Seller's name: Jane Wearing, a business analyst for LeasePlan
The home: A four-bedroom, three-bath, ranch-style home with a basement built in 2001.
Where: Canton
Why she sold: Wearing wanted to move to a home with a larger lot so she could get a dog. She also was tired of living in a neighborhood with homeowners' association fees and hoops to go through to make changes. For example, she said she had to submit her exterior paint colors three times before the association approved the new color. She also received notes in her mailbox about things she needed to do, such as edging in her yard. "I just wanted out of that," she said. She found a two-story home on 2 acres in Ball Ground, also in Cherokee County, which only extended her commute about 15 minutes. Even though the home she bought had a red-and-white exterior that looked like candy cane stripes, she loved the deck, humongous oak tree and "grass that keeps going forever." She could picture having goats or sheep in the backyard, and when she heard her neighbor's roosters, she thought, "Oh, this is perfect."
Time on market: 57 days (the second time around)
Original price: $298,000
Sale price: $294,500
What it took: Before working with Lindsay Levin of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Georgia Properties, Wearing had the home listed for about six months with another agent. "I was really discouraged at that point," she said. "A friend of mine told me about Lindsey and gave me her number. I called her and said, 'I'm so fed up. I don't know if I want to put it on the market, but I kind of want out, too.'"
Wearing was an ideal seller because she was OK with de-personalizing the house and staging furniture and accessories to appeal to more buyers, Levin said. The floor plan also had a basement that was already was set up as a separate living area, including a theater room. Although Wearing didn’t use the basement often, she imagined that buyers with a family would be enticed by the extra space. The Oak Hill Estates neighborhood also had a pool, tennis courts, playground and walking trails.
Potential stumbling block: The first buyer backed out of the offer, but three buyers had indicated they were prepared to act in that situation. Levin called all three back, and Wearing accepted the first offer. Contingencies also made the sale and purchase complicated. Both the buyers and Wearing needed to sell their homes first in order to buy, so many pieces had to come together for the March closings to occur, Levin said. Mortgage adviser Chris Philmon with Angel Oak Funding helped the paperwork move along so Wearing didn't have a delay at closing.
Seller's hint: Use professionally shot photos. Levin staged the home and worked with Virtual Studio Innovations to shoot new photos for the listing, which Wearing believes were key reasons why Levin was able to sell the home within 60 days.
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