We just sold this condo on Capitol Hill at The Morgan for 5% over asking after it had been on the market for most of the Fall of 2019. We were originally going to bring on the home in the early summer of 2019. As we were prepping the condo for the sale we discovered that the building needed to build it up its reserves so it could be financially viable for a traditional loan. Our sellers and other Diva Dwellers living in the building worked through the summer to get the financing in order in the building and built up the reserves. Meanwhile, Michael and Kim went to work on the actual unit giving it the traditional Diva Flair. Despite all of these efforts, the market was downright soft last Fall and the home did not sell. What is a Diva to do?
Kim and Michael knew there was pent up demand for homes on Capitol Hill they just were not ready to push play on their condo music playlist. So they took the home off the market in early November and waited until February to bring it back to the masses. While it was off the market they had the home repainted to make sure the home showed up online in its true glory and had it staged in a much more lux approach. And guess what? It worked!
Team Diva Just Sold the Morgan Condo on Capitol Hill for 5% over asking. That is the Diva Difference.
In this blog, we are going to go into detail how we approached marketing and selling the Morgan condo on Capitol Hill during a soft market. And how being constantly refreshing our approach will pay out big for our savvy Seattle home sellers.
Just Sold – The Morgan Condo on Capitol and the Team Diva Process
Getting the Morgan condo on Capitol Hill sold required a three-prong approach. First up was getting the building back into viable financing shape so anyone could buy the home with a conventional loan. The next part was to take this home from blah to wow for the video and photos. And last but not least was constantly focusing on highlighting the building and building a brand around why this is the best two-bedroom condo to buy on Capitol Hill.
Just Sold – Getting the Morgan Condo on Capitol Hill Into Viable Financing
Cheers to these gals and the other owners at the Morgan. They did the hard work to help the sellers get this home sold. The Morgan had just finished a massive re-piping project that had left the building with minimal money in their reserves last year. We knew that the low reserves would be a hindrance to getting traditional financings. One of the reasons we love this building is the fact that the owners are super involved. And two of our favorite Diva Dwellers lived in the home right below our sellers’ home. Below is an excerpt from the blog we wrote about why The Morgan was one of our favorite buildings on Capitol Hill.
The Morgan, in particular, has quickly become a favorite building of ours. The building is relatively small. Only 11 units. Which requires active engagement by the homeowners. In addition, the board has done an incredible job managing through some really difficult projects. They just recently finished a major planned plumbing project. No nasty galvanized pipes in this building. In addition, the current sellers of our new listing worked closely with the other owners to do the hard work of rebuilding the reserves after the plumbing project was completed.
Just Sold Condo on Capitol Hill – Going From Blah to Wow!
The Morgan was painted in a puce color that showed up as blah brown in the photos. In-person it looked fine. Unfortunately, once we launched with the original look last Fall we could tell there was an issue once we saw the photos come back. The home looked small and crowded with the one dark wall. Ugh! Thankfully our sellers understood the issue and agreed to have the wall painted when we took the home off the market last Fall. This last spring we had the fireplace and the back wall repainted and it made the living space look significantly larger.
Marketing This Capitol Hill Condo to Get It Sold
The inventory for condos is slightly down this year but not by a lot. There are a lot of beige boxes still on the market. We knew we had to refresh all of the marketing this Spring. The Morgan was one of the first homes we took through our new search optimization process. We have completely revamped our blog, photos, and videos to make sure it shows up where buyers are looking. And it worked! As soon as we hit the market our marketing took over and we sold the home for more money than we had it listed last Fall.
Here is how we tackled the marketing of the Morgan.
The Morgan Condo Had Its Own SEO Rich Listing Page
Majority of listing brokers use an off the shelf website or their brokerage’s site. Team Diva’s listing page has been used as a gold standard with other top producing listing brokers on how to market a home. Hands down the website allow an additional layer for us to get the message about this home to home buyers and their brokers. Check out the specific page here >
The Blog for this Just Sold Condo on Capitol Hill Told The Story of the Building and Details of the Home
For this particular home, we actually wrote two blogs. One specifically about all of the work the building owners had put in to make this building ready for the market. And the second blog was our new approach to providing educational and searchable content about why one should buy this particular condo.
The Morgan Condo on Capitol Hill – Getting the building in physical and financial health
Top Five Reasons to Love This Capitol Hill Condo – The specific details that make this condo and the location extra special.
The content was well received. It also helped us to tell the full story about this home’s journey to its new owner. And more importantly VERY FEW real estate agents blog much less know how to blog where it will capture people’s imagination.
Targeted Email Marketing to Our Extended Network and Savvy Seattle Agents
At the beginning of 2020, we completely revamped our email marketing to really help people get to know each of our new listings as they came on the market. Email marketing is still one of the best means of communicating with prospective agents who have buyers for a home and our own network of people. The new-look truly assisted in increasing the engagement which translated to feet in the door. Check out the email marketing for this home >
Team Diva’s Video Highlighted the Home and The Fact It Is Located in the Cool Part of North Capitol Hill
Kim and Michael have been slowly and surely honing a more YouTube friendly video presence for our home listings. Innovation and constant recreation are key strategies we employ throughout our business. Kim and Michael perfectly articulated why this home was amazing and that it deserved another look. Check out their video below.
The Results – Team Diva Sold This Home for 5% Over Asking in Five Days
Congratulations to our patient sellers and to the entire team that made this happen. On the first day of Kim’s vacation with her family, she was on the phone and negotiating multiple offers for this condo. The result turned into three offers with the final price being $556,000. This was a team effort by our listing team, the sellers, our Diva Dwellers who live in the building, and our amazing contractors who worked overtime to make this home ready for the new owners. We are so happy for everyone.
Chavi and Kim have been honing their home seller process and marketing prowess for years now. They understand the nuances of selling a unique home in Seattle. And in the story of the Morgan Condo on Capitol Hill, they also knew what it was going to take to take to transform a home without the ability to get traditional financing to a multiple offer stage. That is the Diva Difference. And they do it better than anyone else in the Seattle Home Selling market.
We are here to help. Our team understands that this process can take a year or two. And we are more than willing to give you a personalized plan to get the ball rolling. Feel free to contact us directly at thediva@teamedivarealestate.com or call/text 206-271-0264.
