Winning in Seattle’s Competitive Housing Market
Friday is here and it’s gratifying to look back at the many clients I helped this week. Their respective searches took us all over Puget Sound and each of their stories offers a glimpse into what it takes to WIN in Seattle’s competitive housing market, as well as what motivates different clients as they achieve their investment and personal goals.
Each story below highlights how I work tirelessly to achieve success for my buyer and seller clients. A few key strategies:
Offers with Competitive Terms
Smart Negotiation
Offer Creativity
Savvy Preparation
Stellar Communication
**MAGNOLIA BUYER** Referral client who was looking to purchase a smaller, single-family home a little farther away from the city but also great condos in the city so that he can keep his in-city lifestyle and be close to coffee shops, restaurants, etc. We found him a sweet spot in Magnolia, with great parks (including a dog park just around the corner) and beautiful walking neighborhoods all around for him and his two small Chihuahuas. We were also able to win in a non-competitive situation and maintain the INSPECTION CONTINGENCY, allowing us room to negotiate for imminent repairs. My client is super happy!
**RICHMOND BEACH BUYERS** Close family members who used to live within walking distance to my former home and our dogs are BFFs. Since my husband Caleb and I moved to Edmonds, we miss seeing them as often. They’ve been looking for a larger home and want to use their former home as a rental. It’s in a rezoned area near the new Shoreline Link light rail station – and density is increasing in those neighborhoods as a result. We found a great Richmond Beach home with peekaboo water and amazing sunset views, as well as a huge yard for their dog and they’ll now live approximately 10 minutes from us. Competitive situation, we beat out other offers on price by a sliver! This was where writing an offer in as COMPETITIVE TERMS as possible -- including offering a larger earnest money deposit and releasing it to sellers as nonrefundable -- was paramount and partially helped us win!
** SOUTH SEATTLE BUYERS** Repeat clients who are going to live in this beautiful new construction home with a rooftop deck and Mt. Rainer AND Mt. Baker views! They plan to reside there for a few years then use it as a rental investment. The home is walking distance to the Link light rail station and perfect for commuting. Since it was new construction, we negotiated a full-price offer and were able to negotiate seller credits so that the buyers could buy down their interest rate. CREATIVITY counted in this offer scenario!
** NEWCASTLE SELLERS** Readying this home for market involved a smart recipe of PREPARATION, landscaping, fresh paint, some repairs, a pre-inspection, deep cleaning, gorgeous high-end staging (after the clients moved out), and my expert NEGOTIATION skills. Most offers in this multiple-offer situation were in the same price range, but with good coaching, comp sharing, data sharing, escalation-trend analysis, and great COMMUNICATION with all of the competing buyers’ agents, I got a handful of them to improve their offers, ending with two buyers competing at the top price tier. Hundreds of thousands of dollars over the asking price later, my sellers are ecstatic!
If you’d like YOUR success story to be next, let’s connect! lara@lakere.com | (206) 240-5193
