Jonathan wanted to sell his adorable hillside cottage in popular Echo Park, but there were a couple of challenges that came along with it.  It was a very small home; It had not been updated in many years, and a few things needed to be fixed; He needed to sell the home during a time when many buyers were leaving the market, due to high interest rates, lack of inventory and high prices; And lastly, his home was what we call in Northeast LA, a “Stairs Streets Home”. There are a number of homes in the hills of Northeast LA that were built in the early part of the last century, well before L.A. became a car town. The Stairs Streets are a network of stairs with homes off of them that can only be accessed by hiking up or down these staircases. You can’t just drive up to these homes, and of course, they do not have parking, much less driveways or garages. You can imagine this an immediate disqualifier for many Los Angeles home buyers.

Still, Ron and I knew there was someone for whom this quiet hillside gem would be perfect. Our challenge was to figure out how to make sure that person heard about Jonathan’s house. We started by crunching numbers and neighborhood variables, in order to find the right price at which to market this rare house. Ron and I approach every home from the standpoint that it is unique, and so requires a specific and individual approach to marketing it for the best and highest price. This home only solidified our approach even further. Once we came to a consensus on what sort of buyer/s were the perfect target buyers for this home, we set about the best ways to market to those types of buyers. In the meantime, we referred Jonathan to many of our contractors, who we have stayed in touch with over the years because they have given great service to our clients and have consistently been able to do quality work, quickly, and at reasonable prices. We also helped Jonathan to make sure the home was carefully staged, to appeal to our target buyers. Once the contractors had done their jobs, and with a good amount of sweat-equity on Jonathan’s part, we were soon able to have the home ready for it’s close-up. We had our professional Photographer and Videographer come in to shoot the home from every angle. We shot both stills and video, including drone shots, floorplans, and 3-D imaging. We then created a dedicated website for the home, where anyone could click on and see this charmer from all it’s most flattering angles. Lastly, we carefully planned the strategy for open houses and offers.

It may sound like a lot to do before a home even hits the market, but Ron and I are firm believers that, if you want to reach the most potential buyers and get the highest price for a home, every single thing should be in place before you put the listing on the MLS.

After all of this specific planning, we were able to find the perfect buyer for Jonathan’s home after all: He was a lovely young writer, who fell in love with the privacy of Jonathan’s home, and was happy to trade the lack of car-convenience for the quietude of this “Tree-House” retreat. He was also looking for a home that he could put his own stamp on – A home that he could remodel, one room at a time, exactly the way he wanted to.

In the end, we had found the perfect buyer for this home, the buyer was happy, and most importantly to us, Jonathan was happy.

If you’d like to find out how we can do the same for your home, feel free to contact us at any time.

Congratulations Jonathan, and thank you for putting your trust in us!

Brad & Ron