The Sale
Names: Bobby and Leigh Cresswell. Bobby works for a kids beverage company; Leigh is a retired Delta Air Lines flight attendant.
The home: A four-bedroom, 3 1/2-bath home with a basement built in 1996.
Where: Marietta's Camden Place neighborhood
Why they sold: When their youngest child went to college, they decided to sell their house. "It was time to downsize," Bobby said. "About the time we did it was about the time the real estate bubble burst. Everything just got ugly."
Time on market: 228 days
Original price: $640,000
Sale price: $504,000
What it took: The Cresswells had the home on the market for about a year, then took it off, relisted it with another agent, then took it off the market again. They listed it with their third agent, Ed Robeson, with Keller Williams Realty First Atlanta, in April 2011 (he set the price at $540,000).
The home was new when they bought it, but it needed to be freshened up. They spent about $20,000 on changes that included taking down wallpaper in the bathrooms, putting in a new stovetop and painting kitchen cabinets (working with interior designer Julie Balai), installing new carpet, and updating the backyard (work included planting grass). “We kept doing more stuff to the house. We just kept thinking somebody is going to come along and just love this house like we did,” Leigh said. “It just took the right person.” A couple from California purchased the home, and they closed in November.
Potential stumbling block: The deck's height concerned some buyers with children because it didn't have steps to the backyard. In addition, one possible buyer backed out after the inspection identified a radon issue in the basement (the Cresswells fixed the problem).
Seller's hint: Make the effort to update your home. "It's obviously a buyer's market and there's a lot of inventory out there," Bobby said. "You've got to freshen it up. People expect a lot for their money nowadays in the marketplace."
