I recently had the pleasure of representing the sellers at 1720 Mission Street, Unit 10 here in South Pasadena. This is a magnificent 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo in arguably the very best location in South Pasadena if you want to be close to everything. Located directly across from Garfield Park, the condo has sweeping views out of large picture windows of the park and also a large balcony with 180 degree Garfield Park views from the second floor.
After extensive market analysis we agreed on a listing price of $988,800. This was near the price of another condo which sold in the same building last year. Once we had arrived at the listing price – I set about doing everything I could to make the sale a success. Below are a few of those activities.
Signed all the paperwork ahead of time – including all the seller disclosures. By signing all of the seller disclosures in advance – we set ourselves up for a quick escrow. In this case it was VERY fast – just 7 days in escrow.
Prepped the property for sale – since the sellers were geographically distant, the responsibility for getting the condo 100% ready to show was on me. The first order of business was to get all the keys from the outgoing renters and restore the property back to its original condition after an extensive remodel 7 years prior. This included extensive deep cleaning and repair of numerous items. Once the condo had been deep cleaned and walls prepped – we painted the entire condo to repair wall damage and holes and give it a fresh appearance.
Brought in the staging furniture and took professional photos – I brought in a top-tier staging company that I use to make the condo feel both spacious and livable. The stagers nailed it with high end finishes and furniture, plus exclusive custom artwork. Everyone who saw the results was impressed. With the staging furniture in place I brought in my “go-to” photographer who has decades of results with luxury properties. The combination of a premium location and the amazing photos showing the livability of the property drove very high interest.
Marketed the property to the greatest extent possible – exposure is important with any property listing, and I used all the tools at my disposal including – “Coming Soon” marketing in the local publications to drive awareness and anticipation – a property description worthy of Hemmingway – and truly beautiful property brochures plus a floorplan to have materials for the Open Houses.
Social media exposure – I have been diligent in promoting properties via Instagram since its inception. The number of followers and pass along viewers that can be reached in a short period is phenomenal. Since I used to work in television and my son is a film school graduate – I love to tell the story of a property via video. This property had thousands of views on Instagram – and the vast majority of those viewers had already expressed an interest in South Pasadena real estate. Other techniques of social media include Facebook and Google. I’ve had great success with both.
Open Houses – I find that it’s imperative to have good and qualified traffic come through and actually see the property in person. My usual technique is to hold the property open for the first weekend, then have the following weekdays for private showings, hold another final open house over the weekend – and then offers are due the following Tuesday at noon. This pace allows everyone to find a time to visit the property before offers are due. I have a number of proprietary skills that I bring to the open houses visits. The visitors feel welcomed, at home, and relaxed.
The results – the property at 1720 Mission Street, Unit 10 received 5 offers. Four of those offers were all cash. All of the offers were above the asking price. I suggested that the sellers counter offer to all the potential buyers – this created a bidding war that ended in a price of $1.2 million. This was the highest price – by far – of any similar unit sold in South Pasadena. The property spent a mere 7 days in escrow. That’s a fast transaction!
The sellers were very gracious and beyond happy. We had exceeded all of their expectations for a high price and a quick and smooth transaction. If you are interested in selling a property and would like advice on how to arrive at the highest sale price – reach out to the top realtor in South Pasadena anytime. I would be honored to work together with you.
Derek
