Stefano Petri and “Il Giardino Segreto”: the strategies of a success

“The important consultancies provided by great Estate are able to bring to great results”: those are the words of our CEO who, in this article, tell us about the sale of the amazing “Il Giardino Segreto” in Sarteano.

The meeting with the sellers 

I met the vendors many years ago, when they have experienced different agencies already. Starting from that moment, thanks to both our brand importance and the work Great Estate did on their property, the vendors entrusted themselves to us every day more.

Their property remained on the market for many years. It was advertised by different agencies and at prices which were not in line with its market value.

This became a great problem for the property. Many agencies do not show to the sellers the real market value of their properties. Instead, they enter the buildings on the market at the prices the clients want. However, in this way, sellers are deluded, because they start thinking that theirs is the real price of the property in object.

There is also another fundamental date to be taken under consideration. For “Il Giardino Segreto”, during the years passed and for at least the next 4-5 years, real estate values have always decreased of about 5%/year. Every year, the vendors saw the value of their property get lower. The different price changings done during the time were too limited to compensate the requested one.

This was what happened until November 2018, when the owners asked me:

“Stefano, we have been ignoring your suggestions for years now..  but we are finally ready to admit your professionalism and the organization of your agency. Please, tell us what to do in order to find the right buyer for our farmhouse!”

The strategies to find the ideal buyer out

At the beginning, the property asking price was definitely higher than the final one. This is something normal: despite the market, clients use to give to their properties a higher value because of personal reasons too.

With the support of The Best Price, I have personally done another estimate of the property. Then, I shared it with some of the best professionals of the group. The new property evaluation was very different from the property asking price.

So, once agreed it with the sellers, we advertised the property with an amount which was very similar to my estimate: 3-4 months later, we were finally able to find its right buyer. When we showed our last property estimate to the owners, they were not enthusiastic about it. However, this was precisely the key which allowed us to celebrate this success today.

In addition to the price adjustment, we also suggested the vendors to “remove” the property from the market for about a month. The aim of this strategy is the “cleaning of the web”. Once done so, we proposed the property back: a new price, new photos, new videos, new descriptions and new property strengths. So, after a “renovation” of the property image, we found its right client in about 3-4 months.

Again, our Method (Estimate + Exposure + Examination + Sale) proved its efficiency, and allowed us to reach the final goal.

I would like to underline how, through our tools, synergy and experience, our team is able to give importance consultancies which, if followed, are able to bring to great results. 

The strengths of the property

The only “small imperfection”, if it is possible to say so, is the fact that this farmhouse needs to be renovated. Many farmhouses which were renovated during 70s-90s have all very similar characteristics. Those make them be not more “usable” for the current exigencies. Even if they are very habitable homes, they still need to be renovated. This is something very hard to make the vendors, who often use this properties for their holidays, understand.

Probably, this properties are perfect for the needs of the owners, but not for the buyers. It is sufficient to think about the amount of purchasers who are looking for renovated and modern farmhouses only.

The negotiation and the due diligence importance

Talking about the technical part, we asked the sellers, as always, to make one trusted specialist of them create a property due diligence. However, until the very last second, this was not done. We had many, but not all, information about the property. This put us into a hard and dangerous situation. Indeed, we risked to fail the negotiation and make the sellers pay important costs. If we were aware of the whole situation from the very first time, we would have been able to manage it differently.

I would like to underline that, in 90% of the cases, every time we ask the vendors for a property due diligence, their answers are two:

“my home is perfect” (.. this sentence makes my skin crawl..)

“when we will have the buyer we will do everything”

This two “classic” answers make a “levity” into the sale approach emerge. This can cause dangerous consequences. We invite you to read the interview to the sellers. Here, they tell us about their experience and you will able to understand the real importance of a property due diligence.

My considerations

I am obviously very glad about the result reached, even if I am also sorry that the sellers did not have this trust on our agency before. If the sentence “Stefano, tell us what to do” would have been said three years ago, we would also have probably achieved a 15-20% better result.

The fact I consider deeply incorrect, something like “criminal”, is that many agencies satisfy the owners’ desire while taking an assignment for sale for vanity. They do not understand that statements as “yes, the price you are asking seems correct to me” sounds like a verdict to make a property value and the sellers income decreasing. Certainly, this is what I am sorry for.

It also true that the only thing that we, as Great Estate, can do is to improve our tools and communication towards the sellers every day more. In this way, we will be able to make them saving their time and their property value. After that, it is the turn of the vendors, who have to entrust themselves to those that are able to give a right and impartial consultancy on their homes only.

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