{"id":750,"date":"2009-06-24T10:00:01","date_gmt":"2009-06-24T14:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.realst8.crankpin.com\/?p=750"},"modified":"2009-06-24T10:00:01","modified_gmt":"2009-06-24T14:00:01","slug":"behind-the-scenes-one-south-bend-house-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.realst8.com\/staging\/9756\/real-estate\/behind-the-scenes-one-south-bend-house-sale\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Scenes: One South Bend House Sale"},"content":{"rendered":"

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5309 Larkspur<\/a> in Hermitage Estates was my family’s last home. We sold it in April 2009 after 180 days on the market. In that time, we went through a series of price reductions from a hopeful $175,000 to a more realistic $160,000. We had 20+ showings with almost uniformly positive feedback. But offers didn’t come and most of the potential buyers had to sell their house first, desired a larger backyard, or didn’t see the third bedroom as true bedroom space – it had French doors and was furnished as a home office. One couple came to the house three or four times but finally decided to pursue a distressed sale in a nearby neighborhood of newly built homes.<\/p>\n

But we prepped and cleaned for each showing, polished our online photos<\/a>, put out hundreds of flyers, made periodic price cuts and decorated the third bedroom as a bedroom and in the warmer Spring market received an offer and came to terms with the buyers.<\/p>\n

We didn’t get the price we hoped, or the price we would have commanded in 2007, but we did sell our house. Hermitage Estates has both houses and villas – which is a term used locally to define ranch homes with mandatory monthly fees for lawn care and snow removal. The villas sell more quickly than the houses in this neighborhood. This year there have been two sales in the neighborhood – our former house and one villa. There are two pending sales, both villas. There are three active listings, two houses and one villa. The houses still on the market have been listed for sale for eight and thirteen months. One is two doors down from 5309 Larkpsur.<\/p>\n

We closed at $158,000 and we paid $3,000 towards the buyers closing costs. That’s a true purchase price of $155,000.<\/p>\n

Of course there were expenses:<\/p>\n