Name: Claudia Coplon, who owns a company that provides written communications training for professionals
The home: A four-bedroom, three-and-a-half bath townhome built in 1999
Where: Atlanta
Why she sold: Coplon had purchased the condo with her husband, Steve Clements, about seven years ago. "My husband and I wanted a home with a master on the main. Of course, we ended up on Lenox Road with a three-story townhouse because we walked in and fell in love with it. It looked like a New York brownstone. He was from New York and loved it." After Clements died in 2013, she waited for a year and then decided to sell and move to Raleigh, N.C.
Time on market: 16 days
Original price: $399,000
Sale price: $389,000
What it took
Coplon credits the fact that the end unit townhome was in a gated community on Lenox Road, near Buford Highway, and there were few condos on the market of the same size. “It was amazing to me that it sold so quickly,” she said.
The layout was deceptively large, she said. Through the years, the deck had been replaced. The master bathroom was been gutted and redone with new tile, a frameless shower, a double vanity and professionally installed closets.
While some buyers paint walls neutral to sell, she kept her home’s unique style. The color palette played off the living room carpet, which had black, gray, umber and terra cotta hues. The living room walls had horizontal gray stripes across the top and bottom, with terra cotta in the middle. The foyer was painted terra cotta on one side and gray going up the stairs and into the hallways. The kitchen was a red terra cotta hue. The office and bedrooms were shades of umber. Emilie Haas with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Georgia Properties said although she would typically tell clients to paint the walls beige, the interiors were so gorgeous that she felt the walls should be left alone. “Every single person who came to see it just loved it the way it was,” Haas said.
Haas only suggested washing the windows and removing personal photos. After an open house and a real estate agents’ caravan, the townhome received two offers.
Potential stumbling block
The quick offers coincided with a medical procedure that required Coplon to sign paperwork saying she would not make any legal decisions for 24 hours. She didn’t expect Haas to contact her with offers shortly after the procedure. Coplon told her, “I’m know I’m not supposed to be thinking straight,” then said she would take one offer, for half of the buyer’s requested closing amount. The buyer agreed, and when the 24 hours were up, Coplon signed the contract.
Seller’s hint
Keep on some lights to make the home to feel accessible to potential buyers.
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