhood or condo complex a great place to live. The condo became for a short time a little condo "block party" with nieghbors mingling and chatting and potential buyers (including the buyer whose offer was accepted) coming and going. I had coffee brewing, my "Worlds Best Chocolate Chip Cookies" that I baked that morning, and brownies out for everyone to enjoy so it was quite a little mixer!
Last week one of the neighbors who was in the middle of remodeling asked me to stop by to see what they had done so far and get my opinion as a Real Estate Agent, on it. I love to give feedback on homes and improvements so after everyone had left, I went to her condo to see the bathrooms, and give my opinion on what helps to make for good resale since they will be looking for a larger place in a year or so. They asked if I could give them an idea of the market value of their condo since they were curious so I said I would work one up for them.
This week, at the very end of my Open House, someone stopped by that I wanted to talk to about marketing a condo that had been on the market until 6 weeks ago. The listing had been cancelled, I felt that the marketing for it on the MLS was poor, so I was trying to reach the owner to invite him to my Open House so he could see what I do to market a condo (or house). The condo was vacant and the tax records had no other address for the owner, so I looked him up a few other ways and sent three letters and materials to three different possible addresses.
Well, the person who stopped by was staying at the condo in exchange for work on the condo and he wanted to see what my clients condo looked like. We chatted and he invited me to come and see the condo, and what he was doing to it. The condo is a nice unit, and when he is done will look better, although I did give my opinion on the paint color and a few other things that would make the condo more marketable. The owner is planning on selling so I gave "tenant" some of my ideas as to why the condo languished on the market before and what kinds of things would help to sell it this time. The "tenant" had already told me that the owner had an agent to sell the condo, but as usual I always offer advice on marketing!
The "tenant" was impressed with my information and ideas so asked my for my card and to send him the letter packet I had mailed trying to reach the owner, he said that he would pass along the information. You know...I just love meeting the neighbors!
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