Perseverance pays off !

Sometimes I feel that just by posting a picture of a home saying “just sold” implies that it was an easy breezy slam dunk and just magically came together. That’s rarely the case, and it certainly was not the case for 550 Bald Eagle Drive in Naples. This property was listed for $1,380,000. A prospective buyer came to my open house, and he loved the property, he came back a few days later with his agent, and then again on his own to one of my open houses. I knew he loved the home! He made an offer which was 500k lower than the asking price. Most agents would’ve scoffed at his offer, but I did not. I thought this was a great opportunity to open up a dialogue. After a week of tough negotiations , I increased his offer, and was more line with where the sellers wanted to close. But as a selling agent there were still challenges. We had multiple open permits from 2006, the home was dated and needed many repairs, it was suspected that an addition put on the home did not meet the current codes and perhaps encroached upon the neighbors yard. We were in constant negotiations on discussing repairs, building codes, and setbacks. I had a structural engineer inspect the property, the buyer had a new survey on the property to make sure everything was built in accordance with the county. So far everything looked good and it was checking out. Right when I was certain that everything was a go … the buyer suddenly backed out of the deal. I was disappointed to say the least.However, I continued hosting open houses and sending out marketing to other prospective buyers, and all the while I never gave up on the original buyer. I contacted the county and had all the permits closed. I regularly followed up with the original buyers agent because I knew how much his client loved the property and I thought it’s just a matter of time before his buyer comes back. About a month later, I got a call from his agent, saying that his buyer was once again interested. I was right! I knew he wanted this property. But once again the buyer opened the negotiaitons with a very offer. Maybe he thought because the property had been on the market for a while we would be desperate and accept his low offer, but that was not the case. The negotiation process started all over again. In the end, the buyer did get a small discount off the original agreed-upon price however, it was only a very small insignificant amount. Perseverance pays off! If there’s one take away from my 30 year broadcast television sales career in New York… it’s that one should never give up. Even if you have to say the same thing 10 different ways to get the deal done… do the work and get the deal done! This property sold for $1,100,000 and it is one of the highest sales ever in the community!