The Story of Closing a Home in Upper Land Park

The first time I spoke with the seller of this home in Upper Land Park, I was in the middle of my winter vacation in Hawaii. But since part of the purpose of having a home in Hawaii is to work from that location, it’s not really working for me. Plus, I think my clients like it when I’m in Hawaii because they know I will answer my phone up to 9 or 10 PM at night, due to the time change. On top of which, I am generally there alone, so there are no other distractions. I’m focused on them.

In fact, while working on selling this home in Upper Land Park, I made two more trips to Hawaii. During my last trip, we went into escrow.

I met with the seller in mid February to give her tips on staging this home in Upper Land Park. My feeling was the living room and dining room seemed like one huge room, providing the gateway to the beautiful back yard, we should focus on it. More so than the bedrooms or kitchen. The flooring was not hardwood, so a bit of staging could compensate for it by drawing the eye elsewhere. The seller contacted my recommended home stager. For very little money, she was able to arrange for staging that did not involve the entire home.

My focus was to maximize profit for the seller. Given our present conditions of a seller’s market, it made sense to be aggressive with the pricing, even though the home backed to the freeway. Other homes, not quite in this same exact position, were selling at wild prices. I was willing to help my seller determine exactly where she needed to be priced, even if it took a bit longer because our price was aggressive.

She had talked with a previous Land Park Realtor to sell her home in Upper Land Park. The seller recalled only the words the Realtor repeated over and over. Which happened to be the rather snooty: “this is not prime Land Park.” What a terrible thing to say to a potential seller. Personally, I can’t imagine saying such a thing. Also, one of the other things the seller asked me was not to send her feedback reiterating the freeway is too loud. I get it. I understood.

We received a lowball offer from a former client of mine, which was a surprise on both accounts. That fizzled and died a slow death, never even heard back from his agent on the counter offer. And then the best offer appeared out of the clear blue sky. A decent offer, one that we could accept and close on. The seller jumped all over that like a hot fudge on a sundae.

I thought the buyer might complain about the second bath not being connected to the sewer or maybe the fact the roof was two different materials. Yes, comp on the south and shake on the north. The day we went into contract with that buyer, a second buyer was ready to make an offer, but they were a bit too late. When it rains it pours, I guess. But the buyer had no complaints, really, no demand for repairs. He had asked for a small concession, which I advised the seller not to give. But she is nicer than me, and she gave it to them just for peace of mind.

Yup, get that, too. It’s all about what makes the seller happy. She left me a nice review on Zillow and Yelp, so my mission was accomplished. Thanks, Robbie, it was great to work with you, too!

709 7th Av, Sacramento, CA 95818 closed escrow on June 27, 2018, at $375,000.