The Story of Closing Woodside Oaks Condo in Sacramento

Sometime last April the seller of a Woodside Oaks condo in Sacramento called to say he read my blog about closing the last Woodside Oaks condo in Alicante Villas. He asked me to come over and check out his condo for a pre-inspection appointment. That way I could tell him what he needed to do to get it ready for the market. Coincidinky, the seller had already read a bunch of my blogs, looked up my production online so he knew how many sales I do every year. My four decades of experience in real estate impressed him. He wanted to hire me.

I love working with sellers who know exactly whom they wish to hire. You betcha.

He wasn’t sure when he would be ready to list, but that’s OK. I went over to do my agent visual inspection. I wasn’t prepared for the super bright wall colors and suggested he repaint them a more neutral color. It’s surprising, I think, how many people make the mistake of thinking the buyer will be excited to paint the walls. Buyers do not want to paint. Sellers often say things like, “Then the buyer can paint the walls any color they want!”

This seller didn’t say that, btw. He was smarter than that. A millennial.

There was a great dining space off the kitchen but the ceiling fan was very dated, and there was no dining room table. Ha, they probably use TV trays like my husband and I do and watch TV, LOL. Probably not. They are probably more civilized and actually go out for dinner. Hang out with friends. Millennials don’t watch a lot of television. But that doesn’t mean the space could not use a dining room table. Can’t leave it to a buyer’s imagination. Gotta show.

Lots of time went by. I didn’t hear back from the seller until early January, when I was in Hawaii. It’s OK, I sell a lot of Sacramento real estate from Hawaii, and at least I had already seen this particular property. Which is more than I can say about some of my listings that I sell. One of my team members attached a lockbox. Gave me a thumbs up on the painting and new ceiling fan. I sent over a photographer, uploaded the docs and photos, and we went on the market January 12th.

We held an open house on January 15th and received an offer. The offer was not list price, it was $5,000 lower. The earnest money deposit was fairly low as well. I suggested the seller counter the buyer to raise the offer to list price. Yes, we were higher than the last sale, and I didn’t know if it would appraise, but I had a gut feeling about it. Sure enough, the buyer grabbed that counter offer, increased her earnest money and we went into escrow. It appraised.

We closed escrow on this Woodside Oaks condo without any repairs or credits on Valentine’s Day at $235,000. You might think that’s a low price point for the amount of work performed by a top Sacramento listing agent. However, nothing is too much work. My sellers get the same due diligence from me and expert advice regardless of price. And now this Woodside Oaks condo closing has led to another listing in that complex. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.