Real Seller Success Stories

No matter how many real estate market updates and predictions you read, abstract discussions about selling your home can only go so far. Reading real stories about real sellers working with real agents and having real success can work wonders to ease your mind about one of the biggest transactions in your life. During the notoriously slow holiday season, our team had some great success selling our clients’ homes in the Twin Cities region. We spoke with four sets of clients and their expert agents to gain insight into the experience of selling their home during the holidays, including the sellers’ motivations and concerns, our team’s winning marketing strategies and negotiation tactics, as well as advice directly from our expert agents about how to achieve your own success in the current real estate market.

Seller Motivations & Concerns

Every individual has different motivations for selling their home and concerns about the process, and our team knows exactly how to adjust the experience for each seller’s unique needs. Two of our clients this past December were selling their homes for personal reasons that they did not wish to disclose, and one client was moving to the West Coast to be closer to family. Our last couple was finally upgrading to their dream home and had been waiting a few years for a better market for buying – one where they could negotiate on price, have a full inspection, and have better terms overall than what we were experiencing in 2020 and 2021.

“The seller was worried about listing during the winter with all the snow and thought there was going to be a lack of action around the holidays.” – Dylan Welter, Expert Agent

Among all four of our sellers, each one had concerns about selling their homes quickly; they heard about the market shifting to be more favorable for buyers, and coupled with the slower winter season, they all had valid concerns about a lack of buyer demand.

“The sellers had an urgency to sell and getting top dollar in a speedy manner was of essence for them, all while juggling work from home schedules and young children.” – Cristina Edelstein-Skurat, Expert Agent & Team Leader

In addition to the market shift and seasonal challenges, our clients had initial concerns about selling their homes quickly to avoid prolonged disruptions in their work-from-home and family schedules. A few of our clients wanted to maintain the unique advantages of the strong seller’s market of the past couple years, such as receiving multiple offers and being able to pick the specific closing date that worked best with their timelines for moving. The final major concern was from our clients who were moving into their dream home; they were worried about double mortgage payments since they were choosing to buy before selling their previous home and wanted to sell as quickly as possible to avoid that additional monthly expense.

Selling Strategies & Outcomes

“Pricing the home right and having the best marketing plan and the guidance of an expert agent can allow you to still achieve your home selling and buying dreams!” – Rachel Smith, Expert Agent

While all our clients had justifiable concerns before starting the process of selling their homes this holiday season, the first meeting with their expert agent from our team put them at ease. We fully understand the importance of guiding you through the home-selling process, and we integrate a significant amount of research into our marketing and pricing recommendations. Our detailed marketing plans enable us to help our clients sell their homes for top dollar in the least amount of time while standing out from the competition.

It is never too early to start the process of selling your home; for three of these four homes, the clients started planning the sale of their homes early enough in the season for our team to take “green photos” of the exterior before providing staging advice for the interior of the home and before there was any snow on the ground. Unique to the winter real estate season, our team utilizes this strategy to showcase the vibrancy of the home’s yard and gardens and make the listings stand out from all the homes covered in snow.

In addition to well-researched pricing strategies and stunning architectural photography of the homes, our team of expert agents works hard to ensure that each home is sold as quickly as possible. Some of the tactics our expert agents utilized when selling these four homes include marketing the home within our team and brokerage prior to making the listing available to the general public, scheduling pre-market showings to confirm appropriate pricing of the home, and hosting open houses.

“We undercut the market value just a little bit to make the house look like a ‘deal,’ and it caused a surplus of interested buyers which led to 15 showings, six total offers, and just above market value in only three days.” – Dylan Welter, Expert Agent

In the current Twin Cities real estate market, properly pricing a home has the biggest impact on the amount of time it takes to sell. All four of these homes sold in a matter of days for over asking price and with competing offers. Instead of simply helping our clients select the most advantageous offer, our agents work hard to negotiate among all interested buyers to encourage more favorable terms, and for the clients aiming for a specific closing date, we were able to achieve that goal for them. While we are unable to share specific details for sales which are still pending, we can inform you that the one home with a finalized sale received 104% of the asking price with no contribution to the buyers’ closing costs. This home was located in New Hope, had a list price of $399,900 and sold for $415,977 after only three days of showings.

Advice from Expert Agents

“They knew the market had shifted, and they trusted us to price their home to get the most amount of activity and sell quickly.” – Rachel Smith, Expert Agent

For those with concerns about selling your home during the current real estate market shift, rest assured it is still a strong seller’s market, and our team can help you be successful and achieve your homeownership goals. While higher interest rates have pushed some prospective buyers out of the market, many buyers have been waiting for a more normal environment for purchasing their next home and are serious about submitting offers. When it comes to pricing and marketing strategies, the best thing you can do is partner with a knowledgeable real estate agent and trust them to guide you through one of the biggest transactions in your life.