How It Happened & What Can Go Wrong: Lessons from a Resuscitated Home Sale

Every home sale tells a unique story, and sometimes, even when both buyer and seller are eager to cross the finish line, the journey is anything but smooth. Let’s take a look behind the scenes at a recent transaction that had to be held together by the skin of it's teeth and resuscitated over and over—no addresses, just real lessons—to see how the right team can make all the difference.

Before I get into it, I want to say I'm so thankful I had my team at Epique including my area leader, my compliance team, and a fellow agent who took time out his day to bring his gopro camera into the 16 inch crawl space that no one else could access to see what was going on under the house. Within a day, we had a local respected contractor offering to do the work and get paid at closing. Within another day, we had the contract back together. The buyer's agent was fantastic! I'm so thankful to our contractor, John Ruble who stepped up to help my client who was heartbroken at the thought of her plans for the next chapter being destroyed by this structual issue that made the buyers want to walk. Full Disclosure: This is one I should have walked away from as my compliance guy (you know who you are) has told me a million times. Some people are like my dog BlueBelle, no one else will have them, and sometimes it truly is a calling.

How It Happened: The Power of Preparation

It started with a beach bungalow type home built in the 50's that the seller purchased not too long ago we'll say, in an amazing location near the beach. The seller needed to relocate to another state and had made a deposit on an apartment near friends, shopping and things she valued. She was so excited for this new chapter. We presented 3 options: Full preparation and stage for top dollar and higher chance of multiple offers with agressive pricing to attract mass showings and a quick sale; mid preparation focusing on cleaning out, cleaning up, and curb appeal, mid price may take average days on market time to sell; and little to no preparation leaving some or all personal items out and no decluttering for as-is pricing, a potentially long sale. This seller chose the middle option. Here's a summary of what we did...

• Brought in my property maintance expert to handle things like cleaning out the gutters that had leaves compressed in them from the ground to the roofline and above, so much so the gutters were dented and the covers no longer fit. He pressure washed, raked up all the years of acorns and edged at the street. He washed windows, washed the roof. He made space in the large attic to showcase this and give the seller more storage for packed items.
• Hired professional photographer for aerial video and 3D walkthru with a compelling online listing that is syndicated to all national sites and realtor websites in addition to several single property websites.
• Used digital advertising and AI to attract buyers to my open houses and websites.
• Carefully analyzed the market, what's sold, what isn't selling or didn't sell, finding a trending fair market value line for an effective pricing recommendation.
• Setting a strategic price based on local market data.

The result? Strong interest from multiple qualified buyers with experienced, well-thought-of local agents who I'd love to get to work with - 23 showings!! It seemed like a textbook success story, but rewind to the strategic price; seller decided at the last minute after "leaving more personal items for interest" to price at Option 1 (highest possible price with maximum preparation except...). After all those showings and no offers, the seller agreed to drop the price to the recommended price at the time of listing. Once that happened, we contracted. Now all I had to do was get her, I mean them, to closing without scaring off the buyers, e.g. seller self-sabotage (SSS).

...we even hired a second photographe for a reshoot AFTER seller agreed to pack up more of their personal items!!

What Can Go Wrong: The Bumps in the Road

But even with motivated parties, real estate deals can hit unexpected snags. In this case, a few hurdles appeared:

• Buyers' inspection with a structural engineer brought to light structural concerns;
• Buyers' loan denied on closing day, after seller packed and moved out; their amazing lender had a solution and got the loan back into underwriting as quickly as humanly possible. Thank you Catherine Riemann at CMG Home Loans;  you are a true rockstar lender!!
• Seller creating barriers to access; it's stressful selling especially when you live alone as a single woman. It's hard.
• Emotional stress on both sides (one more than the other) as a team of compitent professionals worked through the issues.

Each challenge could have derailed the sale, and they did for a minute; But with open communication, quick problem-solving, and a consistent spirit of cooperation between agents, we navigated the twists and turns together to get to closing.

The Takeaway: Why Precision and Care Matter

This sale was a reminder: putting a home on the market is only the beginning. Holding a deal together requires attention to detail, empathy, and a proactive approach. When both sides want to move forward, having an experienced guide can make all the difference between a deal that falls apart and one that ends with happy keys exchanged. This particular seller's net was thousands more than my initial estimate; due to the buyers' hurdles we were able to negotiate to eliminate seller concession. There was one structural repair which was completed by a local preferred contractor who agreed to be paid at closing.

In closing, I'm not proud I have a past client and seller who now hates me. If you want to know her side of the story, send me a message and I'll share my photo story with you.