Tag: fast

S O L D – Peaceful Southwest Haven

Posted on by Mel Marzahl

Pending in 2 days!

This gorgeous 150sqft attached home sold quick! The seller, Marisa, had updated the home a few years ago and kept it very well maintained. She loved living in this home but was ready to buy her “move-up” house with her fiance Danny.

Marisa and Danny were fantastic sellers to work with. They gave me a virtual walk-through of the home and a list of upgrades they had done so I could provide them with the most accurate pricing, staging, and repair recommendations. They also knew what their budget would be for touch ups and pre-listing prep.

Importance of Listing Prep, Photos, & Video

I brought in a team of staging consultants who were able to work virtually. They are professional interior designers who were able to look at photos of the home and provide Marisa and Danny recommendations for furniture placement and design choices. Marisa and Danny dived right in, spruced up their home, and collaborated with the designers so when photography day came around, the house was sparkling clean and perfectly staged to show off its features.

The photos, video, 3-D tour, and floorplan came out great! With the coronavirus affecting everyone, it is extra important to show every inch of the house in as many ways as possible. When buyers have a floorplan, 3-D tour, as well as great photos and video, they are able to see if a home might be the right fit for them, before even stepping in the door.

Virtual Open House and Social Media

One powerful new thing I have added to my marketing tool belt is the ‘virtual open house.’ I set a specific time to do a video tour the home while streaming live on Facebook. This gives buyers and agents the chance to see a “hosted” walk-through of the home while being able to ask questions in real time. It also leaves me with a recorded video tour of the home which I can share with other agents and interested buyers. It’s lo-fi compared to the 2 minute professional video I’ve hired a pro to make, but it makes taking a live tour of the home more accessible. Many buyers like that the longer-format tour as well because I will talk about the upgrades and features of the home as I walk through it. Here is the link to the virtual open for Marisa’s lovely home. 

Pending in 2 days!

All of their hard work preparing the home to look its best, paid off! We received a great offer on the first day, and more came in the second day. They ended up with a solid over-asking offer with favorable terms, and a second very similar offer in back-up. They just closed today, and negotiated an extra two weeks in the home to do a bit of work on their new place (closing tomorrow) before they move!

Congrats Marisa and Danny!

Focused Friends Finding Milwaukie

Posted on by Andy Meeks

My friends and clients Jessie and Ruth just bought a house, and I’m honored to have helped them through the process. They are so focused, detail-oriented, and on-point that it made the transaction smooth, steady and fun. It all went so well that we were even able to close three days ahead of our thirty-day schedule. That’s a 10% time savings – and that’s pretty fast!

Jessie and I first met when she moved here more than seven years ago when she reached out to me for career networking advice as a fellow alum of Colby College. We quickly struck up a friendship and shared similar work experiences connecting people to environmental non-profit work here in Portland. I quickly learned that Jessie is an intentional, loyal, and kind person that does everything with maximum effort and passion. No goal was too big for her, and she consistently exceeded even her own lofty expectations. We stayed in touch through work and life changes, and I count her among one of my close Portland friends. Fast-forward a few years to when she introduced me to her partner Ruth, an art director who is warm, generous, and detail-oriented, with great vision and imagination and is always asking smart questions. Needless to say, Jessie and Ruth complement each other really well and make a great team.

So I was especially excited when they asked me earlier this year to be their real estate broker to help them buy their very first house. We met in early April to discuss goals, needs, timelines, and geography. Lucky for me, Jessie was already far ahead of most first-time homebuyers as she had attended classes organized by the Portland Housing Center, and had participated in a matching savings program that ended up paying for a significant chunk of their closing costs.

Jessie and Ruth have been living in southeast Portland for a few years, and were hoping to stay in that area, especially since it would be a good place from which both of them could commute to work. (Jessie works in Lake Oswego and Ruth works in downtown Portland.) But they explained to me how they realized that they didn’t need to live right in the heart of a classic, walkable, Portland neighborhood — and pay the premium property prices those neighborhoods can command — nor did they want to compromise on size, space, condition or quality. I’m hearing this sentiment quite often from smart, forward-thinking homebuyers who are tired of the Portland prices, limited inventory and frenzied bidding situations. Those folks are increasingly finding their way just a few miles south to the relatively calmer, quieter and less expensive — but no less charming — neighborhoods of Milwaukie.

Milwaukie boasts a desirable blend of affordability, accessibility, quality housing stock, and more spacious and quiet neighborhoods. Because of these qualities, Milwaukie has been, and continues to be, one of the hottest areas of the Portland metro region for home sales…average days on market are nearly 15-20% lower in Milwaukie than other neighborhoods/zip codes in SE or NE Portland. The Orange MAX line makes it easy to commute into the city, and there are lots of hidden and not–so–hidden gems that make this city a great alternative home base.

Well, after just one afternoon of looking at houses together (they had seen everything online, and attended lots of open houses together) they were ready to make an offer on an adorable 2 bed/1 bath bungalow in Milwaukie, with a sizable backyard/patio and large detached garage, just blocks from the historic downtown district. It was everything they were hoping for! We wrote an offer the next morning, and we promised a short inspection period and quick close. The offer was accepted that day, ahead of a scheduled open house the next day. We worked through some significant repair negotiations and received some sizable seller concessions, and closing day was here before we knew it.

They’ve been an amazing team, and all of the qualities I’ve briefly mentioned came into play to make this dream a reality. Congrats to Jessie and Ruth on their transaction, as well as to the City of Milwaukie for adding two super cool people to your ranks!

—

ANDY MEEKS
Living Room Realty

Licensed Oregon Broker  | Earth Advantage REALTOR®
andy@livingroomre.com | 971.400.0195 | PDX

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