More Tales From the Trenches : Swift Sellers

Editor’s Note: A few weeks ago, we asked readers who had sold their homes quickly in today’s sluggish market to share their strategies. The tips from you swift sellers were terrific, just as they were earlier this year when we asked for your advice for first-time buyers. So again, with our thanks to all who wrote, here are tales from the home-selling trenches.

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From Laura and Ted Cohen, Los Angeles: We sold our home recently, after less than three weeks on the market. Here are the key reasons for the relative ease of our experience.

1--Experienced realtors familiar with the neighborhood. We had a team of two realtors (Judy and Oshrit), one of whom lives on the same street as the house we were selling in Cathay Circle/Mid-Wilshire. She is involved in the block association and is intimately familiar with the neighborhood and our home’s comparable value. Interestingly, the realtor representing the house we bought also lives on the same street as the house she was selling and is an active member of our new block association. She gave us valuable information about our new neighborhood, which helped us realize that we had made the right choice.

2--Pricing. Our agents prepared a survey for us indicating the listing and selling prices of numerous homes in the vicinity. Based on current market conditions and recent nearby sales--as well as the long periods of time on the market of many homes--they recommended an aggressive price. This was difficult for us to accept, since we knew what our house’s value had been a few short years ago. But they convinced us of the marketplace realities and we accepted their judgment.

3--Timing. We listed our house on Dec. 11, 1992, when I was more than six months pregnant. At the time, we figured it would sit for a good six months and sell after the baby was born, at which point we would really need extra space. But our agents asserted that, in fact, the holidays could be a very good time for a new listing. When we accepted an offer on Dec. 30, we were believers. By the way, the offer we accepted was 96% of our asking price.

Three days after accepting the offer on our house, we put an offer on the house we are in now. Our escrow ended up being exactly 60 days, which was possible largely because the house we bought was vacant. (We moved in just two weeks before the birth of our son March 9.)

4--House Condition. Two years before selling our house, we had completely renovated the kitchen, and put in a room that was warm, extremely functional and in keeping with the 1930 character of the house. In addition, we had custom paint jobs in the living and dining rooms. All fixtures, other than those in the kitchen, were original. Not only was the house well-kept outside, but it was comfortable and “homey” inside.

My recommendation to others trying to sell a house in this market would be to spend even a small amount of money to dress up the house and make it as appealing as possible. Maybe invest in some nice doorknobs and drawer pulls. Our buyers knew they were getting a lot of recently installed extras for free, including window treatments and French doors, which helped make them feel the house was a good value.

Once you feel the house is as marketable as it can be, interview local realtors and choose someone you feel comfortable with and who knows your neighborhood--if possible, even your street--intimately. Ask for references. Get a comparative survey and price aggressively. Listen carefully to any recommendations your realtor makes regarding timing: when to list, when to have open houses, etc.

And get out of the house when the prospects parade through; it’s just too hard to take.

From Chris Calingaert, Culver City:

We listed our home in Gardena in early January of this year and accepted an offer by the end of February. Finding a buyer in six weeks was not the result of any secret tricks. It involved being thorough and doing everything possible to make the house easy to market.

There were many homes available in the same area and price range. To make sure that prospective buyers considered our house, we tried to maximize the curb appeal. We painted the exterior, planted flowers and kept the yard neatly trimmed and free of weeds.

The kitchen and bathrooms had recently been upgraded, so the interior was in top condition. For the house to show well we concentrated on some simple areas. We put extra furniture in storage so that the rooms looked larger. We reduced the amount of clutter in places such as the kitchen, coffee table, mantle, night stands and on top of dressers so the house looked clean.

Finally, we removed family photos and other personal items that could inadvertently attract attention away from the house.

In short, we followed the advice of your columnists and other real estate professionals. It gave us a great advantage over the majority of homes on the market that looked as though no effort had been made to prepare them for sale.

From Mike Wong, West Los Angeles:

I wish I had been more methodical when I first began the venture of selling my house.

My home was in West Los Angeles, an area where, up until several years ago, houses sold very quickly and with very little trouble, so I never gave a thought about whom I would choose as a real estate agent.

We knew a woman whose daughter attended the same preschool as our son, and occasionally she would talk to us about the real estate market. When she heard that we were planning to sell, she became very interested and asked to handle the sale. We figured “Why not?” and signed up with her thinking she would be as good as any other agent.

We soon realized that we had made a huge mistake. All she ever did was chase us out of our house each Sunday to hold an open house.

It seemed every looky-loo in town saw our house, but no one even appeared to be a qualified buyer. It got to a point that we had nowhere to go on Sundays, and after seeing every Sunday matinee in town, we put our foot down and put an end to these Sunday wastes of time.

Once the listing ran out, now a whole lot more experienced and wise, we followed a new strategy.

First, we went up and down the streets throughout the West Los Angeles and Westwood areas adjacent to our home and took note which agent, not which company, had the majority of “For Sale” and “Sold” signs. Then we called that company and spoke to the office manager, asking who was the top producer in the office. Without letting on whom we were trying to check out, we were able to confirm that our observations were accurate.

Still not 100% convinced, we spoke to several of the owners whose homes were represented by the agent we were contemplating, to check whether they had been satisfied by the service they were receiving. In each case they had only the highest regard for this gentleman.

Our concerns were, of course, the obvious. With all of these listings and sales, was he perhaps too busy to handle the sale of our property? After speaking with him personally, we were very much at ease. It turned out that he had two full-time assistants who helped him with paperwork and the scheduling of appointments.

