Pro Tips for Selling Your Home For Top Dollar
Faith Led Interior Design Show | Episode 53
Are you wondering how to sell your house in a competitive market?
In today's episode, Susie and Don, a couple who recently sold their beloved home in Mission Viejo, Southern Orange County, CA, and relocated to their dream home in Oregon, share their winning journey. The couple's story reflects the essence of trust and collaboration, and you will see how minimal investment combined with the right realtor can result in a seamless, successful home sale.
The episode sheds light on the perspective of both home sellers and listing realtors, emphasizing the crucial role of interior design and home staging in this journey.
Don't miss this opportunity to learn how to leverage the neighborhood community to showcase your home's best features and discover the keys to a successful home sale in today's competitive market.
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Be Blessed Verse
This week’s verse is Psalm 48:14, “God is our God forever and ever; He will be our Guide even to the end.”
Forever and ever is through eternity…that is a very, very, very long time!
He will be our Guide. I love how He guides me in all my affairs and He will continue to guide me forever more too! That is a wonderful promise He has made to us all!
So Lord, guide us in this podcast. May it be helpful and informative to many listeners!
Pro Tips for Selling Your Home For Top Dollar
Here is my conversation with Susie:
Sheree: Susie, welcome!
Oh, look at you, up in Oregon. It’s so beautiful up there. Yeah. Oh, what a pretty day, the sun is shining on you.
So I hope you're up for this. We were going to talk about the selling process you just did with your Mission Viejo, CA home.
Yes, and we can just start from the beginning. What were you guys thinking when you decided to move to Oregon?
And, I think, even before we started selling the house you had gotten your home in Oregon. Correct?
Susie: Yes, we bought our home in Oregon in December of last year, and we wanted to live here full-time by June.
And so it was a process of getting our house ready to sell and figuring out how and what we needed to do to sell it. And then making our way up here we made several trips up here moving our stuff.
Sheree: Yes, yes. Awesome. So what made you want to move to Oregon?
Susie: My husband has family up here his whole life.
They would come up in the summer and visit, and he’s always wanted to settle down here. And he's been looking for a home up here for 10 years and we finally found our dream home, and so yes, the move.
Sheree: Yeah, you did it. That's so cool. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, you have this house down here to sell.
At first, prior to listing your Mission Viejo house, you were talking to people about possibly buying it.
We call that a “for sale by owner”, or a FSBO. But that didn't happen.
Leveraging the Neighborhood Community to Showcase The Home’s Best Features
Sheree: So we started talking and you showed me the home's features, telling me that it's a really great area. Do you want to talk a little bit about the area?
Susie: It is such a great family neighborhood.
The school is within walking distance of everyone who lives in the neighborhood.
We don't have any kids bused into the school except for those with special needs.
And so it's very family-oriented.
We had a Greenbelt down the middle of it, where kids could all go down and play and safely get there from their homes because all the homes head toward the Greenbelt, all the sidewalks head down toward the Greenbelt, which then heads toward the school so the kids could walk to school safely without ever being on a public street.
Sheree: That's so awesome. That's a really unusual situation. And the area has some other wonderful features too.
I'm remembering a view out the back. That was beautiful.
Yes. And you love your neighbors. That's always a really big plus.
Susie: Yes, and our kids’ best friends and that's our best friends lived right across the street from us. And we had wonderful neighbors on both sides of us.
I'm now living in a place where I don't have neighbors so I can’t just walk outside and say hi. You know when you get in the mail or when you're putting your trash out, so this is a new experience for me. But it's still spectacular!
Sheree: Right. So it's just a different way, but it looks just beautiful. The other feature that I was learning about was the lake access. Let's talk about Mission Viejo Lake.
Susie: That was built, I think the same year our house was, in 1975, and has a membership to the lake that you could join at that time.
Now every home that is sold in Mission Viejo has to have the lake membership with it.
Ours already had it so it had to stay with the home, but the lake is incredible. It's got wonderful beaches for the kids. It's got rentals for sailing and windsurfing. And you can fish in the lake and you can eat the fish from the lake. Yes, it was a great amenity to have.
Sheree: Okay, so then we started getting to where we're going - to list the house. So what we wanted to do is gather all those features and of course, the house itself was well made.
It's adaptable to a lot of different looks. It just had great bones, and the backyard was great for entertaining also.
Susie: It's a single story which is great for the young or old age groups. It's a great retirement home as well, that was a wonderful selling feature.
Preparing the House for Sale With Minimal Investment
Sheree: Right, and then Don worked effortlessly to get things done. I made a list for you. Here's your list. I think that makes it easier for you guys.
Susie: Yes, correct, knowing that someone professionally is telling us what we needed to have done to sell our house for the price that we were looking to sell it for. Which was basically, I mean you could say, putting lipstick on a pig. But it really had good bones and amenities and it had good structure.
