The best time to sell a home? It depends… If it’s at the beach? If there’s a tenant in place? 

Timing is everything in life. When selling a home, it’s important to understand the draw of certain seasons. During the hot days of summer, people are drawn to the beach. So when there’s a home to sell within 2.5 miles of the beach, that’s a consideration. If there’s a big park with lots of playgrounds and other sporting options in close proximity, vacation time is when people are looking for those outside activities. Availability for immediate occupancy is also important to many buyers. So having a home that can be delivered at closing is big too.

With this home, we were dealing with a Probate., without court confirmation required, but still a Probate. That means totally “as is, where is”.  On top of that the home was tenant occupied. The tenant had been there for 10 years and wanted to buy the home but at a very reduced price. When they realized they couldn’t buy the home, they weren’t happy. To make it easier for them, we offered an exit package if they’d leave within 30 days.  It is possible to show and sell a home with tenants in place but is not as attractive to buyers.  I advised my clients to wait for the tenants to vacate,  When we hit the market, the home was ready to be occupied and the buyers, both end users and investors, really liked that.

Disclosure is a big issue in California. Yet an Executor is exempt for the statutory disclosures. UNLESS they have direct knowledge of the condition could RESONABLY obtain that information as part of their duties. In this case, there had been a property manager handling the property for ten years. So we asked for a summary of the any major repairs or upgrades that had been done on the home. What we received was a voluminous Excel spreadsheet, which included every door knob and dripping faucet that had ever been reported. So what did we do? It was ALL shared with any buyers who made offers so that they could know the information prior to making their final and best offer. Disclosure is your friend as a SELLER!
The result was a selling price of $ 116,000 over the asking price in what was considered a “slow” market. Really? Not in my world.