Patience, Persistence and a little Pinor Noir ....

This week marked the closing of a deal a loooooooooooooooooong time in the making. My listing on Barnhill Marina is now SOLD! When I first sat down with my Seller, over two years ago, I told her these homes will sell within 1 week or it will take a year or more. Well, I guess if nothing else, I have the satisfaction of being right!

Okay first of all, yes you read that right; the home had been listed for more than 2 years before it sold. This lends to the question, “Why in the world would I be sharing this information with anyone, much less on my blog???"  Simple, I'm actually quite proud of the process and the results. You see when I made the statement about how long it would take to sell, I was being quite sincere. Floating homes are a specialized property. In the best of markets, the actual buyer pool for these homes is quite limited. Needless to say, the last few years would clearly not be defined as one of the best markets!

Now that's not to say there aren't a lot people interested in seeing these homes. I wouldn't be exaggerating to say I probably handled 250-300 inquiries on this home. First you go through the routine - buyers need to put at least 20% down; interest rates are 6% variable, 7.5% fixed; monthly berthing fees start at $450; homeowners are responsible for insurance and utilities; rentals are not allowed and finally, yes it really is a home floating in the water. That usually removes the first time home buyers, investors and the curious. For those still interested, you get to set an appointment for a showing. The marina requires the listing agent to attend all showings, so I probably visited the home about 100 times. Fortunately I love visiting the marina, but it is very time consuming, especially when you consider showings take about 45 minutes on average.

Now it goes without saying, when the buyer - now owner - walked through the door and immediately knew this was her house, I was thrilled! Not only because I knew I'd be updating my listing from active to pending, but because I knew she would really enjoy the home and marina living, and the deal would close!

So why am I proud of all this? Because throughout the two plus years this home was listed, I kept my client informed about the market, recommended price changes reflective of the times, kept her realistically optimistic without building false hope and when I told her I just put a buyer into a floating home that was on the market less than a week, she congratulated me and told me I was a due for an easy deal! That's when you know you've done a good job!!!!

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Buy Your Tickets Now!!!!  

Friday, November 12th, The Sun Kings and DJ Peter Fletcher are sponsoring a fabulous night for the Alameda Education Foundation; All Together Now! Doors will open at 6pm at Antiques By the Bay. Good food, good fun, good friends, GREAT CAUSE. There will be dancing in the aisles and I dare you to last the night without singing along to those classic Beatles songs incredibly performed by The Sun Kings. Tickets are $40.00 and proceeds will support Music, Arts and Drama in our schools. You can buy tickets online by clicking the link above or e-mail or call me, I've got tickets burning a hole in my pocket!!

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Tomorrow I head off to Ashland with a friend that's put up with me for almost 40 years!! We're visiting my folks and better be watching the game that gets the Giants in the World Series!!!  Have a great weekend!