{"id":6253,"date":"2018-11-05T16:56:48","date_gmt":"2018-11-06T00:56:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?p=6253"},"modified":"2024-05-28T10:49:10","modified_gmt":"2024-05-28T17:49:10","slug":"berkeley-ca-home-sale-success-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/berkeley-ca-home-sale-success-story\/","title":{"rendered":"The Right Real Estate Agent Makes a Difference. A Berkeley CA Home Sale Success Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Terry Leake inherited his grandparent\u2019s house in Berkeley, California, he had a big decision to make.<\/p>\n

Sullivan and Viola Mosely purchased the house in 1954 for only $14,000. Over the course of 60 years, their children and their children\u2019s children watched the neighborhood transform.<\/p>\n

Recently, the area\u2019s real estate market skyrocketed. The average home sale price hit an all-time high of $1.33 million in 2018, according to historical real estate transaction data<\/a> gathered by HomeLight.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\"success<\/a>
The house Terry Leake inherited sat in a prime location\u2013\u2013between the Berkeley Bowl, bart station, Whole Foods market, and University of California, Berkeley\u2013\u2013where the average home sale averaged $1.33 million in 2018, according to HomeLight data. (Photo Credit: OpenHomesPhotography.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI doubt they could have known what would have grown up around it,\u201d Terry said. \u201cIt was just dumb luck the house was in its location.\u201d<\/p>\n

He knew he wanted to sell the house. He knew the house would sell. And he knew he stood to make a sizeable profit.<\/p>\n

But the big decision was: how could he sell an heirloom that had been in his family for over 60 years for the most<\/strong> money possible?<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was an unspoken instruction of, \u2018Don\u2019t squander this opportunity, don\u2019t lose the house to creditors, and know what the house is worth,\u201d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On one side, stood Daniel Winkler<\/a>\u2014a top real estate agent with 29 years of experience who, on average, sells homes for 9% over list price.<\/p>\n

On the other side, stood a friend\u2014a local real estate agent who Terry had known for years and felt he could trust in the sale of his most prized possession.<\/p>\n

Against HomeLight\u2019s recommendation, Terry chose his friend.<\/p>\n

\"homelight<\/a>
Terry and his real estate agent, Daniel Winkler, made minor repairs and updates to maximize the home’s value. (Photo Credit: OpenHomesPhotography.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She wanted to list the house for the same price as Daniel, anyway. But, as they prepared to list the home, Terry started to notice some major red flags.<\/p>\n

“She was very inconsistent. It was as if she had someone else in her ear, giving her conflicting information,\u201d Terry said. “After I\u2019d push back, she\u2019d come around to my side, but it was like pulling teeth.\u201d<\/p>\n

The agent told Terry to list the house as a fixer-upper and advised him against painting, refinishing the floor, or any other minor updates.<\/p>\n

As the owner of a local window business and a designer by trade, Terry knew minor repairs could increase the home\u2019s value<\/a> and attract more buyers. But his real estate agent didn\u2019t listen.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery step of the way was hard with her. She didn\u2019t make it easy,\u201d he said. \u201cShe also scheduled her vacation right in the middle of my listing timeframe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Between her unprofessional manner and skeptical marketing strategy, Terry came to realize that he needed more than the average real estate agent to sell his home for the highest price possible.<\/p>\n

He couldn\u2019t bear to sell the house for less than it was worth, not only because it would decrease his profit but it would dishonor his late family\u2019s wishes.<\/p>\n

\"homelight<\/a>
Terry Leake, holding pictures of his mother, Minnie (left), and his grandparents, Viola and Sullivan Mosely Sr. (right), who purchased the Berkeley home for $14,000 in 1954.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So, he called Daniel Winkler, the top real estate agent he had originally turned down, and found qualities that he didn\u2019t know he needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIntegrity. Being trustworthy enough to entrust them with the sale of a family heirloom. Responsiveness. Knowing I could count on them in the middle of the process, and bounce ideas off them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Terry fired his real estate agent<\/a>, called HomeLight, and immediately hired Daniel. With Daniel\u2019s confidence, experience, and compassion, he helped Terry prepare the house to sell to make the most money possible.<\/p>\n

Daniel knew the buyers in the market well\u2014after all, he handles over 50 home sales a year in the area\u2014and agreed that cosmetic updates would appeal to more buyers. Plus, as Terry hoped, the property would appeal to growing families looking for their forever home.<\/p>\n

\u201cDaniel encouraged me to paint what I could and present a complete package,\u201d Terry said. \u201cHe estimated the house could sell for a range between 1.2 million and 1.3 million.”<\/p>\n

After the repairs were complete and the original details of the historic house maintained, Daniel executed his proven marketing strategy, staged the house and took professional high-quality photos for the listing.<\/p>\n

