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The Science Behind the Sale
Time To Wait LaDoris and Steven Puryear needed four months to sell their house in Springfield, but they were in no hurry and got the original list price.
(Buyer's Advantage)
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Virbickas said the unit got a contract two days after the Back Door, a staging company and store in Arlington, came in to set up. "And they hadn't even finished yet -- the window treatments weren't even up."
O'Connell said that Virbickas suggested staging early on but that she and her husband, James Collie, had been reluctant to invest the $5,000 it would cost.
But the 1,600-square-foot unit, with two bedrooms and two baths, just sat at its original listing of $609,000. They cut the price $25,000. It still sat.
The unit was painted and cleaned after the renters left, but Virbickas thought it just didn't show well vacant. "It was hard for people to envision living there," she said.
In January, the sellers agreed to offer to pay six months of condo fees. Still no luck.
When the idea of staging came up again, O'Connell agreed. The staging cost about the same as condo fees would have.
The place drew a contract for $574,900 in mid-February; settlement is scheduled soon.
O'Connell said staging made more of a difference than she thought it would. "Kelly sent me pictures of what they had done, and it looked really cute. They made it look really cozy."
And, she said, "of course, we're big HGTV fans and see those shows [on staging] all the time."
A Study in Patience
It took about four months for LaDoris and Steven Puryear to get a contract on their Springfield split-foyer house.
They had lived in the 30-year-old five-bedroom home for 13 years; it was their first house together. But their five kids were grown and LaDoris had always wanted a new house with a big open kitchen.
She was in no hurry, though, and she didn't want to buy until they had sold.
The house cost them $184,000 in 1994. Over the years, they upgraded it -- remodeling the kitchen and adding higher-end appliances, installing hardwood floors, adding a deck, updating the bathrooms. "We tried to do a major project every year," she said.
They knew there was a lot of competition to sell, and they didn't want to slash their asking price to draw in buyers. "We set what we thought was a good price," she said.
They got their list price of $549,000 at settlement last month, but they also contributed $16,000 in closing costs.
Their agent, Wayne Lee of Buyer's Advantage in Woodbridge, said they received four bids.
LaDoris Puryear, who sells custom window treatments from a home office, said the deal worked well, because she got the new home she had always wanted for a good price. "We offered closing help to our buyers because we got closing help on our new home" in Manassas, which was available because the builder's contract had fallen through.
She did have one regret, though. "We bought a custom double door for the house a year ago. If I'd known we were going to sell, I would not have bought that door."
