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My past clients, Aly and Pedro, bought their first house with me in 2016 and had been thinking about selling their house last year, but then circumstances changed, and they decided to wait until the spring of 2020. Then, of course, Covid19 hit!
Since they were living in their house and had a roommate who was a nurse at Virginia Mason, I had a lot of concerns about listing an occupied house, as all my previous recent listings had been vacant. I had taken a lot of precautions with those for showing, including leaving gloves, sanitizer and lots of signs and warnings, but I still had no idea how careful agents and buyers were behaving. So, an occupied house obviously posed way more of a risk.
We started talking in Mid-March and hoped to list in April, but as we all know, things kept changing as Governor Inslee came out with different directives for us all to stay safe; it seemed in real estate there were changes every week! So, we were not able to really get going on preparation until May.
To lessen the risk of exposure to my sellers and their roommate and potential buyers, we had a full house inspection done in early May. It turned out the crawl space had significant water penetration that was eroding the dirt under a part of the foundation.
Luckily, through my long-term relationship with certain contractors, I was able to get someone out quickly and they were able to schedule the extensive repair the following week. Meanwhile, Pedro did a lot of minor fixes that were called out on the inspection, like exterior paint touch up, etc. The house was really in great shape thanks to Pedro and Aly’s diligence.
We were finally ready to list in June. I persuaded Aly and Pedro and their roommate that it would be best if they could stay away for a few days and they were able to accommodate, so that was a huge relief. We listed the house on a Thursday with an offer review date the following Tuesday.
We had at least 20 showings, and I was so glad all the occupants were away! Lucky for them Des Moines, like Seattle, is a hot area and they received four good offers, all over asking price.
One offer stood out as the best as the buyers had no financing contingency, which meant no concerns if an appraisal came in lower than the purchase price. The offer also allowed my sellers to stay in the house rent free for a month, which was very helpful to them.
So, after several months of being on hold with their house, they could finally relax. I am so happy for them!
