From Fixer Upper to Fabulous: A Sold Success!
What happens when you sell a fixer house for the very tippy-top of the market range? We found out: Buyers get a little nervous.
This little house in Kenmore had been owned as an investment and rental for many years. It was adjacent to a buildable piece of land, also for sale… There were a lot of different things different prospective buyers wanted to do with it…. Remodel it, rent it, build something new, or buy the full acre and develop it all.
We Sold This Fixer Upper House Sold As-Is In Kenmore, Washington, In A Tricky Market, With Buyer Hesitancy.
All the buyers had good ideas, but they were all a little nervous about whether their plan was best.
We actually got all sorts of offers on this property and ended up putting it under contract twice, and having buyers try to back out twice… However, the second time the buyer was locked in with a very strong contract, and we had to remind the him that he would lose his (substantial) earnest money deposit if he didn’t perform.
Happily, he bought the lot at a great price for my seller, and he is eyeing the lot next door as well.
We always prefer people to be happy with their transactions, but we are also here to ADVOCATE for our clients. We want them to get what they are owed, and understand the TEETH in our paperwork.
This is one of the reasons why I spend so much time reviewing contracts with my buyers and sellers. I don’t want them to just blindly start signing things they don’t understand and then try to back out or change their minds.
And if someone is acting in such a way that harms my client, like trying to back out of a signed contract, I’m going to do everything I can to advocate for my client. In fact, this is how we recovered $22.5K of forfeit earnest money on another transaction this month.
Everybody likes to be a “nice person” and be “approved of” by others. But when it comes to advocating for clients, realtors must step up and be the bad guy, when necessary, to make sure their clients are protected.
The good news, is that we were able to sell this fixer house for $50K over asking price and $40K over the next highest offer. We were thrilled to do it, and excited to see what comes next for our client.
