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My friend Jan was in a bit of denial about the condition of her house, so it took some diplomacy for her to agree to get some work done. When it was done, she got eight offers and the house sold for more than $100,000 over asking price!
My friend Jan Denali had talked about wanting to sell her house for several years, but she was having a hard time letting it go, even though she didn’t live there anymore. She had owned her 1919 Mount Baker Craftsman home for 20 years, raised her daughter there and had many happy memories. However, she had moved into an apartment as her disability and the need to use a wheelchair at times was making it very hard to get around a two-story house.
Jan rented her house for a few years and experience with tenants was a mixed bag. The last tenants took advantage of her when they rented the upstairs as a separate apartment on Airbnb and didn’t tell her. They then left without notice and did not pay the utility bills.
So despite her attachment to the house, she knew it was time to sell, she still had a basement full of her stuff that she needed to sort through and that felt overwhelming, her apartment was small so she could not fit everything into it. As she said I had to “wear my wrangler hat” and get her motivated to pack up stuff she wanted and put it in storage and get rid of a lot of stuff.
Jan was in a little bit of denial about the condition of her house, so it took some diplomacy for her to agree to get the work done. First I suggested we get an inspection, so we could deal with any major issues with prospective buyers and bank appraisers.
As I suspected, the roof needing to be replaced, which was a big one, so we decided to include it in the sales contract and have it replaced before closing and paid by Jan out of her sale proceeds. There were also several cosmetic fixes that needed to be addressed, so I set my crew on patching some of the old lathe and plaster walls, painting the interior, doing some exterior painting to give the house better curb appeal, repairing and replacing hand rails and fences, major pressure washing and numerous other details.
I also had the house staged, which Jan thought was unnecessary, but once it was done, she realized how much better the house looked. I even added some colorful plants to the exterior to make the house more welcoming.
All the work paid off, Jan had eight offers and the house sold for more than $100,000 over asking price, which would not have happened if the house had been “sold as is”. It really is worth the effort to make a house look it’s best.
“Serena is a pro with the perfect mix of up energy, follow through and laid back good humor,” says Jan. “She knows a whole lot about the real estate business and is at the peak of her game. Highly recommended.”
