There is an old saying that the top three most important things about real estate is location, location, location. I listed a home in the Biltmore area. It is a great example of how location makes a huge difference. The house was built in 1950, a spacious 1100SF with three bedrooms, two baths, 1 car carport plus a pool and spa. The interior was completely original right down to the crank out casement windows and pink tile in the bathrooms. Overall, it was clean and in good condition with the exception of the roof which had “reached the end of it’s useful life”. This is how home inspectors describe roofs that probably should have been replaced years ago.
Based on comparable sales (which was difficult as most homes had additions and were 300 to 400SF larger or more) we came up with a value with the caveat the buyer would probably ask for a repair allowance to replace the roof. The seller listed it a bit higher as she felt the location would support a higher price than my estimated value. The offers started coming in immediately. Unfortunately, all offers were significantly less than asking and much lower than my estimated value. Part of the problem was buyers and realtors were using the price per square foot of much larger homes to calculate the price of this significantly smaller home. They did not seem to understand when the square footage increases the price per square foot decreases. Most of the recent sales did not have pools but the buyers and their realtors did not add any value due to the age of the pool. Luckily, a home in the neighborhood with a pool and only a few square feet larger closed at the price of my listing. This was a great comparable and great news for the seller!
Shortly after the great comparable sale, I received over 30 offers on this home! Obviously, an acceptable offer was received. As expected, the buyer asked for a roof replacement allowance in addition to some other repairs. During the escrow period I continued to get calls from realtors and buyers asking if I thought the buyer was solid. Lesson learned is location is key when buying or selling real estate and having a comparative sale helps the buyers and realtors understand the value.