Buckhead setting attracts renters, then condo buyer
Names: Michael and Taylor Bowler
The home: A two-bedroom, two-bath condo built in 1960
Where: Buckhead
Why they sold: The couple moved to Charlotte, N.C., for Michael's job with a structural engineering company. They married after Taylor, a freelance writer and editor, bought the Peachtree Orleans condo in 2008 for $197,000, when units were selling in the low $200,000s.
Time on market: 80 days the second time around
Original price: $149,900
Sale price: $144,000
What it took: Waiting for the market to change and renting. The condo was first listed for sale starting in November 2011 (with an original list price of $169,000), but they were unable to sell it because of the sluggish real estate market. They dropped the price to $152,000 in February 2012, with no success. "We got no bites at all," she said. It was on the market for about six months.
The condo association capped the number of rentals at one time to four units, so they applied for a “hardship” exception, which required showing a financial need in order to rent the unit. The condo association allowed them to rent the condo for a year, starting in May 2012. They put the property on the market again in April 2013, dropping the price. “We knew at that point we were going to take a loss, no question,” Taylor said.
The Buckhead location and the community — which Taylor said looks like the set of the ’90s prime time soap opera “Melrose Place” — attracted residents in their 20s and 30s. The first-floor condo also had a prime spot backing up to the pool in the complex. Brick walkways, gas lanterns and wrought iron details were charming pluses. Nice landscaping made the complex, which was updated in 2000, feel like a garden, Taylor said.
Potential stumbling block: The Bowlers not only were trying to sell their condo long distance, but Taylor was pregnant and her due date was approaching. Taylor remembers that she and her agent, Jodi Yarbrough with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Georgia Properties, had joked about the condo selling while she was in labor. That's what happened. The offer arrived on the same day in June that baby Spencer was born. Taylor was signing paperwork from the hospital. She credits Yarbrough for helping the process go smoothly from two states away. They were able to scan and email documents, and Yarbrough attended the closing for them in August 2013.
Seller's hint: Go neutral. The eggplant-colored walls worked with her furniture and when renting out the condo, but they repainted with the unit beige when they put it back on the market. "To attract buyers, you're got to go with a more neutral palette," she said. "Remove any personal details. You're staging it so that a buyer could really visualize their furniture and their belongings in there as opposed to yours."
