Despite Drama, Sold for $426K Over Asking

This was one of our most epic resurfacing projects. Yet for the property’s condition, we had among the leanest of budgets.  

We had big ambitions at 464 Dewey Blvd., a character-filled 1928 home in the Forest Hills neighborhood of San Francisco. And we had to allocate our funds carefully.

An attorney I’d worked with on other home sales introduced me to the estate planning attorney who was acting as fiduciary for this family trust. He needed a seasoned guide to get the conflict-locked sibling beneficiaries to the finish line, selling the property they had abandoned for years.

You can imagine how the place looked. The yard was horrendously overgrown, the pest report revealed more than $100,000 worth of work—dry rot and other repairs. And the interior was shabby and old.

Nope, on everything

The beneficiaries dug in their heels about spending money, so I recommended we disclose all the deficiencies to buyers and concentrate on making the home look pretty.

Even so, the attorney told me the sellers were at odds on how to move forward with this cosmetic resurfacing of the home. About the only thing they had in common was not wanting to spend. Because of the projected return on the resurfacing investment, their attorney finally persuaded them to accept my plan.

A capped budget

I never met the sellers or spoke with them directly, but ultimately, they agreed to a do-not-exceed budget of $40,000.

Apparently one of the sellers was a big fan of TV remodeling shows and that worried me. He had a lot of ideas, which I knew would slow down our well-established and speedy fine-tuning of the home to buyers’ tastes. 

I requested that the family stay away from the home while my team transformed it. The attorney agreed and made it happen.

Minimal, but meaningful

In the 60-year-old kitchen, we simply painted the walls a fresh white and slathered the cabinets with a dark royal blue to match the counter tile, then replaced cabinet handles. It made a remarkable difference!

Painting, lighting upgrades, a few bathroom fixes and cleaning rounded out the interior projects. And we allotted funds for strategic staging to cast the home in a contemporary light.

Outdoors, we tidied up. The biggest task was trimming back huge, out-of-control trees front and back. Pruning revealed the two rear yard balconies, which we painted a lively red.

Listing price causes a flip-out

The home next door had just been on the market for $1.395 million and didn’t sell. So my clients were already nervous and reluctant to trust. 

When I calculated the listing price at $1.199 million, the sellers exploded, “That’s too low!” But I had my reasons. We needed to create buzz and get the maximum exposure. An attractive list price would put us in the running.

The result bore it out. After 14 days on the market, we got 9 offers. 

The anxious siblings were thrilled with the final sale price—$1.625 million—the product of so many competing offers.

I told the attorney to take credit for the win, because he pushed the sellers to accept the resurfacing and pricing plans.

See the transformation drama that led to a lovely $426,000 over the listing price. And take a look at our marketing website for the property, designed to bring in lots of buyer traffic.

Could you use an honest, rather than flattering assessment of your property's value? Ask me about an in-person walk-through or a remote evaluation via photos. It's a great way to get a benchmark, even if you're not selling immediately.

Warmly,

Craig