How our “Dream Team” came together to help our clients achieve a $30K profit margin
Meet the Clients:
Yuri and Elza were on a roll. Just two years after buying their Walkersville home and soon after having their son, Max, they were on their way to Chicago. Yuri had accepted an exciting new job in the Windy City. There was only one problem. They had to leave before selling their home in Walkersville. Thankfully, Yuri’s father Yakov was on the case. Having already worked with our company to find the couple their first home, he reached out to us again for advice on a 2-year resale. And we’re so thankful he did.
The Situation:
The last thing you think about (or should think about) when you’re a new parent is how to upgrade your home for a resale. When we first met Yuri and Elza, Elza was pregnant with their son, Max, on the way and they knew exactly what kind of home their growing family needed. When we walked through the door at 236 Heritage Court, it was love at first sight (well, for Elza anyway). Yuri and his father Yakov came over later to negotiate the price. It was a steal of a deal too – at just $205,000.
That was two years ago. Not enough time to turn a profit on a home if you believe the naysayers. And certainly not enough time to make any substantial improvements – especially when you have a newborn in tow.
By this time, the “market value” of the home was between $205K and $210K, barely any higher than their original buying price. Worst case scenario, they would lose money on the sale. Best case, they would make $5K. More than likely, they were close to breaking even.
Oh, and did we mention that Yuri and Elza had already moved to Chicago? So, there was the added pressure of the house being unlived in. With Yakov living in Pennsylvania, he had to rely completely on our insight into the current condition of the home and the local market.
The Options:
Yakov had a decision to make. Option #1) Sell the home as-is and risk either breaking even or possibly losing money on the deal. Because no improvements had been made, it was as good as taking a roll of the dice. Option #2) Rent out the property until he could decide how to proceed with the sale. This option had its pros and cons but was ultimately not a road Yakov wanted to go down. Option #3) Follow our documented approach and invest $8,000 in strategic home improvements that would increase the perceived value of the home and could raise the sale price as high as $220,000 (by our initial estimates.)
The Decision (and Results):
Yakov decided to go with Option #3. And, lucky for Yakov, we don’t hold the market up on some pedestal like other brokerages. We don’t see the “market” as some unstoppable force of power, completely impossible to defeat. Just follow the comps, and accept the cards we’re dealt? No, thank you.
However, we also know that to really defeat the market pricing, we first needed to face the obstacles head-on. We needed to establish our mission and clearly define our goals.
First, the landscape was badly overgrown in the back. It would need a lot of work. Second, the carpet needed to be replaced in some places and a deep cleaning in others. Some walls needed fresh paint. The 3rd bedroom add-on needed to be completed downstairs, and there were minor appliance and roof repairs that simply had to be made before the house could go on the market.
Yakov committed to invest the $8,000 needed for repairs, and we got to work. By the time our team was finished, we were completely blown away by the results.
We listed the home at $229,900-almost $6,000 over what we had originally planned. After ONE day on the market, we had three offers on the table. The winning offer? $235,000. A full $15,000 over my largest estimate and $30,000 over their original purchase price.
All said and done, Yakov more than doubled his $8,000 investment.
The “Dream Team” Philosophy Applied:
The magic of any Avengers movie is the sheer awe that comes from watching such a mix-matched group of characters working together in one room. First, you’ve got Iron Man, a genius who doesn’t play well with others. Then you have the Hulk who is as nice as can be to everyone – until he’s not. Then there’s the Black Widow who no one can trust. Meanwhile, Hawk Eye is playing the rebel without a cause while Captain America and Thor are busy arm-wrestling in the corner.
But, somehow, Nick Fury gets them all together to apply their talents towards a shared mission. He unites their powers towards a common cause.
That’s exactly what we had to do with 236 Heritage Court. Once the task list was settled and we knew exactly what improvements had to be made, we had to unleash our greatest weapon – our team. Everything had to be executed perfectly to pull our mission off. And with the owners out of state, every action had to be managed and coordinated by Impact. Nothing could fall through the cracks.
First, we needed a contractor who could do bedroom add-ons, patch drywall and do carpet installs. Then, we needed a painter. Then, a landscaper, followed by a professional cleaner. Finally, we needed our photographer Annie and Shari, our scientific stager.
Everyone had to unleash their talents, and every member of our “dream team” had to work well together.
The painter had to work with Shari to ensure the colors were right for staging. The professional cleaner had to support the efforts of our contractor to make sure the carpeting flowed well from room to room. And, at the very end, Annie had to create a visual story with her photos that would shine a spotlight on the work of the entire crew.
It wasn’t an easy job. But we put on our best Nick Fury impression and got to work.
And like Nick Fury, we always have a vision of where we want to go with our proven approach. We know exactly which steps need to be taken and when and where to utilize the skills of our team to achieve the best results. We’ve learned, over time, what cards to play to defeat the market and create Hulk-size returns for our clients.
This is why Yakov came to us when it was time to resell this home. It is why our Psychological Approach clients come back to Impact Maryland Real Estate again and again and continue to refer others to us.
As we tell everyone we work with, you never have to settle for second best or “market average.” You can push the limits. You can achieve super-hero style results for your home sale. All you need is the right approach and a dream team to pull it off. Congrats to Yakov, Yuri and Elza for trusting us to do just that.