Name: Kathy Zickert
The home: A three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath, Craftsman-style bungalow built in 2003.
Where: College Park
Why she sold: Zickert decided to sell her home of five years to move closer intown after her daughter graduated from Woodward Academy. She had moved to College Park so that her daughter could live near the private school, which is a block away, but the home was about 25 to 30 minutes from Zickert's Midtown office. Once she got home to College Park, construction delays and traffic on the Downtown Connector often kept her from heading back to Atlanta to meet people for dinner or other activities. "I was more isolated down there," said Zickert, a zoning attorney.
Time on market: 6 days
Original price: $299,900
Sale price: $280,000
What it took
She planned to sell the home a year earlier but waited after the property appraised at $60,000-$70,000 below the price she paid for it. “I decided I would simply stay and hope the market came back,” she said. “I wanted to get out, but I wasn’t going to take a bath.”
The key was the home’s proximity to Woodward Academy, which appealed to families seeking to move closer to the private school. Her agent, Collette McDonald with Re/Max Around Atlanta, used a stager, and Zickert said the biggest changes included removing personal photos and moving around the placement of the artwork. Other decor tweaks included removing the jackets off the books to make their appearance more uniform on the bookshelves. “She had an interesting approach to de-personalizing but keeping it organized at the same time,” Zickert said. “I’ve staged houses before and she impressed me.”
The home had a master on the main, and it offered upgrades such as a luxury tile and built-ins in the master bathroom, and a wine refrigerator in the kitchen. After two days, she received multiple offers on the home, which had a three-car garage. She chose the offer closest to the asking price, for $290,000.
Potential stumbling block
A product defect in the type of architectural shingle used on the house was discovered during the inspection process. There was no evidence of a leak, so the entire roof didn’t need to be replaced. The offer price had to be adjusted to replace the architectural shingles.
Seller’s hint
“It’s a question of pricing it correctly. It sold so quickly I wondered if perhaps we had underpriced it, but there’s no point in worrying about that,” Zickert said. Now, her three-bedroom, three-and-a-half bath Decatur townhome by John Willis Custom Homes is 12 minutes from her office, 5 minutes from her dance studio and around the corner from one of her favorite restaurants, Napoleon’s.
About the Author
