SELLER SUCCESS STORY: Making a Silk Purse Out of a Sow’s Ear

Michael Jarus found me through sales records on a popular real estate search site. He contacted me because I sold the property next door last year, so he knew that I was familiar with the area.

Michael lives in Pennsylvania, and had inherited a property in Des Moines from his uncle who recently passed away.

He called while I was on vacation, but given his position, I felt that I should help him take the right steps to promptly get clear title to the property. I walked him through the most immediate and important steps to get the process started, and a few weeks later, he came to Seattle to finish it.

I met him at the property, which was in very rough condition, with non-permitted additions and a lot of deferred maintenance, including a leaking roof. It was in fact a borderline tear down, but it was on a nice corner lot, which could have views of the mountains and Puget Sound with a second-floor addition.

I suggested marketing it two ways, both as vacant land and residential property, which would broaden the buyer pool. I predicted that he would get higher offers with a residential listing because there was some value with the improvements on the property for the right buyer.

But given the property’s rough condition, I also expected that it may be hard to find a buyer for it. I contacted an FHA inspector for a feasibility study, which outlines all the needed repairs and estimate of costs to bring the property to a safe, livable condition. We would make this available to potential buyers, so that they would know the extent of the repairs needed and a cost estimate. That way it wasn’t an unknown and would help potential buyers see that the property could be made livable again.

Since I knew that it wouldn’t qualify for conventional financing, I contacted a lender that does rehab loans to make sure that the property would be eligible for financing. I made the lenders information available for potential buyers, and all the legwork was done for any potential residential buyers.

After selling, donating, and hauling away LOTS of stuff, and a good cleaning, the property was ready for the market. Once I listed the property, we got offers first on the vacant land and much later, the residential listing.

As predicted the vacant land offers were lower, so Michael decided to wait to see what would happen with the residential listing. An offer came in at an acceptable price, but with a feasibility contingency. He accepted the offer, but the buyer backed out because after doing his study, he found that he couldn’t use the property as he planned. A while later, a cash offer came in from an investor, who wanted to remodel the property and rent it out.

After some negotiation on the price, Michael accepted that offer. The buyer did their inspection and we negotiated on the price again in lieu of repairs. The sale closed and Michael was able to pay off the mortgage on his house in Pennsylvania as well as the balance on the car that he also inherited.

Congratulations, Michael!

Are you ready to take the plunge into the Real Estate market? Don’t do it alone. My mission is to help you achieve your life goals. Contact me today at 206-250-7291 or donkoonce@windermere.com.