Our original estimate from Matt was 980k based on a very similar house down the road that sold for that amount. There was talk that 1.05M was possible I thought that was far-fetched though. We were up front that we are looking for a new house and that this estimate would determine our price range. So we set our finances at 960k to give us a buffer of 20k and bought a house based on getting that amount. We let Matt know we were now on the clock to sell this house before the one we bought settles. Matt ran a campaign of 4 weeks ending in an auction. The first open home he left the key to the house at the office. After the second week and after a little pressure from buyers Matt set the price guide at 950k, 30k below what we originally discussed and started getting offers of 940k. Not being realtors ourselves we let him proceed, maybe it's all part of the plan to hit 980k... but I was worried we'd not get the right group of buyers. We were very close to getting 975k in the 4th week, but the buyers pulled out at the last minute and didn't attend the auction. We re-did our finances to try and get more breathing-room but we actually made a mistake originally, and the new financing set our lowest sell price now to 969k. More than the 960k we thought. At auction the best bid was 940k which would put us 29k in the hole if we accepted. We passed it in on a vendor bid of 970k. Matt went on leave after the auction. With the house now advertised as 970k we got an offer of 980k a week later from buyers that wanted a short settlement. We accepted, it was exactly what we needed. Matt came back from leave and helped negotiate terms during the cooling off period. Matt was friendly, professional and upfront about everything. The results he provided were just disappointing, maybe that's just how the market was at the time. We also noticed after a few open houses that the side gates weren't closed properly, and the front window facing the street was left open at one stage.
Matthew Callus
