Gainesville Active Adult Condo SOLD in Heritage Hunt
On November 29th (2017,) after weeks of prepartion, I listed my mother's condo for sale. It was a third floor (top level,) two bedroom, two bathroom Barclay model with a southern exposure. Because mom downsized, there was a lot that needed to be removed from the home. A church stopped by and got some furniture for their charity. We contracted a junk company to come and get furniture and things that we couldn't sell, but were too big to put in the building's dumpster. A contractor was hired to paint the entire condo, and replace all the switch plate covers. And another contractor was hired to replaced all of the carpet and pad. We also had the heating register covers replaced and the home professionally cleaned. The final step was staging. By the time the home was ready to hit the market, I found myself in the same position of many of my sellers. Were we about to list for too little?
At the time that comps were run (which was before mom moved out,) there was only one ground level condo with an eastern exposure, to compete with it and it was languishing ont the market at $285,000. My comps at $265K made sense.
While showing the condo a couple of times during the renovation, that list price seemed right. But standing there in the pristine, sun drenched unit, I consulted with my brother who was Power of Attorney for mom, and we decided to raise the list price to $270K. We now had more competitors, but would be the best unit at the best price, to get it done.
On November 28th, I did a Facebook Live video of the listing and announced our list price of $270K. Within an hour an agent friend had seen the video and informed me he had a client. Wow! That was fast. When I logged in to enter the listing, I noticed the same model, on the same floor, but on the north side of the building that listed for $280K had gone under contract. Oops. Again, the feeling we were underpricing.
Another consult with my brother and some agents I know and we stayed at $270K. While we had done a great deal to mitigate the fact that my mother had smoked in the home, but who knew who would pick up on that odor. Odors can be deal killers.
The next day, we had a full price offer from the cash buyer that my agent friend had promised. The only contingency was the settlement of the buyer's home in NY. I called the listing agent in NY and it sounded solid. The offer was signed and we were scheduled to settle December 21st. But wait....that didn't work. The NY deal hit a speed bump. So we moved settlement to January 16th with a $2K penalty to the buyer. That didn't happen either, but we were assured it would happen before the end of the month.
At the time of the second delay, we had an interested buyer, but she had a loan. More time. The shortest path to settlement was still our original buyer. We stuck with him. Today, we closed for $272,000.
This deal gave me a new appreciation for the second thoughts on price and the instinct to toss out a buyer where there is an issue on the way to settlement that my sellers have had. My family practiced what I preach to my sellers. Stay calm and focus on the facts. Don't get annoyed by delays. The days you wait may feel like an eternity, but if you are assured the deal will close by reliable sources, there is zero sense in starting over in an unknown transaction. And holding onto the bad feelings those delays cause is pointless. Forgive and move forward.
If you need help selling your Heritage Hunt condo, I would treat you with the same care as I did my family. Call me for a free market analysis. There are plenty of buyers for Heritage Hunt condos out there right now.
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