The Sale
Name: Keith Scott
The home: A four-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath home built in 1995.
Where: Alpharetta
Why he sold: Scott, 58, accepted a job in Raleigh, N.C., as chief technology officer for North Carolina’s Health Information Exchange.
Time on market: 10 days
Original price: $319,900
Sale price: $310,000
What it took: Scott already had made about $55,000 in updates to the home, such as adding hardwood floors throughout the main level, new tile bathroom floors, a new roof, and replacing the vinyl siding and outdated plumbing. “I do think that it would have been extremely hard to sell if I hadn’t had taken out the polybutylene plumbing and put in copper. The same thing could have been said about the siding. In spots, it had started to disintegrate,” he said.
His agent, Alenda Kinder with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, recommended using stager Karen Ozer with Sold By Staging, which cost Scott about $400. “When I walked into the house that night, it was totally different. She had done such an unbelievably good job of staging it.”
The home was listed on a Monday, as the only one in Stevens Creek, a swim-tennis neighborhood. The buyer viewed the home two days later and an offer came in by Friday.
Potential stumbling block: Like other sellers who are surprised these days to be fortunate enough to receive a quick offer, there was the lingering thought that he could have kept it on the market longer and gotten a little more for the home. He negotiated the price over a couple of rounds, coming down to the price he paid for the home in August 2005. The inspection turned up some repairs, such as a bit of rot in the seal of a window, some chips in the stucco around the front door and a receptacle in the attic that was not wired correctly. Scott paid about $700 to fix them, and he closed on the house in July. “Based on the stories I’ve heard, I was expecting it to take quite a while. I did not expect it to sell the first week, that’s for sure,” he said. “It’s a big relief.”
Seller’s hint: Hire a stager, who can emphasize the home’s strengths and use furniture and accessories to create a warm, welcoming setting.
