Altura

Background and Challenge

Altura Townhomes was partially constructed in 2007 before the original builder defaulted and the bank took over.  Our seller was able to get the remaining unsold homes from the bank, and brought them to market with another agency at prices that were significantly under market value.  When the seller switched to Matrix Real Estate, the homes were poorly maintained and unfinished, so much so that some didn’t even have a certificate of occupancy.

If that wasn’t enough of a challenge, many of the homes had been leased up so they were tenant-occupied, and even at a first-time buyer’s price point were difficult to sell in that state.  So, Altura became a property to which our problem-solving team gave a lot of focus for different reasons.

Solution

To handle the maintenance issues, Matrix again teamed up with J. Taylor Consulting, LLC to manage construction issues. By coordinating important fixes in the original finishes of the homes, we were able to achieve certificate of occupancy and bring all homes to the market.

Next, we tackled the pricing issue.  The seller had previously advertised “blow out” prices, but based on Bothell-area sales analysis we saw more value in the homes. With newly finished and polished product, we were able to show buyers the value in our increased list prices, garnering an extra 8% to 10% for each home.

For tenant-occupied homes, we took a different direction. Co-listing broker Sarah Heath personally managed the process of showing homes and managing home repairs around tenant schedules. We offered special incentives for tenants to move out early and make way for buyers.  On some homes, we negotiated bulk sales with investment buyers who would continue to manage the homes as rentals with the same tenants intact.  This creative combination of strategies allowed us to sell at a much faster pace than usual.

Results

Even though there were many moving parts, Matrix was able to sell out the remaining 16 homes at Altura at prices 8 to 10% over the ten most recently closed homes in the community.