Seventy groups through the door, then $75,000 over asking, all cash.

The story

My sellers were ready for the next chapter. After years in the home, they wanted to downsize, and they trusted me to get it right. The first decision was the most important one, and it was the price. I priced it on the data, not on emotion. When you set the number where the market actually is, you create competition instead of chasing it.

The response told me we got it right. More than seventy groups came through in the first two days of open houses. That kind of traffic does the work for you. Buyers see the interest in the room, they understand the home is going to move, and the urgency becomes real. We were under contract within about six days.

The strongest offer came in at $75,000 over asking, all cash. Then we hit the kind of problem that ends a lot of deals. An old oil tank on the property needed to be addressed. This is where I think a deal is really earned. Neither side wants the sale to fall apart, so my job was to find the compromise that worked for both the buyer and the seller. We solved the tank issue with a path that protected my sellers and kept the buyer confident enough to move forward.

The lesson I take from this one is simple. Keep emotion out of the pricing and out of the problems that come up. Price to the data, present win-win solutions when issues surface, and you give your sellers the best shot at the maximum number. We closed at $590,000.