Category: Information for home sellers

After living in their Rye home for over 42 years, Peter and Nancy were ready to retire. They had their sights set on South Carolina. It was late winter, 2021, when they started looking for homes in the south, and interviewing Rye realtors to help them sell their Oakland Beach Avenue home.

“It was our first experience going through this. We wanted to get a great price for our home, of course, but we had a lot of concerns and were nervous about the process,” said Nancy. The couple thought they would need to make some minor repairs and cosmetic enhancements to their home before selling, so they were also looking for recommendations on the best way to prepare it for listing.

They researched real estate agents, narrowed their list to a few brokers of interest, and scheduled interviews. They met Fiona and immediately felt at ease.

“Fiona was the best fit for us,” explained Peter. ”She had a great track record in terms of sale prices. She was professional. We liked what she had to say about how she would prep our home. She had a plan. Plus, we liked her! She listens. She’s personable. We felt we could trust her. It was like having a family member give you good advice.”

Fiona’s recommendations included getting a pre-listing inspection and planning a series of repairs and renovations to the 100-year-old home. With a lifetime of belongings to sort through, the couple had their work cut out for them. But it was less overwhelming with Fiona by their side, according to Nancy.

“Fiona had a plan. She was so smart and helpful. She considered our budget and told us what to do and what we could skip. She had our best interests in mind.”

Timing was critical. The couple closed on a home in South Carolina last April and planned to put their Rye home on the market in May. Their adult son was living in their Rye home because of the Covid pandemic. Work was just getting underway to get the home ready for the market.

“Fiona was a huge help,” said Peter. “We were moving out of state and really had to rely on her. She told us she could handle everything for us if we moved.”

And she did. Fiona researched available apartments in Westchester to help their son find a place to live. She contacted painters and electricians and tile installers. She arranged for work crews and met them at the Oakland Beach home to let them in and ensure work was completed. She contacted an engineer to help with plans for the driveway.

“Fiona’s network came through for us — her contacts, her resources, her relationships. They were reasonable. She knew our goals and they understood them,” said Peter. “She and her team did everything they could to make our home appealing to buyers. We never would have gotten the price we wanted if not for Fiona.”

In real estate, we often hear what matters most is “location, location, location.” There’s another element about finding a home that buyers care about very much. Price. If a home is priced beyond their budget, they won’t even take a look.

Thus, one of the questions I get asked most often is “What is the best price to list my home for sale?” Should we price it below market value in the hopes it will sell quickly? Start out higher and drop if no buyers bite?

My answer? It depends. Getting a great price for your home requires a sound strategy, customized to your situation. It also requires careful preparation so that your home is in tip-top shape before going on the market.

Data and decluttering

My best advice is to plan to work with an experienced realtor, one who has an in-depth understanding of the current market. A recent client, Patrik J., of Rye, said receiving current market data and objective advice was tremendously helpful in preparing and pricing his home for sale.

“We had a laundry list of things to do to prepare our home for the market,” he recalls. “Fiona went through our house and gave us a to-do list, including changing out the countertops and a major decluttering. It was a comprehensive list to make the house presentable. When you’ve lived in a house for a long time, you no longer have a critical eye. So Fiona’s advice was critical. Well, we accomplished most of what was on the list. I have to say, the newer look was much nicer, fresher, cleaner.”

My recommendations put my client way ahead of the competition. While Patrik working on his house, I was analyzing comparable listings, pending sales, active listings, and other relevant real estate data. I presented the information to Patrik and his wife and we discussed strategy. Their objective was to price the house well — and to price it to sell. We did our homework and set an attractive price that reflected the home’s value and the current local market conditions.

After the house was updated and refreshed, we set an optimal price and listed their property.

“We had three bids in the first week,” Patrik notes. “Our accepted offer was close to the asking price. We trusted Fiona’s recommendations and that really worked out well for us.

“What’s great about working with Fiona? She is a pro. She knows what it takes to sell a house and will tell you what she thinks. She had a really good understanding of the market and how to prepare an older house for sale. I don’t know any other brokers who are that hands-on.”

Interested in selling? Contact Fiona for a consultation.

When the Covid pandemic hit last March, Susan Watson decided to quarantine with her life partner to avoid traveling back and forth from her own home amid the uncertainty of the novel coronavirus. As she learned that more and more families were looking for space outside of New York City, she knew it was a good time to rent her vacant home on Central Avenue in Rye. But she’d have to clean it out first. Susan had moved into the house seven years earlier, consolidating the effects of a large home and a smaller city apartment into one space. Despite several New Year’s resolutions, the attic and the basement were still full and the thought of getting her home ready for the market was overwhelming.

“I’ve bought and sold homes nine times, so I knew there was a lot to do to prepare,” she explains. “I talked to Fiona, who is so knowledgeable and confident in her approach. I’m smart enough to know when I am getting expert advice, so I followed hers to a ‘T’,” Susan said. 

Fiona provided her with a guide to decluttering her home and a roster of contacts for painting, window washing, landscaping, and more. With Fiona’s to-do list in hand, Susan secured a dumpster and emptied the house of older, heavy furniture and clutter, made minor repairs, changed light fixtures, and improved the landscaping. “Fiona has experience in building and construction, so she really understands the ‘bones’ of a house and what improvements needed to be made. She also had all the contacts I needed to get everything done.” 

‘An expert by my side’

As Susan was looking for a long-term tenant and wanted to better understand who the potential renters might be, she turned to Fiona to educate her about the rental market, as well as landlord and tenant obligations. Fiona also advised her on the appropriate price, and, after the offers came in, guided her through the review of each potential renter’s financials. When renters made demands, Fiona gave her confidence to be able to say “no” to the ones that wouldn’t work for her.

“Being a businesswoman myself, I could have figured all of this out. But I knew I had an expert at my side. Things went a lot faster with Fiona at the helm.”

Three weeks after the home went on the market, there were three competing offers. 

“That put us in a great position, because we were able to negotiate,” noted Susan. 

Susan said she had a lot of choice when it came to realtors she could work with in Rye. She selected Fiona because of her expertise and professionalism. “Fiona approaches real estate with real business acumen. It is not a hobby for her. It’s business. It’s her profession.”