The Sold Journeys: 111 6 Renaissance Square
Now our clients were doing a very typical search, entry level pricing - up to $500,000, and deciding on whether they wanted Vancouver or New Westminster. An important note, entry level is where real estate can differ the most between cities. A $500,000 condo in Vancouver is vastly different to a $500,000 condo in New Westminster. They wanted an outright 1 Bedroom too, none of these cheeky studios claiming to be 1 Bedrooms.
Welcome to our brand new series - The Sold Journeys. Yes, this is our first round at providing you, the reader, a true insight into the ongoings of a real life, real estate journey with our clients. We hope to shed some light on our actual process of finding a buyer their new home, or investment property, or a seller going from listing to SOLD!
Anyone who has followed us for a while now, probably knows we are not afraid of telling it like it is. You’ll still be able to expect the same honesty, as we plan to share the complete ups and downs of each process, along with some of the funniest moments, which are usually pretty entertaining.
Which brings us to our first episode - 111 6 Renaissance Square, New Westminster.
This one already started off with massive pressure. This lovely couple was referred to us by a couple of our clients (shout out SF and EF on that one!) Not usually a big deal, but this referral was their parents. On one side you know you’re doing something right when clients refer you to their parents, on the other side, the pressure is there to please the parents! After all, we are already indebted to the parents, as without them we wouldn’t have our clients… Moving on!
So in short, what did this one take to get from start to finish?
- 2 days of scheduled showings
- 9 showings total
- 5 rounds offers/counter offers
- Survival of a dungeon
- A LOT of behind the scenes driving - 172.2km to be exact, NOT including showings
- $231.24 bill from Superstore for Christmas Decorations
Now our clients were doing a very typical search, entry level pricing - up to $500,000, and deciding on whether they wanted Vancouver or New Westminster. An important note, entry level is where real estate can differ the most between cities. A $500,000 condo in Vancouver is vastly different to a $500,000 condo in New Westminster. They wanted an outright 1 Bedroom too, none of these cheeky studios claiming to be 1 Bedrooms.
Rather than sell our clients on one area over the other, we believe THEY need to make the choice that was right for them. So we started off by arranging two days of showings, one Friday in New Westminster, one Saturday in Vancouver. This avoids any buyers remorse, plus they get to compare the two, and genuinely see which works better for them.
Now New Westminster went pretty smooth as you could imagine. We viewed four properties, there were ups and downs of each, and then we came to 111 6 Renaissance Square. Now THIS is a sexy 1 bedroom. For those who don’t know, Renaissance Square is located on the Quay in New West. It’s a gorgeous little community area that makes you feel like you’re in Venice and surrounded by water wherever you go. Plus this unit was private, brand new renovation, two balconies, tons of light and a gorgeous view out over said water/quay. It really was something out of a TV show. As a bonus, I was confident we could negotiate price to not just their budget, but UNDER it. Boom this is the one, job done, LET’S GO!
Now New Westminster went pretty smooth as you could imagine. We viewed four properties, there were ups and downs of each, and then we came to 111 6 Renaissance Square. Now THIS is a sexy 1 bedroom. For those who don’t know, Renaissance Square is located on the Quay in New West. It’s a gorgeous little community area that makes you feel like you’re in Venice and surrounded by water wherever you go. Plus this unit was private, brand new renovation, two balconies, tons of light and a gorgeous view out over said water/quay. It really was something out of a TV show. As a bonus, I was confident we could negotiate price to not just their budget, but UNDER it. Boom this is the one, job done, LET’S GO!
Now we already had showings booked in Vancouver for the following day, so after some talk, we agreed the best move for them was to still go to those showings. Now to avert your memory, back up to my comment on entry level pricing being different in the two cities, remember? Well this level of entry in Vancouver puts you in some questionable neighborhoods. Now we had already confirmed with the clients, and they assured us they were OK with this and would not be put off. What happened four showings in? They were not OK with this and they were put off. THIS IS GOOD! When a client doesn’t know about a property, area or feature for sure, it’s important they see it and are given the chance to make the decision themselves. We are big believers in seeing property so you can know, not just what you like, but also what you don’t! A lot of REALTORS believe this is a waste of time, but it’s an invaluable part of the process for the client! Don’t let a morning/afternoon of work get in the way of a client being happy.
Now the Dungeon … On this particular day, the clients had brought the boss with them, their 7 year old Grandson. This happened to be the day we entered one property on Vancouver’s East Side. Heavy metal posters plastered all over the walls, various substance left overs on the counters, mattresses (that’s plural, yes) all over the place with mold, stacked garbage all over the unit, random piles of junk spread throughout, and a few questionable items I won't mention as this is a PG rated blog, and in true dungeon style, painted entirely black with black garbage bags as curtains, permanently shut. All on sale for the bargain price of $449,900! Naturally a 7 year old boy is in love and wants to touch everything they can get their hands on. Thankfully this little guy is extremely good and when asked politely (by us) not to touch anything he listened straight away.
The following 3 showings were not much better in truth. I’m pretty sure we even had a buzz going from the residue of marijuana smell we seemed unable to get away from. This only confirmed one thing, we wanted 111 6 Renaissance Square! YES, time to take action!!
After a few days of exhausting back and forth with the seller, we reached an agreement, and as promised, we made it under their budget, and negotiated a storage locker to be included too.
After a few days of exhausting back and forth with the seller, we reached an agreement, and as promised, we made it under their budget, and negotiated a storage locker to be included too.
Now throughout the subject removal process, the agent was being extra cautious due to Covid-19, which meant I was making all the trips for both agents from North Vancouver to New Westminster, hence the 172.2km of additional driving. This was on top of driving back and forth to all the aforementioned showings.
On one of these fateful drives, I decided to take my wife with me, mistake number one. Mistake number two was not remembering the Christmas Decoration display we would be driving past at Superstore. The journey there showcased the display to my wife, and by the journey back, she had made the decision we were going to buy Christmas decorations. Hence the $231.24 bill for Christmas decorations at 9:45PM on a Monday night. I take full responsibility, I should have known better.
From here, the rest went smoothly thankfully, and we were so pleased to hand over keys to our clients yesterday for their brand new home, it really is gorgeous! Naturally we got them a few goodies to enjoy as they first move in, and wine, definitely wine!
And with this, turned a referral into a happy client once more.
Jay Mcinnes
T: 604.771.4606
jay@mcinnesmarketing.com
Ben Robinson
T: 604.353.8523
ben@mcinnesmarketing.com