Selling a House That Needs Repairs? How Michael & Yasmina Sold Their $1,000,000 Home

Michael and Yasmina outgrew their home, and it was time to get more space for their growing family. We were looking for the last six months prior to selling, for their forever home. We got outbid on one house, it was super competitive, and then we ran into another situation where it was gonna be competitive... After losing out on their dream home where they were 2nd out of 14 offers, they reached out and wanted to see a new listing within hours of coming on the market.

The COVID-19 Happened

We were looking since the Fall of 2019 and no one could have expected COVID-19. We had to continue despite all the limitations and future potential issues due to the unknown or uncertainty of what it could turn into.

In the middle of growing Coronavirus concerns and evolving requirements to stay at home, they made a very aggressive, no-contingency offer the same evening and had it accepted by noon the following day— avoiding a bidding war.

Had they waited, they likely would have been in a bidding war and potentially lost out.

We ran into some challenges due to COVID, and when all the restrictions were happening around lending, we had a no-contingency offer on the table. They had, I believe, $50,000 of earnest money potentially at risk if they couldn't close. Fortunately, we were able to work through that, and then we closed, in May, on their new home in Fremont.

Now they live in this beautiful home, and it has all the space that they need. It's updated. It's current. It's in Fremont. It fits their family needs. They're incredibly happy there. 

Finding the right home in a lower inventory market can be difficult, but you can increase your chances of success when you understand what you're looking for, you know your goals & limits, and have someone who can help navigate competitive markets. Decisiveness and persistence pay off! 

At the same time, we had a beautiful property sell, but in a market and a neighborhood where it was mostly single-family homes. A traditional style, shared wall, duplex-style home had a much harder time selling than we had anticipated. 

Taking Full Advantage of Our Concierge Services...

They had to completely utilize our concierge services (painting, contractors, landscapers, stagers) to help them prepare their new home for sale.

They're both incredibly busy professionals. Michael is on the front lines at the clinic, as a medical doctor. Yasmina is busy as well with her profession. Through our concierge services, we ended up spending about $45,000 of our own money to help them proceed with preparing their home for sale, including

• Interior and exterior painting
• Inspections
• Servicing furnaces
• Electrical work
• Landscaping work
• Repairing rotten boards, and decks
• Retaining walls
  
  Just a lot of work and a lot of coordination. Then, throw in the neighbor who has a shared wall as part of it, so that made the whole painting of the exterior more complicated, as we now had to coordinate with multiple, multiple parties. 

Before

After

TOP 10 THINGS I LOVE AND WILL MISS ABOUT MY HOME AT 2306, 11th Ave E Seattle, WA 98102

Dear Future Homeowner - Here are a few of my favorite things that I will miss so dearly about living in this beautiful home and fabulous neighborhood. 

You will LOVE living here!

• This part of Capitol Hill is beautiful, quiet and a short distance to downtown. I cycled to work every day.
• The house has large rooms, with lots of light and tall ceilings. There was space for us to have a home office and music practice room away from the common areas.
• This home was built with a high level of workmanship throughout the structure. It was built from timber which is much more solid and rot/pest resistant than modern timber.
• There is a huge basement with tons of storage space and areas for projects.
• Hot water heating is silent, efficient and does not dry out the air.
• Lovely outside spaces: A secluded front garden space with a fountain and mature hedge providing privacy. Second-floor decks front and back. A lovely rear garden with a large deck ideal for time outside in the summer.
• There are several parks close to the house. The loveliest is Volunteer Park which is also the location of the Asian Art Museum. The Asian Art Museum has a stunning collection with interesting and provocative exhibitions.
• Spacious garage. We had enough garage space to house my Alfa Romeo spider, and room to work on it.
• Ideal location for commuting around the Seattle area. Easy access to freeways (I-5 and 520), but the house is far enough away from the freeways that there is no traffic noise.
• Great neighborhood. We are fortunate in having very pleasant immediate neighbors, and an incredibly supportive neighborhood community.

Selling Didn't Go Exactly As Planned...

We listed it, and we didn't get the attention that we had wanted when we came onto the market. That's when we quickly learned that the demand for a shared wall, traditional, craftsman-style home is not nearly as strong as we had anticipated.

We had some price adjustments. There were a lot of items that came up in the inspection that we chose not to repair, and because of that, any buyers who came in had to be ready to take on a lot of work.

Despite all the work that we did to prepare it for sale and make it more attractive, there was still a lot of deferred maintenance items.

Long story short, we got to closing. We worked through a challenging negotiation. We're selling it at a price of $940,000, with a fairly significant amount of investment into it.

We got 'em into their new home. They're able to close on this one. Financially, they're totally fine. It was just a long process, and it required a lot of work on our part to be the single point of contact, coordinating everything.

But they ended up in their dream home with their old one sold for more than they expected they would get!