The Pine House is officially under contract for the third time…
As I mentioned in my last post about this house, we haven’t had much traffic through this property since the tax credit expired in May, and the first two contracts we had on the property fell through because the buyers couldn’t get their financing. Over the past two weeks, traffic has picked up considerably, so I’ve been optimistic that we’d have another contract soon.
The buyer made their original offer on Thursday morning, and we countered on Thursday afternoon. By Friday, all terms were agreed upon, and the contract was official. The final purchase price is very close to full-price (which we had dropped $10K over the past couple months), and the terms are all very reasonable.
The buyer is using a program called the Georgia Dream Program to help them with their downpayment; since we haven’t worked with any buyers using this program before, it should be interesting to see what new challenges it comes with… 🙂
The closing is scheduled for October 15, but there are still a number of items that need to be dealt with before we start thinking about that (inspections, appraisals, buyer financing, etc). I’ll have an update in a week or two once the inspection and appraisals are out of the way…
Wooohooo!! that is great news. Did you guys change anything on the listing or marketing to get the traffic going again? What do you think made them pull the trigger?
That means there’s still hope for my listing…
The biggest thing we did was increase the bonus to the selling agent to $1500. When you do this, you’re certain to find motivated agents who will push your house above the competition.
In addition to that, traffic has picked up over the past week or two, so we’ve had a bunch of showings recently…it was just a matter of time before one of them resulted in an offer…
So you are offering 3% plus the $1500?
At one point I was offering 3.5% plus $500 bonus which works out to almost the same and still no takers. I have received nothing but positive comments about the house so it is really puzzling trying to figure what the problem is.
I have implemented the awesome marketing ideas I got from you guys and lowered the price. I am giving those time to work.
Hey Luis,
Yes, it’s 3% + $1500 bonus. We’ve found that most agents don’t bother to do the math, so while 3.5% + $500 might be the same total amount of commission, it won’t get agents’ attention nearly as well as 3% + $1500. Many of the agents that call us about the property ask two upfront questions: Is it still available? and Is there really a $1500 bonus on it? That tells us everything we need to know…
I remember looking at your listing with Carol, and the one big suggestion we had about the listing was to get some professional pictures on there. I can’t tell you the number of times we’ll get a call from the agent saying, “My buyer fell in love with the house online…it’s their first choice.” Not only do they already have an emotional involvement in the property even before they see it (this is good!), but we now know it and can use it to negotiate a near-full price offer (this is even better!).
Thanks and I agree with comment about pictures, that is why I have the photographer going out there today 🙂
Good point about commision/bonus I will give this a try.
J,
Speaking of professional pictures, did you and your wife always take the MLS pics for your houses? If so, whats the difference in your camera and say a Kodak 12.1 megapixel camera? Do you actually add extra lighting to the rooms your shooting or is it just the quality of the camera and the angles that you shoot from?
As always thanks for the quality info. I’m almost caught up with the entire blog:) and I’ve learned so many gems it’s ridiculous.
Norman
Norman –
We’ve used several different cameras over the years, and are currently using a Canon EOS. We don’t use any special lighting, but do use a wide angle lens and strive for some good angle. Also, using Photoshop to adjust brightness, contrast, etc, can also provide for some increase in image quality.