He was obviously, from our very first impression of him, knowledgeable, experienced and exceptionally organized; able to rattle off names, dates, sales prices and conditions for the most recent sales in the neighborhood. There was no doubt in our minds that he really knew the area.

We felt extremely comfortable with his networking capabilities and his hands-on ability to market our home to a pool of qualified buyers.

His approach was direct and to the point. He knew where to look for the buyer. Because of his listing inventory, he had advance knowledge of which brokers were working with which buyers and just what those buyers needs were.

After wasting six months with the first agent, we went with our intuition and listed the property. We sold it in less than two weeks for very close to our asking price.

Our advice is to interview the top agent in your neighborhood. Don’t be afraid that he or she may be too busy. Chances are that he or she is well organized, totally focused and working 18 hours a day to stay in the leading position. Success breeds success. There must be a reason why people keep choosing the same agent.

For us, the homework we did up-front really paid off. We just wish we had been a little more conscientious in the first place. It could have saved us six months.

Justin M. Fishbein, Northridge:

We wanted to sell our home quickly and we did. We put it on the market June 4 and by June 13 we had two offers, and by the 15th, a contract for the sale.

To sell fast, we:

--Made sure everything was in move-in shape.

--Retained terrific real estate agents.

--Set a realistic price.

Our home had tons of features, but the competition was rough. In the San Fernando Valley, homes are on the market an average of five months before they sell. Buyers could choose from some 1,500 homes in our area and 12,000 in the Valley.

We reasoned that buyers wanted a place they could move into without any further expense, and the price had to be right. Therefore, inside we painted the walls, ceilings and trim, cleaned the carpets, fixed a gasket on the dishwasher, hired professionals to wash the windows and placed bowls of Bullock’s potpourri at strategic locations to overpower any lived-in odors.

Outside, we repaired the stucco, painted the exterior, changed the color of the trim, blacktopped the driveway and made sure the yard and garden were at their best.

Next we asked several real estate agents to suggest the selling price and market the house. The San Fernando Valley Board of Realtors told us which agencies made the most sales, and friends suggested names as well. Someone at the board told us what to ask agents:

How would they promote the place? What ads would they place and how often? How well do they know the area? The neighborhood? Where do they rank in the agency? What are their references? Their education in real estate sales? Any advanced real estate training?

All the agents we interviewed were good--at least in the top 5% of sales for their agencies--but one stood out. Without notes, she cited every house in the neighborhood that sold recently or was on the market, the asking price and the selling price.

Pricing is tricky. Agents from one agency suggested $279,000; the other two said $259,000. We went with the latter. It seemed right, and it was above the $239,500 we had paid for the place in 1987. Also, we were willing to forgo recovering any remodeling costs or substantial profit.

Our agents (we used two women working as a team) suggested a unique marketing plan. They would identify the most likely prospects: people in condos who wanted to move up to a home, other empty nesters and couples seeking better housing. To reach them, they would prepare flyers and distribute them in condos and to agencies serving diverse ethnic groups. (They had it figured right: The buyer wanted the home for herself and her mother.)

We deferred putting our house on the market until June 4, when we would be on our way to Chicago. Agents could show it as often as they liked without our being inconvenienced. When we returned a week later, there were two offers.

We countered, and signed a contract with a buyer on June 15. The price was $247,000, above our bottom line, so we had no qualms about it. The sale was to close in 30 days, July 15.

We were elated. It was a done deal, we thought. We had no idea what awaited us in escrow.

Inspections. Fingerprinting. Delays. The mortgage broker and lender imposed one condition after another on the buyer. For us, this meant boosting our hopes up, then dashing them, arranging to move, then postponing it, then arranging it again. We experienced three and a half weeks of anxiety and uncertainty. What next?

On July 23, I found out. Although we hadn’t closed escrow, movers were carting our belongings to the van. I pressed our agent for an answer: Would the sale ever close or should we just call the whole thing off and put the place back on the market? She called the escrow company: Good news. All the lender’s conditions had been met.

In 48 hours, not counting Saturday and Sunday, the lender would give escrow the funds, and July 27 or 28, the sale would close. It was reasonably safe to move out, and we did.

July 28, we closed escrow, and the funds were on the way to our bank. The ordeal was over. Our agents, Stephanie and Donna, did a great job, but a briefing about escrow and a sense of humor would have made the closing stages more tolerable. However, we actually sold our home in time to pay for the next one. I think we were lucky, don’t you?

From Susan L. Barrett, Cypress:

My husband and I have gone to many open houses and have been appalled at the condition of so many homes--grease on the floor, dirty walls, no attempt made to clean the house, outrageous colors and wallpapers, piles of dirty dishes in sinks, dirty toilets, etc.

We learned a valuable lesson from those open houses, and when it came time to sell a North Hollywood condo I had owned since the mid-’80s, I spent several weeks cleaning up and cleaning out.

I had a handyman repaint the condo in an off-white, replace a garbage disposal, fix a leaking toilet, replace switch plates and check for any small problems that I may not have been aware of.

New carpeting and linoleum in off-white shades were then installed. I did the minimum that had to be done, with the greatest return. The place showed well, looked light and spacious.

I was a very motivated seller. We were not planning to buy another piece of property with the proceeds of this sale. Every month that the property didn’t sell, I was losing $1,000.

Our real estate agent was very helpful. She helped us to set a realistic price and showed us what to expect in today’s market.

The condo was put on the market on June 14. On June 19 I received an offer. It was below my asking price. We made a counteroffer, which was accepted. Escrow was opened on June 25 and closed on July 30. The buyer had been pre-qualified so escrow was completed rapidly.

Although I did not receive my asking price, I felt that I came out ahead in the long run.