Gain Valuable Insight from these Silicon Valley Home Sale Case Studies
The case studies I have curated explore several successful home sales in Silicon Valley, providing valuable insights for homeowners who want to maximize their own sale experience. Each case study breaks down the unique strategies and tailored approaches that led to exceptional outcomes, from expert staging and strategic pricing to targeted marketing campaigns and negotiation techniques. What makes these case studies particularly compelling is their focus on real-world scenarios, highlighting the specific challenges faced and the solutions implemented to overcome them. By examining these success stories, homeowners can gain a deeper understanding of the elements that contribute to a seamless, lucrative sale—including the importance of presentation, market timing, and choosing the right real estate professional. These examples serve as a blueprint for turning the home-selling process into an outstanding experience, where preparation and strategy translate into tangible financial rewards.
Takeover of a Failed Listing in Saratoga with …
case study explores how I helped sell a home in Saratoga, at 18326 Mill Ct. The owners had lived in the property for twenty years, which is about the average time of home ownership in Silicon Valley. Over the years, their children grew up and moved out, leaving them with a spacious two-story house they no longer needed. Ready for a new chapter, they decided to sell their home and move closer to the coast. This article will show how it was possible to get this home sold in Saratoga for 5.4% over list price with multiple offers - when a prior agent failed to garner any offers at all, even listed at the same price!A Little Background on the HouseWhen people think…
Sold in San Jose for 15.9% Over List …
recently closed a record-breaking sale of a home at 5359 Laurel Canyon Drive in San Jose. The sale of this home makes a good case study in how a home can be sold quickly, yet still for a very high price. In fact, the sale of this home broke records for the sale price of this model home - despite the fact that it sold very quickly (just 6 days on market, vs. the area average of 17), no private showings, the home had received very few updates over the years, and the sellers only invested a total of $7,500 preparing the home for market.This article will explain how it was possible to get this home sold in san Jose for 15.9%…
Zillow Zestimate: How I Broke the Zillow Home …
Over the years of writing on my blog, I've had a lot to say about the Zillow Zestimate, especially as it relates to Bay Area home prices. The Zestimate was created at the dawn of Zillow and it was what really drove traffic to the site, at least in the early years. The Zestimate is nothing more than an automated valuation model (AVM), and there are dozens of them by now (and there were many before the Zestimate even came on the scene). But while the Zestimate has plenty of competition these days, it still garners plenty of attention. But the Zestimate isn't anything that can be relied on, and I'm going to give you an example of why not,…
Sell Over Asking Price in a Soft Market
The Market in ContextThe real estate market in early 2022 was incredibly - historically - hot. Inventory was low, and buyers were out in droves, with most listings receiving multiple offers and selling far over asking price. Nobody had ever seen anything like it, making the frenzied pre-crash market of 2005 pale in comparison.The party came to a screeching halt when mortgage interest rates jumped over 2+ points (over 50%) in a matter of weeks. Suddenly, faced with sharply higher borrowing costs and uncertainty as to what that would mean for home prices, homebuyers hit the brakes. Sales slumped virtually overnight, dropping 30-50% depending on particular neighborhoods and price points. Prices cooled quickly from their early spring zenith, although they…
The Right Way to do a Price Reduction …
I often tell my clients that one of my most important jobs as a REALTOR is to help the seller set the right list price for their home when they put it on the market. However, the house doesn't belong to me - it's their house, and ultimately, they set the price at which they want it put on the market. And, to be honest, I am not infallible, and on rare occasion the price that I recommend turns out to be too high in retrospect. Whatever the reason, the truth of the matter is that doing price reductions are a fact of life for any long-experienced REALTOR like myself.But how do you know when you need a price reduction? …
Sell for 21.3% over the Zillow Zestimate
a blog post last week, I highlighted the San Jose Mercury News article about the 17.3% spike in Bay Area home prices in March. That's an eye-catching number, but it's important to understand that the increase they cited was from February 2023 to March 2023 - or, month-over-month versus year-over-year.The fact that prices rose so much in a single month is really only interesting in that it was the first month since April of 2022 that we have seen any month-over-month price increases in the Bay Area. However, year-over-year, prices were down in the Bay Area on average between 8 and 14%. And then there's Santa Cruz, which was down a jaw-dropping 25% year-over-year in March.The final numbers for April aren't…
Sell a Fixer-Upper As-Is, Over Asking Price, With …
, I just wanted to share the story of a recent closing that I was honored to be a part of. My client was a lady who had inherited a home that she knew very little about. In fact, once we got inside the property and started looking at things, it quickly became evident that she knew even less about the home than she thought she did. For instance, the property had a concrete tile roof that was leaking. According to roofing industry experts, concrete tile roofs are designed to last for around 100 years. The property in question was only around 50 years old and was already leaking badly. Obviously, since the roof had been put on five decades…
Nailing the Sale in San Jose - a …
wanted to share a story with you which I think you might find interesting. It’s about a home in Los Paseos, which sold in December of last year: 7159 Via Corona. A nice home: 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, and about 1,750 square feet with a two-car attached garage.It’s a home the owners had purchased in 2019 for $910,000, but in late 2021, after only a bit more than two years as owners, they felt it was time for them to make a move.While exploring the idea of a sale, the owners considered several real estate agents, me among them. One of the agents was even a family member. After several months of going back and forth on the decision to…
The World's Greatest Realtor Award Winner
Sebastian "Seb" Frey is the The World's Greatest Realtor 2018 Award Winner! This prestigious award was granted to him by one of his clients upon the successful sale of their family home in Strawberry Park in San Jose, California. Closing gifts are common in the Santa Clara county real estate market, but it is unusual for a client to buy the agent a gift - usually, it's the other way around. So why did this homeowner go through the trouble and expense of getting a custom made closing gift for their Realtor?The World's Greatest REALTOR® Case StudyCathy grew up in a quiet, tidy neighborhood of San Jose. Homes in the neighborhood consisted of single level ranch homes built in the 1950's -…
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