{"id":17025,"date":"2020-06-02T11:44:21","date_gmt":"2020-06-02T18:44:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?p=17025"},"modified":"2021-07-16T10:01:58","modified_gmt":"2021-07-16T17:01:58","slug":"coronavirus-home-sale-success-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/coronavirus-home-sale-success-story\/","title":{"rendered":"They Were Hesitant to Sell Their Home During COVID-19. Then the Offers Came Rolling In."},"content":{"rendered":"

When Denver-area real estate agent Bob Maiocco<\/a> took a look at Brandi Spencer\u2019s Conifer, CO, home in February, he had a feeling it\u2019d be a quick sale.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe home is what I would call a \u2018bread and butter\u2019 home,\u201d says Maiocco, whose properties average just 6 days on the market before attracting an offer. \u201cIt\u2019s a three-bedroom, three-bath on an acre at the end of a cul de sac. It\u2019s really just the ideal listing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The core of Maiocco\u2019s listing strategy? A busy open house<\/a> with 50-100 attendants in a single day. Interested crowds prompt eager buyers to make offers quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why we went with him,\u201d Spencer explains. \u201cHe really likes to play off of the open houses.\u201d She and her husband had purchased their dream home nearby just a month earlier and were eager to sell the home fast.<\/p>\n

Spencer signed a listing agreement<\/a> with Maiocco, and they planned to bring the home to the market in late March. With a deep clean<\/a>, some touch-ups, and professional staging<\/a>, they went live with the listing.<\/p>\n

Then, on March 25, the state declared a shelter-in-place order until at least April 10.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was basically at the worst possible time,\u201d Maiocco explains.<\/p>\n

With a splashy open house out of the question, Maiocco was back to the drawing board.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
<\/a> Source: (daniel cristian \/ Unsplash)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018Should we wait to sell?\u2019<\/h2>\n

\u201cIt was stressful to not know what to do or how to approach this when technically no open houses and no showings could happen,\u201d Spencer says.<\/p>\n

Spencer and her husband went back and forth a few days, weighing their options. Some of Maiocco\u2019s other sellers were willing to wait until June to list. The route was tempting.<\/p>\n

In a pre-coronavirus environment, Maiocco had no doubt the property would sell for listing price, or above, after a single weekend open house. The property was in near perfect condition and is in high demand in the Conifer market, a community in the foothills of west Denver. But with in-person events off the table, would there still be buyer interest?<\/p>\n

Going forward with the sale<\/h2>\n

Despite these concerns, Spencer felt pressure to go forward with the listing \u2014\u00a0the home was already staged, and they had two mortgages to pay<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sat back and figured if people are stuck at home, maybe they\u2019re looking at homes online. We can at least get it online and get some exposure,\u201d Spencer reasoned.<\/p>\n

Maiocco\u2019s research came to the same conclusion. Through close monitoring of the MLS, he noticed homes in the Conifer market were still going under contract. \u201cThere was sort of this underground movement by buyers,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
<\/a> Source: (KAL VISUALS \/ Unsplash)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Putting a digital-only strategy into motion<\/h2>\n

Spencer\u2019s listing went live April 3, with all the online splash<\/a> Maiocco could muster \u2014\u00a0which was a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we weren\u2019t going to be allowed to have an open house, then it was going to be more dependent on the materials available online,\u201d Maiocco says.<\/p>\n

The listing included not only a 3-D walkthrough<\/a>, professional photos, and floor plans, it also had a virtual video tour. If people couldn\u2019t physically visit the home<\/a>, Maiocco made sure they felt like they were there from their computer. He even offered private virtual tours<\/a> to buyers who reached out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was the first agent in my area four years ago to use Matterport 3-D scanning,\u201d Maiocco explains. His interest in virtual showing technology was paying off.<\/p>\n

In addition to a highly visual listing, Maiocco continued to deploy online advertising through Facebook.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really doubled-down on my advertising spend on Facebook and YouTube,\u201d Maiocco says, pushing audiences to the online listing through still images and video since they\u2019d be less likely to stumble across it on a weekend stroll or out driving since everyone was in lockdown.<\/p>\n

Using Facebook Live<\/a>, he posted a video tour of the home and took out ads on the platform featuring the property. According to Maiocco\u2019s data, the Facebook Live video reached an audience of 35,403, and the stills 17,952. In Maiocco\u2019s experience, this was a dramatic increase in web traffic and views.<\/p>\n

Buyers were looking. It was just a question if they\u2019d make an offer on the home, sight-unseen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Managing multiple offers<\/h2>\n

The online-only strategy started to pay off towards the end of April. Spencer believes that coincides with the drawing close of the shelter in place orders. It might have been a belief that moving and closing would be easier at this time, or perhaps the buyers just really wanted the property.<\/p>\n

The home received several offers from buyers who wanted to purchase the home without ever stepping foot in it<\/a>. In the end, it sold for above its list price of $495,000. The home went under contract April 28, before shelter in place orders were even lifted in Colorado.<\/p>\n

26 total days on the market was \u201cpainstakingly long\u201d for Maiocco, who typically believes that if a home spends two weekends on the market and hasn\u2019t sold, it\u2019s overpriced. In these unpredictable times, \u201cthat no longer applied,\u201d explains Maiocco, \u201cwe were comfortable risking higher days on the market\u201d without considering a price cut.<\/p>\n

The home successfully closed on May 22, much to Spencer\u2019s excitement. Maiocco didn\u2019t attend the closing<\/a>, due to social distancing policies. Spencer and the buyer watched from their cars as the paperwork was signed and notarized. The closing was far from standard, but just like listing the home, all parties made it work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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