Selling the Seaview Condo | A Very Diva 10 Step Process

The Divas just recently sold two condos in the Seaview for the highest price per square-foot since 2009! This certainly wasn’t just luck either — it was based on a very refined and Diva-tested 10 step process to divaliciousness. The most important part, though, is that we honestly love our homes and the Diva Dwellers that own them. For instance, we have had a long affair with the Seaview for its original Art Deco charm and surprising nooks, but most importantly the people who inhabit this unique spot in Lower Queen Anne are some of the savviest peeps.

As we said, just a couple of weeks ago both Seaview condos sold for top-dollar; certainly a welcome outcome for our Diva Dwellers. Unit #312 sold for just a smidge over asking price — WIN! And then soon after, Unit #215 set the record — ANOTHER WIN! Not too shabby for a ground floor, 354 square-foot studio condo, eh?

How did the Divas get such great prices for our Diva Dwellers in the Seaview Condo? We Divas pour our hearts and souls into every listing despite its size or price point. It is somewhat shocking to us that in this day and age there are still real estate professionals who use their iPhones to take photos, don’t counsel their sellers on how to best prep their homes, and generally don’t put a ton of effort into their listings. Sure, selling a house is easier in an up market like today, but why not put in a little effort and make your sellers LOTS of money?

Here is our 10 Step process to getting AWESOME offers for your home just like our folks at the Seaview:

Step 1 – Fix What’s Broken: Meaning everything possible needs to be fixed. Remove any barrier that a buyer might have concerns about. Tacky paint color – gone. Decades old wallpaper –gone. Broken fixtures – gone. Invest the time and energy and it will pay off for your seller ten fold.
Step 2 – Stage The Home: My favorite power gal, Erin, from Open House Staging has the Midas touch. Every home she stages sells like Retail Therapy’s underwear during gay pride. Still many sellers or agents do not think staging is important. Yes in this market the home might sell without it. But be honest. Selling is easy when the market is hot. Getting lots of buyers and top dollar is the key!
Step 3 – Professional Photography by John Wilbanks: Divas have talked in the past on how John’s photography is made for architecture. He does not photograph people. He photographs houses. The result being visually stunning photos of homes that make you want to go and visit them in person.
Step 4 – Stunning Print Marketing: People toss off flyers that looked mocked up in a Microsoft Word document. But they hold onto the print marketing that is interesting, professionally designed, and has stunning photos. Our print marketing is unique even by most professional organization standards. We want folks to visit the house and take away a stunning momento to remind them how it made them feel.
Step 5 – Short Video About the Home: Each Diva Dwelling tells a story. This season we have connected with up-and-coming filmmaker Alex Berry. Alex is adorable and knows how to intuit a Diva film with nominal direction. At The Seaview we told a story about this small yet fabulous Queen Anne building. There are so many special details that someone might miss on a quick visit. But they can be reminded of how lovely the building and the homes are by watching these short but quirky videos.
Step 6 – Highlighted on the Divas Custom Designed Website: Every Diva Dwelling gets its very own page that not only highlights the home but also the neighborhood. People want more than the house specs. They want to know about the hood they will be living in. Taking all of the great visuals and stunning marketing we build every listing into one page. The page on the site becomes the basis for our email marketing, social media, blogs, etc.
Step 7 – Targeted Email Marketing: Majority of agents just make a flyer and blast it out through their email list. We have a custom made email marketing template that is super cute, fun, and more importantly clicks right through to the fabulous Diva Dwelling listing on our website. We send the listings to folks who have sold homes recently in the area and our own cultivated base of Team Diva loving agents. Cause we try to give the love back as much as we get.
Step 8 – Social Media Hurricane: Everyone knows that we Divas have been nationally recognized for our interweb engagement. But there are still skeptics out there. Does Facebook really help to sell a house? Let’s just say Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. all have eyes. We Divas double down and pay for extra advertising to make sure our quirky fun posts are noticed by a very targeted market. At the same time we try to avoid the cheesy “look at my new listing” ad but instead shoot for something engaging that makes folks giggle and want to come to our open houses. We also roll out the social media in phases. First the listing on the webby, then some photos on Facebook, then the video, and then the blog. And of course, we also talk about the open house. By the time the open house rolls around the buyers are clamoring to take a peek!
Step 6 – The Blog: Our pal Marguerite, from Get Real Tacoma, really pushed this idea to us. Thanks Ms. Marguerite on the Street! We now do a specialized blog post for the listing. This helps with the Googles or as some folks call it – SEO for the home. And a little idea from our pal Stacie Staub, out of Live Urban Denver, is to use that blog to Pin those blog photos to your Pinterest site. Such a great idea. And once again, it all helps with the Googles!
Step 7 – Silent Talkers: We Divas help our buying agents out by being as organized as possible. Meaning – information regarding the home and the neighborhood are captured on snazzy silent talker and placed throughout the house. Hey, did you know of these great restaurants nearby? Oh and the house has a new roof.
Step 8 – Sellers Top Ten List of Diva Dwelling Goodness: Another trick we learned from our Coldwell Banker Bain family pal, Michael Ackerman, is to have the seller do a “Top Ten List” of their favorite things about the home. Buyers love these special touches. And frankly who knows more than the about the home than the seller?
Step 9 – Make the Buyer’s Agent Life Easy – Documents Online: All of the documents are online and easily accessible for agents to have productive conversations with their folks.
Step 10 – Old Fashion Real Estate Relationships: Majority of the power real estate agents are over the age of 50. They do really good business with nominal amount of Google presence. But no one puts deals together like these folks. And more importantly they have the vast majority of buyers and sellers. Real estate is and will always be a relationship business. These power brokers like to see us Divas in their homes on tour days. And we invite them lovingly into our Diva Dwellings.

Simply put we love our Diva Dwellings and our sellers who trust us to do the best job possible to get their home sold. Hence we roll out the red carpet with stunning visual marketing, lots of Google goodness, and old fashion real estate relationships. As a result we don’t just get the house sold – we attract great buyers and sell our Diva Dwellings for the best price possible. Happy buyers – Happy sellers! #ExpectMoreFromYourAgent