Sometimes, the needs of a client goes beyond just purchasing or selling a home. They may have goals that need to be considered outside of just price and location. Or maybe they are looking for an exceptional deal and just need to find that needle in the haystack. That's where we come in. We are creative thinkers and outside of the box when it comes to real estate. Here are a few interesting stories that you may enjoy... they illustrate our skill at handling everything that comes our way.
Case #41: Witness Protection
This story begins with our client being the star witness in a criminal trial against someone she knew very well. He was convicted and sentenced. Fast forward ten years and she was notified that he is eligible for parole in 60 days. She became very concerned for her and her son's safety due to the fact that he knew where she lived.
When we first met, her home was in need of a facelift and she didn't have much money. She would have to sell her home and immediately purchase another. We looked at her home and discovered that one of the family rooms could easily be converted to another bedroom, which would increase the sale price. Our contractor did a quick and amazing job of updating the home and converting the room to a bedroom, all within a super low budget.
We hit the market with the home slightly underpriced to spur competition. Our plan worked - we recieved 7 offers and the final price was a 100k over list price. That gave her the funds to make a purchase of another Seattle area home. We quickly moved her to the new home and the entire project was an absolute success.
The only thing left was to make sure she could enjoy her new home without any worries that the man she put in prison would find her. To hide her identity and address, we brought in a lawyer and obsured her ownership in the new property, so that he would not be able to find her through public records.
Case #88: There's a River Running Through The Basement!
Sometimes opportunity comes because there's a problem that scares everyone else away. That's the case in this extreme situation. Our client was looking for a really good deal on a view property. Her and her husband were very handy and weren't afraid of a little hard work in order to save money on the initial purchase.
We found a home that fit the bill, except that one of the problems was beyond my client's expertise. The home seemed to be in the way of an underground river because the basement would flood daily. The previous owner had apparently spent great effort trying to keep the basement dry, but to no luck. When we saw the home, the basement was wet - which scared all potential buyers away.
The opportunity was so great, that we decided to try and find a solution to the problem. We called on many people in our network to help us identify that water source (an underground stream, essentially) and come up with a remedy. They were able to divert the water source around the home, seal up the exterior walls of the basement, and put in additional precautions for the future - a french drains around the perimeter of the basement and a sump pump.
The problem was less than 20k to fix and they saved over 100k on the purchase. It has been over 5 years since with no problems to date.
Case #75: The renter won't let us come inside the house!
Every once in a while, an opportunity comes up that doesn't seem like an opportunity until you start to really think about it. That's the case with this one.
The seller was in an interesting jam - his renter did not want to move and had decided to make things difficult for him. She asked that anyone viewing the home make an appointment with her 24 hours in advance. Then she would delay the appointment, cancel it, or even just refuse to show it.
To make matters worse, the home had some really ugly siding on it and did not have good street appeal at the time. I am pretty sure that the few people looking to see the home never got the chance and gave up pretty quickly.
Our clients were very interested in the home and were on a low budget. So we priced out the siding and then waited it out. We just kept trying to see the home for almost 30 days - we finally got the chance to get inside. I have a funny feeling we were the only ones that got to see it because of our persistance. The seller was really in a spot, so we made an offer significantly below list price and it was gladly accepted.
I'm sure the home would have sold for a lot more money had people been able to see it. Our patience and persistance paid off and our clients were able to take the money they save, fix the siding and remodel the home.