It needed some fresh paint in some areas. We needed to put some fresh carpet in a couple of the rooms, not the whole house.
We didn't redo the kitchen. It was a 1990s kitchen, it functioned for me.
It could definitely have used some updating, but we didn't want to do that.
We could have redone the bathrooms. We didn't want to put the money into that either.
What we did was we made it clean, and we made it nice to look at and if somebody who's coming in wanted to change it, then that's fine.
We didn't put hundreds of 1000s of dollars into it to have somebody just come in and change it on their own.
It actually really worked out well.
The Marketing Strategies
Sheree: So while we're doing that we have an option of putting it on Coming Soon, which can be done 21 days prior to listing. You cannot do it for more than 21 days, but you opted to do that.
So, we're establishing all these features, we're putting that it is sold, basically “as is”.
We're not going to tear out the kitchen, we're not doing the biggies!
I don't think we did the whole 21 days of the coming soon. I think we might have done 19 of the coming soon days.
But we used that time as an anticipation builder for the buyers. They couldn’t wait to see it!!!
The people, they're starting to see, “Hey, this place is coming on!” And I know you had a lot of drive-bys and…
Susie: Yes, and then you have people calling you saying, “Hey, we’ll just put in a full-price offer now. Don’t put it on the MLS or social media advertising.”
Sheree: Our immediate answer is, “Nice try, but no!”
Yes, we did advertise and MLS and Social Media. Susie, you posted to your neighborhood HOA newsletter which I think was awesome!
Susie: We call it The Hood because it is such a tight-knit neighborhood. It made people interested that the house is going on the market, coming soon!
Sheree: Yes, and it is a highly sought-after neighborhood and community.
Susie: So I had seen several posts on that particular page about people wanting to either rent in the neighborhood or buy in the neighborhood. Do you know anybody selling? So I thought that's a great place to put it. Yes, they tell all their friends and family to come live closer to us.
The Home Staging Process
Sheree: So then we listed it! But before that, we did the staging.
Yes, you guys were furiously getting things ready and getting things out. I was telling you what to leave so I can use it for staging.
So with the combination of your items, I went and brought my staging stuff, and I got it staged.
You had a lot of accessories that I could use. I love that! And then your mother-in-law came with plants. Yes. Thank you Clessa! That was great because I did not have to buy them!
Clessa came up with all the plants.
We've got it staged really pretty and had it done by the time that it was Coming Soon.
Susie: Yes, because you had a photographer coming in after.
He took the pictures and then we have the video.
I didn't even recognize my own house.
You did such a beautiful job in the staging.
I mean, at one point, honestly, I thought I had gone to somebody else's house online. And then I realized, “Oh, no, that's mine. Wow!”
Sheree: Yes, because you know, it does look different.
But what we're really doing is setting it up to show really well, where the masses will love it. It worked!
It is the kind of thing where people can come in and say, “What a happy family lived here! I see some of the memories. I can see that this is a well-loved place and this will be a really wonderful place for me to live.”
You know, we had families looking at it, as you know, that really would have loved to have lived there!!!
But we can only choose one.
The Bidding Wars and Choosing the Best Offer
Sheree: So we went live on the MLS.
For the first couple of days, realtors were coming in and then over the weekend, we did an open house for two days. On the first day, we had a cash offer at 15 thousand dollars over the asking price, with no appraisal. We were really happy with that.
And at the end of the open houses, we had six major very good offers…in 4 days.
They were in a bidding war. They were pricing it up and I kept calling you Susie.
Now they're putting an offer for this. They're putting an offer for that.
Susie: And we were in Oregon at that point.
Sheree: And so then we had investors also that were giving offers. They were at or below the asking price.
Susie: I am glad they were low because honestly, we wanted a family to have it or a person who really wanted to live there. That's what we wanted. The offers were way too low anyway.
Sheree: And that's really cool. I mean, I think that's a great point because a lot of people love their house. You guys were there for years and years, and it just feels good to choose somebody that you feel will love the house also.
Susie: Yes, we lived here for 32 years. We raised our kids there. I didn't want some developer coming in knocking it down and building some monstrosity that didn't even fit the neighborhood.
Sheree: Exactly, exactly. So, there was one offer in particular, of all the offers, that just shined through.
It was a full-price cash offer.
And no contingencies except the only thing they wanted was an inspection. Which obviously is very fair, with no appraisal and a 14-day close.
There were other great offers that wanted to come in but you guys just said, “This is a really clean wonderful offer.” It was $75,000 above the asking price. Yay! So you happily took that.
Susie: And we had put a time limit on it because we saw that we were getting so many offers.
And it was a little overwhelming for us to make a decision. The thought of it going back and forth and back and forth isn't what we wanted.
That was our best offer and it was a person who really wanted to live in the neighborhood and that is the one we accepted.
