Alberto Zarro tells us about the sale of “C’Era Una Volta”

Do you remember the sale of the amazing farmhouse called “C’Era Una Volta”, signed on December 2020? After the interview with Nadia Aron, the buyers’ consultant, we are now going to propose you our interview with Alberto Zarro, the professional from the GE partner agency Rolling Hills who managed the vendors.

Welcome, Alberto. Congratulations on your recent success, the sale of “C’Era Una Volta”! would you like to tell us something about the sellers?

The ex-owners of “C’Era Una Volta” are an English couple, Adrian and Gillian. They purchased the house in 2006 and, after having renovated it, they lived in there till today. They were completely in love with the area, so they moved there with their daughters who studied in Montepulciano.

I met them some years ago, between 2013 and 2014, when we had just opened our agency, Rolling Hills. When we discovered that their property was on the market, we immediately contacted them!

Was the property on the market already?

Yes, it was already advertised by other agencies. As I said before, Jacopo and I personally knew the property, so we contacted Adrian and Gillian in order to understand if they would be interested in cooperating with us. I remember them being very happy about our proposition since they were not satisfied with the assistance received by the other professionals they were working with. Moreover, two dear friends of theirs, who had given us a sale assignment for a property in Montepulciano in the past and with whom Jacopo and I had gone along very well, warmly recommended our group.

In your opinion, which is the best feature of this property?

It’s position! This home is located on a hill in front of Montepulciano: if you have the luck of visiting it during summer, at sunset, it is hard not to fall in love with it. In the meantime, even if in the countryside, it is just 10 minutes from Montepulciano and Torrita Di Siena. Basically, it is precisely the same compromise that the majority of the clients are looking for.

Alberto, let’s talk now about the property estimate. What can you tell us about it?

When we signed the assignment for sale, we did not do a property estimate: we were not partners of Great Estate already, so we did not have The Best Price at our disposal. Then, in August 2020, “C’Era Una Volta” was entered in Realgep – the internal platform of our Network – so we made a detailed estimate of the house: the value highlighted by The Best Price resulted to be perfectly in line with the asked price (click here to discover more about it).

The decisive change happened when the owners decided to do some works to create a unique building: indeed, the house was initially divided into two apartments, and that created many difficulties for the sale. The estimate obtained thanks to The Best Price was fundamental to let Adrian and Gillian understand that those works would have influenced not just the price they could have obtained from the sale, but also on its timing by allowing them to sell it quicker. And so, it was. Once the works were ended and the price adjusted, the house was sold in 6/7 months.

Let’s talk now about the negotiation. Would you like to tell us something about it?

The negotiation was very easy. I would define it as… an engagement! Indeed, once the buyers – managed by Nadia Aron – visited the house, they immediately understood that this was what they were looking for. I remember that, at a certain moment, we received another offer for “C’Era Una Volta”. So, there was a kind of competition among the buyers. Michael and Britta, the current owners, were terrified by the idea of losing the home. We had to solve some small technical-urbanistic discrepancies: the end of the work for the unification of the house had still to be notified.

However, it was not a problem because all the papers were collected and shared with the buyers, who were aware of that since the beginning. So, once agreed on the price (not too different from the requested price of € 1.490.000), everything was very easy. We just had to wait between the moment of the preliminary contract and the final deed of sale signing.

To conclude, so, I would like to underline that The Best Price… hit again! Indeed, the difference between the estimate and the final price was basically nothing (read here our article about it).

Are you satisfied with the result obtained? Why?

I am very satisfied with the result obtained, especially because of the relationship we were able to establish with the vendors. We gained their trust during the time, so Adrian and Gillian were finally able to fully entrust themselves to us and, together, we could reach this “goal”.

Read also:

Adrian and Gillian: “Alberto, Jacopo, and the Great Estate Network are surely the best”!

Nadia Aron: “the best part of my work? Reading my clients’ satisfaction in their eyes”