[LISTEN TO PODCAST]
PART 1
Many of you will recall Charles Smith, a top-performing agent and Pretoria Team Lead at Leadhome Properties – of the R13 million property sale in just under 26 days fame. We featured the sale in a weekly blog article on the Leadhome website. Some of you may have even been lucky enough to have bought or sold your home with Charles Smith, and have first-hand experience of this agent of change at work!
Well, he’s been at it again, having recently put together an astonishing and complicated deal which ultimately saw four – yes four high-end properties change hands, practically simultaneously and all in a very short period of time.
What is the secret to his success? We asked Charles Smith to share his personal insights into the logistics of this massive transaction.
“After the successful sale of the R13 million property, I received a referral for the sale of a property nearby. The owner had tried to sell the property over an extended period of time with another agency but had failed to sell. The Muckleneuk property was a contemporary home, tastefully renovated and built onto the side of the mountain, with great views. It also had Airbnb or guesthouse potential and the owner indicated that he had been looking to achieve a price of around R7 million. So I immediately conducted a proper valuation, taking into account the duration the property had remained on the market unsold, the prevailing market conditions and other factors. I valued it at R6,45 million.”
A fair fixed fee
“The previous agent’s commission was high, at around 6%, however, as our fees are far more competitive, just below R200,000 in fact, upon calculation, this would effectively put more cash back into the seller’s pocket. We had a nice chat and I gave the seller my honest advice and opinion. We decided to meet in the middle, listing the property at R6,6 million and test the market’s reaction, on the understanding that some flexibility may be required.”
A slow start
“It was a slow start. We marketed the property across all the digital platforms after considering the area demographic and target buyer profile. I also looked at our Leadhome database looking at properties in the area and surrounds in similar price brackets and profiles and I also deployed Facebook efficiently, via a sponsored ad, a location pin on the posting, and so on. After a few weeks in the market, with a very limited buyer pool at this bracket, we decided to drop the price to R6,5 million to draw some traffic to the property.”
The buyer
“We had a few viewings and were approached by a lovely couple with young children who were living in the Brooklyn area and were looking to upscale. The purchase was contingent on the sale of their two R4 million properties within a specified time limit of 45 days – one in Brooklyn and another in Waterkloof Ridge. A portion of the proceeds of this double sale would be earmarked as payment of the deposit and a bond would need to be raised for the remainder.”
The offer
“I love a challenge, I have sold a lot of properties in Waterkloof Ridge and Brooklyn, I have a large database of buyers, so I presented the offer to the Muckleneuk seller and happily, it was accepted. So here we are now with three linked transactions.
Then, the seller advises me that he too has made an offer on another property, which is also contingent on the sale of his property. So now we have four linked transactions.”
The sale
To listen to the full details of the sale in the podcast please click the play button above.
[LISTEN TO PART 2 – Anatomy of a quadruple linked sale – the clients weigh-in] where we ask the clients to share their personal experiences of this nail-biting multiple transaction.
Looking to sell or buy in Pretoria? Contact Charles Smith, Pretoria Team Lead, Leadhome Properties
