Sell Fast!

Real Estate

by Darrin DeRoches February 27-March 5

I have had an interesting week in real estate.  Last week I wrote about the urgency of putting up your property before the weather and market change in the next few weeks.  Every day I received calls or inquiries that fit right in with last week’s article.  Monday, I get a call about a townhouse I had listed last year. The listing has expired and the seller was in a panic. She had received bad advice from a financial advisor who said he could get the house listed for one percent and then when it all came down to it would be one percent to him plus five percent for real estate commissions. Then she called a “For Sale by Owner” company who made a deal to sell her a sign for $299 and she would be listed on their website! While trying to figure out what to do she called me to ask me what is what.  So I told her the truth.     First thing is, the advisor is an idiot and as I told her he was just trying to make a commission from her by suggesting an agent. The FSBO was just selling her a sign and as I told her before “You get what you pay for.” The townhouse was listed for $204,000 even though the highest unit in the best location sold for $199,000.  So it was time to get serious and do it right! We listed the property for $199,900 on Wednesday. We had showings all weekend and are now waiting on an offer today.  So in under a week we had great action and more importantly – no competition! As I wrote last week, this time of the year is perfect to sell before all the other homes flood the market and compete for your buyer.  If the offer is good then we’re done in under a week. If not we have an open house this week and are willing to lower the price to keep things moving while the iron is hot.  The feedback is all the same. These units do not last long. True, if they are priced right and have little or no competition. Almost all the prospective buyers are women who are divorcing and want three bedrooms with little or no maintenance. The unit is perfect for this type of buyer and it should be sold in under a week.     The same unit did not sell last time we had it up for the simple reason it was $5,000 overpriced, had stiff competition and the seller was not motivated to drop price and market the property. The FSBO company wanted her to list at $194,000 so it would sell fast if anyone actually saw it on their website. I literally just got a call with an offer on this unit, gotta run and sell it! Hope this week is just as good! V                                    Darrin DeRoches is a local real estate and mortgage broker. He can be reached to answer questions, comments or stories about real estate experiences through this weekly column at mail@uniquerealty.ca.