Names: Melody and Todd Swierski. Melody, 53, is a school teacher at Tritt Elementary School in Cobb County; Todd, 52, is a self-employed general contractor and remodeler.
The home: A five-bedroom, three-and-a-half bath house built in 1979
Where: Marietta
Why they sold: Since Todd owns a general contracting business, the cost to store supplies in an off-site facility became expensive. "The house we have now has six garages," said Melody.
Time on market: 40 days
Original price: $415,000
Sale price: $400,000
What it took: Melody and Todd originally tried to sell their two-story home without using an agent. Only two people viewed the home in the first month (they were asking $430,000), and they received no offers. So they called Michelle Byers, a family friend and real estate agent at Keller Williams Realty Consultants in Roswell, for advice on selling their home. Then they decided to hire her as their agent.
Byers lowered the price to $415,000. The house went under contract in 10 days and closed within 30 days of Byers listing it on the market. Byers also helped them with issues, such as mortgage knowledge, that made the process easier, Melody said.
The contemporary home in Cobb County’s Chimney Springs subdivision offered an open floor plan and a finished basement. To get it ready to sell, they replaced garage doors and windows on the exterior. They remodeled the bathrooms and repainted the walls. They didn’t update the kitchen because they wanted the owners to have that choice and they wanted to keep the price in the low $400,000s to attract buyers. The already fenced-in yard appealed to the buyers, who owned a large dog.
Potential stumbling block
“For sale by owner was definitely a stumbling block for us,” said Melody.
But the parents of two young kids quickly learned it was too great of a time commitment to try to sell without using a real estate agent. They also didn’t have expertise in marketing the home beyond listing it and putting a sign in the yard. Another challenge may have been the contemporary design. Byers suggested that they didn’t originally get as much traffic as they expected because buyers in Cobb typically seek traditional-style homes.
Seller’s hint
If Melody and Todd could re-do this process, they would have started off with a real estate agent. “You don’t really realize how much there is to do until you’re actually doing it,” said Melody.
