Property Makeover in North Beacon Hill

How we helped our Sellers maximize their investment in a rapidly changing real estate market

Everyone loves a good before and after, and our most recent listing doesn’t disappoint. We're about to let you in on our secret sauce and walk you through our process to assess and spruce up a property for market. Buckle up! You're not going to believe this transformation.

A few months ago, we received a call from a potential client who stumbled upon us via Expertise.com (Alex was fortunate enough to be named as one of the top 38 real estate agents in Seattle earlier this year - an unexpected and hard earned award!) - they owned an investment property in North Beacon Hill and lived out of town, and they knew the property needed a little TLC. After interviewing with other Realtors, they ended up hiring our team because we "stood head and shoulders above the rest" when it came to both market expertise and vendor connections/management. They needed more than advice on how to prepare the condo for market, they needed us to take the reins and run the show, and run the show we did.

Step one is always to visit the property with the client to assess the needs of both the property AND the client. We paid a visit and noted the work that needed to be done, took a ton of “before” photos (our favorite part), and got to work creating a plan to meet the needs of the condo, the client's bank account, and the future buyer. And why would we consider the needs of future buyer? Welp, they're going to be the one buying the property! And if you want a buyer to pay top dollar, it's paramount to consider what's most important for them.

The one thing we knew would make the highest impact: fresh paint, always. Walls, ceilings, trim, doors, and baseboards all needed a fresh coat (or two). Next up: give the floors some love. New carpet in the bedroom and luxury vinyl plank over the painted concrete in the living and dining area to warm up the living space. 

The bathroom needed a full tub resurface, tile refinish, and sink replacement. When the tub and tile are in good shape like this one, resurfacing is a cost effective way to freshen your bathroom without the cost of tile work. (We used Miracle Method and highly recommend their services). As for the sink: Home Depot makes great all-in-one sink/countertop inserts that we love. They provide an instant refresh!

Once we nail down the big ticket items, we then move into the details. New light fixtures, faucets, hardware, and bathroom accessories make an incredible difference at a nominal cost. When we’ve gathered the bids and made fixture selections, we pull everything into a budget and design presentation for our client. We find that having a visual design plan helps our clients gain confidence in the money they will be investing in the project and begin to see the vision of the project and the final outcome. Our goal is always to eliminate stress and make this process easy for our client while minimizing costs and maximizing proceeds.

After approval of the budget, it’s go time! We schedule and manage the contractors/work, check in regularly on progress, and keep the client up to date with exciting progress pictures. Timelines can vary, but in this case we were able to prepare a 700 square foot apartment in five weeks. The final budget landed right around $16,000 for all remodel/repair work (staging not included in this total).

The “after” photos are incredible, wouldn't ya say? Having spent so much time in the space, the condo truly felt like a completely new home. Because of these efforts, the home was under contract in 8 days and closed over the asking price. A huge feat in today’s market, trust us.

Taking the time to make the updates and repairs is paramount. Paint, floors, deep cleaning and fixtures make all the difference in the long run, and we love facilitating the journey for you.

We understand that not all of our clients are fortunate enough to have the cash on hand to invest in projects of this size and scope (usually this money is tied up in the equity of their home), but not to worry, we have a solution for that, too. We have great industry relationships with companies large and small to facilitate payment of services after you've sold your property. Want to learn more? Drop us a line at [email protected] and we'll tell you all about it.