Helping Clients Build Wealth | Washington DC Row Homes

Last year, we represented the sellers of 6 DC row homes. Four of these sellers purchased these row homes, within the last two-three years, using Glass House. What made it so rewarding for Glass House to represent these sellers, was helping them find and build equity that allowed them to buy their dream home within a short time. “The how” they were able to do this is very important to their success and where Glass House shines. Here is how we were able to help our clients:

Look past the current occupants

We help our clients look past clutter, the homeowner’s personalization, and cosmetic updates that are needed. These items can be a deterrent for many buyers, which means that these homes linger on the market for a long time, enabling Glass House to negotiate a great deal for our clients. 

Understand the True Potential

Buyers are afraid to buy a house that needs a little work. Perhaps they do not see the vision to easily add another bedroom, open a wall, or paint and refinish hardwood floors. Further, buyers tend to overestimate the time and financial commitment needed to make these valuable improvements and will walk away from the house. Since we have a rich background in construction and home improvements, we can help buyers find hidden value and accurately predict the cost and time needed to yield that return. Home improvement is an area where homeowners can really create equity in their home.

Buy Low

We are relentless negotiators. Relentless! We spend a significant amount of time reviewing comps to determine home values. Further, we conduct due diligence on the listing agent. We understand their sales’ strategy, examine their sales’ history, and look to see when and how much they were willing to negotiate on home sales in the past.  Often we have a history with the listing agent. This relationship allows us to push the price down. Additionally, we are experts at reading, understanding, and negotiating home inspections. Often, we are able to leverage home inspections to better the deal for our clients, as we know the true cost to repair items.  

Shine the Best Light

We employ the same strategy to help buyers get the best deal that we do to protect our sellers. We look for small but valuable updates that have huge payoffs and ultimately drive up the value (and price) of the home. We begin with our professional stager to get an unbiased recommendation. Glass House then takes the lead on coordinating the recommended edits with our home improvement team, which is capable of painting, carpeting, and making minor repairs. Turnaround time for these home improvements is typically less than a week, allowing our sellers to get on the market quickly. 

Ready to Sell? Sell High 

Since we have helped our sellers garner the most value from their home, when they are ready to list, even within a couple of years of buying, our sellers’ homes have been repositioned and appeal to discerning buyers that are willing to pay more. We conduct our due diligence to look at the market for the best home comps and push prices accordingly. We are confident in our pricing, stand by our numbers, and never push our buyers to settle.

Multiple Offers

Navigating multiple offers takes lots of experience. We spend an extraordinary amount of time following up with showing agents, so we know what to expect and communicate these expectations extensively with our sellers through constant contact. Once offers come in, we spend time discussing each offer with the buyer agent to gauge the seriousness of the buyer and their qualifications. During this time, we also gauge how much room there is to push up the offer or better the terms, and ultimately, we use the leverage of multiple offers to get the best outcome for our clients. 

Our results 

308 Florida Ave NW 

• Purchased Sept 2018 $600,000
• Sold May 2019 $899,000
• $299,000 Gain

728 6th St SE

• Purchased Jan 2017 - $750,000
• Sold Dec 2019 $850,000
• $100,000 Gain

4005 13th St NE 

• Purchased April 2015 $515,000
• Sold May 2019 $831,000
• $316,000 Gain

732 13th St SE

• Purchased Nov 2016 $660,000
• Sold August 2019 $820,000
• $160,000 Gain

1738 Park Rd NW #3 - $755,000

• Purchased July 2014 $680,000
• Sold Dec 2018 $755,000
• $95,000 Gain