The house sold for 18% over the initial asking price.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He inherited a million-dollar home in one of the nation’s most expensive markets. Luckily, he realized his huge mistake before it was too late. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":6260,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[581,238],"tags":[582],"class_list":["post-6253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-case-studies","category-working-with-agents","tag-case-study"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAgent Matters: A Berkeley CA Home Sale Success Story<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"He inherited a million-dollar home in one of the nation's most expensive markets but turned it into a Berkeley CA home sale success story.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/berkeley-ca-home-sale-success-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Right Real Estate Agent Makes a Difference. A Berkeley CA Home Sale Success Story\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"He inherited a million-dollar home in one of the nation's most expensive markets but turned it into a Berkeley CA home sale success story.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/berkeley-ca-home-sale-success-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"HomeLight Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gohomelight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-11-06T00:56:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-05-28T17:49:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/hl-blog.homelight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/featured-client-success-story--scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Corinne Rivera\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@corinnevrivera\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gohomelight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Corinne Rivera\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Agent Matters: A Berkeley CA Home Sale Success Story","description":"He inherited a million-dollar home in one of the nation's most expensive markets but turned it into a Berkeley CA home sale success story.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/berkeley-ca-home-sale-success-story\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Right Real Estate Agent Makes a Difference. A Berkeley CA Home Sale Success Story","og_description":"He inherited a million-dollar home in one of the nation's most expensive markets but turned it into a Berkeley CA home sale success story.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/berkeley-ca-home-sale-success-story\/","og_site_name":"HomeLight Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gohomelight\/","article_published_time":"2018-11-06T00:56:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-05-28T17:49:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/hl-blog.homelight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/featured-client-success-story--scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Corinne Rivera","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@corinnevrivera","twitter_site":"@gohomelight","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Corinne Rivera","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":["Article","BlogPosting"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/berkeley-ca-home-sale-success-story\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/berkeley-ca-home-sale-success-story\/"},"author":{"name":"Corinne Rivera","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c4c51db85b7df7b81db435ba37ad2712"},"headline":"The Right Real Estate Agent Makes a Difference. A Berkeley CA Home Sale Success Story","datePublished":"2018-11-06T00:56:48+00:00","dateModified":"2024-05-28T17:49:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/berkeley-ca-home-sale-success-story\/"},"wordCount":788,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/berkeley-ca-home-sale-success-story\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/featured-client-success-story--scaled.jpg","keywords":["Case Study"],"articleSection":["Success Stories","Working with real estate agents"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/berkeley-ca-home-sale-success-story\/","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/berkeley-ca-home-sale-success-story\/","name":"Agent Matters: A Berkeley CA Home Sale Success Story","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/berkeley-ca-home-sale-success-story\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/berkeley-ca-home-sale-success-story\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/featured-client-success-story--scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2018-11-06T00:56:48+00:00","dateModified":"2024-05-28T17:49:10+00:00","description":"He inherited a million-dollar home in one of the nation's most expensive markets but turned it into a Berkeley CA home sale success story.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/berkeley-ca-home-sale-success-story\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/berkeley-ca-home-sale-success-story\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/berkeley-ca-home-sale-success-story\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/featured-client-success-story--scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/featured-client-success-story--scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707,"caption":"featured client success story"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/berkeley-ca-home-sale-success-story\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Right Real Estate Agent Makes a Difference. A Berkeley CA Home Sale Success Story"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/","name":"HomeLight Blog","description":"Real Estate Advice from America's Top Agents","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"HomeLight","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/logo-hr-color.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/logo-hr-color.png","width":1348,"height":262,"caption":"HomeLight"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gohomelight\/","https:\/\/x.com\/gohomelight","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/homelight\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCimugR9XF17-OZ7B9fNnxWw","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/HomeLight"],"description":"Everything you need to know to sell your house faster and for more money. Articles, guides, and advice from top agents all over the U.S.","email":"support@homelight.com","telephone":"(888) 688-0350","legalName":"HomeLight","foundingDate":"2012-01-01","numberOfEmployees":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","minValue":"201","maxValue":"500"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c4c51db85b7df7b81db435ba37ad2712","name":"Corinne Rivera","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f9c6f26412d64ab8e476e916bc4661d36b551a346dd49fb52cd73838443531d9?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f9c6f26412d64ab8e476e916bc4661d36b551a346dd49fb52cd73838443531d9?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Corinne Rivera"},"description":"Corinne is a journalist with a passion for real estate, travel, and visual arts. She has a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism from San Francisco State University. When she\u2019s not creating content, you can find her exploring open houses, watching HGTV, or redesigning her apartment... again.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.homelight.com","https:\/\/x.com\/corinnevrivera"],"url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/author\/corinne-rivera\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}