And you know, I really urge people to, if they are buying a house, put your best offer forward when they say to put your best offer forward, which we said clearly.
There were some people who afterward said, “Oh, well, we would have paid more!” Well, they should have said that maybe in the beginning because we took the best offer. It wasn't all about the money. It was about who was moving in there as well.
Sheree: Some were saying that, “We would have paid more!”
I, as the realtor, was telling everybody, “It's way above the list price right now. Put in your best offer. This seller does not want to go back and forth. They are going to choose somebody.”
Yeah. So those who wanted to offer again, I had already told them to put in your best offer, because the sellers are not going to come back. They're going to choose by Monday.
Yes. So it was very clear.
Sometimes the realtor will tell you, “We will take offers and come back for the highest and best and do the back and forth.” But that was not the case here, you, as sellers, said no to that.
The sellers were getting overwhelmed by too many offers. And I want to mention that I have given you a sheet to help you see each offer.
It was a couple of sheets with all the offers side by side. Here's what they're offering. Here's what their contingencies are: Here's what they want to put down and so on. So you had each offer side by side where you can compare them. I hope that simplified it as much as could.
Susie: Yes, that made a big difference. We were able to look at all the offers with everything, with the contingencies, and all, of course, it's much easier.
Also when there aren't any contingencies from the buyers side, and so that makes a big difference as well.
Sheree: Right? So, you made your decision. Then we go into a 14-day close, which we had mentioned earlier.
We did go into the inspection period and there was barely nothing, and actually what did occur, should have been nothing, but anyway, that's another story.
But, all in all, it went really smoothly.
Susie: Yeah, actually it went super smooth. It really did.
I mean honestly, everything could be done electronically. What couldn't be done electronically, we printed, we signed, and then we FedEx back.
So we did not have to physically be there in order to sell our house. Trusting our realtor to do that was huge for us, and then trusting the process.
Sheree: Yes, I could go check things as needed for you.
You guys were an absolute joy to work with. Both of you worked really hard. But Don, I know, did a lot of work on the house.
Susie: Luckily, I have a husband that could do a lot of work on the house and we didn't have to farm that out to make it look nicer.
Sheree: Right. Yeah. I just realized, Oh my goodness. Wait, just a sec, be right back.
Susie: Okay.
Sheree: As Suzy knows, (Sheree is showing the front page of the OC Register Newspaper she was featured in regarding this sale).
I know it's backward on the video, but it says "Bidding Wars For Homes Intensify”.
This is me on the front page.
Susie: Yes. And our house in the background.
Sheree: On the front page, this is the OC, Orange County, California Register and then also the Riverside Report. I think it's called.
I was on the front page.
So anyway, there was a nice newspaper guy, the reporter, Jeff Collins, that called and said, “Can you talk to me a little bit about this sale at $75 thousand dollars over asking price?” Then he wanted me to go get a picture taken in front of the house. That was really a fun part of it.
Susie: That was fantastic. Exactly!
The Perfect Time to Sell a House
Susie: The thing we didn't mention was the timing of selling the house. I think we really were there at the right time.
Sheree: Well, I'll tell you right now it is still a seller's market. This means low inventory for sale on the market.
So right now is a great time to sell if sellers want to sell. Maybe I'll have another show about that.
It’s October of 2023 right now if you're watching this later. But it is a seller's market and you guys were definitely right in the midst of this seller’s market going on.
You got the top square footage price as anybody even to this date.
I believe I haven't seen anything sold for more for somebody who didn't fix up their house, right?
I mean, of course, putting a lot of money into it, that's a different thing.
But for somebody who said we're going to make it as beautiful as possible. Let’s make it show well, and so I think you guys did a great job!
You're now in your beautiful new place in Oregon.
I just thank you for trusting me as your realtor.
Susie: Well, thank you for everything that you did. I know you worked so hard to get it ready in the 21 days, coming soon.
And then getting it on the MLS and then you did the open house over the weekend.
You were there the whole time, both days.
And you did the staging. It was gorgeous. I know that was a lot of work as well.
It's good. It's all great. It all worked together very well.
Sheree: So I'm so happy for you guys and hope to see you soon.
Yes, Yes, and have a great time up there in Oregon.
Susie: Okay, bye-bye.
In summary, these are the home-selling steps we (I, Susie and Dan) have taken:
Preliminary appointment to gather all the home features
Sign the Listing Agreement
Set up a Coming Soon listing online (optional)
Fix up the home
Home cleaning and staging
Videos and photograph
Go Active on the MLS (multiple listing sites)
Host an open house
Gather all offers and choose only one
All contingencies resolved
Close on the property
Exchange keys and celebrate!
Next episode, I will talk about when to renovate your home before selling.
Now, Stop Dreaming, Start Designing your luxury home within your budget!
Blessings and See you next episode…
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