Stefano Petri analyses the sale of “La Vista Su Todi E Montecastello”

The sale of “La Vista Su Todi E Montecastello” offers the occasion to do important considerations about some of its fundamental aspects, i.e. the property estimate, the need for a due diligence, and lot more. Our interview with Stefano Petri, the CEO of Great Estate and the sellers’ consultant.

Welcome, Stefano. Could you tell us something about the vendors of “La Vista Su Todi E Montecastello”?

Sure! They are an Italian couple from Rome. They purchased the house about 30 years ago and used the property as their holiday home. They contacted us in 2018 through Ville&Casali, the famous Italian magazine of furnishing and lifestyle that represents one of the most historical and important communication channels used by Great Estate for its brand visibility. Indeed, this magazine, within its reportages, has often interviewed our CEO. I remember that since the first visit I made at “La Vista Su Todi E Montecastello”, I was amazed by the place; its strength is surely represented by the LOCATION, with an incredible view on the Umbrian hills, halfway between Todi and Montecastello Di Vibio.

In 2018, was the property on the market already?

Yes, and with an important agency for a value of about 1,6 million euros.

What can you tell us about the property estimate?

In 2018, I presented to my clients the estimate I did through The Best Price. It was about € 900,000.00, but they were not happy with that. However, I tried to let them understand the reasons for this estimate, suggesting them so to enter the property in the market at a maximum price of € 990,000.00. Unfortunately, they did not agree with me. They decided on a price of € 1.100.000,00.

Under these conditions, i.e. with an asking price more than 30% higher than The Best Price’s estimate, the results were not coming in, and this despite the fact that we had shared a structured and important marketing plan This is why we have been constantly chasing the market down since then: this is clearly evident from the table below, where you can see that the asking price has been steadily falling, right up to the final price of €750,000.00.

In the light of the facts, I would say that, as always, The Best Price had indicated the right valuation. In fact, as you can see from the tab below, my first personal valuation of € 900,000.00 and dating back to 2018 did not reflect at all the valuation recommended by The Best Price, which was instead around €750,000.

However, I myself decided not to communicate it to my clients as, in my opinion, the property had a higher value, both for its location and its beauty. Unfortunately, and unlike The Best Price, even we professionals can make mistakes. Only the passage of time has convinced both me and the sellers to align the asking price to the value indicated by our internal software.

Therefore, we can definitely affirm that our tool has now acquired an undisputed power, allowing us to perfectly identify the real valuation of any prestigious property: a great plus for all selling clients who want to get the best price in the shortest possible time. In the specific case of “La Vista Su Todi E Montecastello”, the fact that it took 3 years from the signing of the assignment for sale and the sale reaching has caused a contraction in the value of the property of about 10% (in absolute terms about 80,000.00 euros), with an average decrease of 3% compared to a statistical data that confirms, from 2010 to date, an average decrease in property values ranging from 3 to 5%, with no possibility to see, in the short term, a reversal of the trend.

Let’s move on to the negotiation: would you like to briefly tell us how was it? Did you encounter any particular technical or bureaucratic problems?

A number of urban issues – which I had brought to the sellers’ attention as soon as the assignment was signed – were resolved on the property. My clients, together with their trusted technician, consequently provided us with a detailed due diligence of the property, which allowed us to set up the whole negotiation in a linear way. I would like to emphasize, once again, how crucial a due diligence is for the success of any negotiation: it can avoid delays, problems, and any other circumstances that could potentially jeopardize the success of the negotiation, and therefore the sale. This is a decisive aspect, but still not fully understood by many sellers.

In the case of “La Vista Su Todi e Montecastello”, the lack of a due diligence by the owner could have created problems, with inevitable repercussions on the negotiations.

Stefano, how would you like to close this interview?

In all sincerity, I must admit that I am only half satisfied with the sale of “La Vista Su Todi e Montecastello”. The mistake that we, as real estate agents, may sometimes make is to overestimate the properties we go to see. This is because we too have not yet managed to accustom our minds to a decline in property values that has been constant for more than 10 years. It is precisely in order to achieve this important room for improvement that we have created The Best Price: our software allows us to obtain absolutely objective and high-performance evaluation analyses.
This is a big plus, not only for us property consultants but also and above all for the sellers who, thanks to this tool, can achieve the best possible economic result.

Almost 6 years after the creation of The Best Price, we increasingly realize that finding the right value for a property is the first step to sell it quickly and profitably, which is why we are proud to have invested so much in The Best Price project.

In addition to this, my greatest satisfaction in this sale has been getting to know Mr. Cagli, his wife Laila, and their entire family: they have consistently shown great trust in us and have always proved to be true gentlemen. Finally, I would also like to thank our Roberto Biggera who, in this negotiation too, managed the buyer and, from the preliminary contract signing, also the seller, as always in an impeccable manner.

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