On the 14th of July the deed for the sale of “L’Antica Pietra”, a beautiful property located in the Umbrian countryside of San Venanzo, was signed. The interview with the CEO of Great Estate, Stefano Petri, consultant to the selling party.
Great Estate’s summer 2021 has been full of fantastic sales!
Among these, we can’t forget the sale of “L’Antica Pietra”, which on the 14th of July was officially purchased by an important Italian client, a well-known designer of a famous fashion Maison.
“L’Antica Pietra” is a charming property dating back to the 17th century, immersed in a location of rare beauty, among woods, hills and uncontaminated nature: we are in Umbria, to be exact in the enchanting countryside surrounding the small village of San Venanzo, in the province of Terni.
We interviewed Stefano Petri, CEO. of our group and, on this occasion, also the consultant of the sellers.
– Welcome Stefano, and congratulations on the sale of “L’Antica Pietra”!
Would you like to tell us under what circumstances you met the sales clients?
Of course! Giampaolo and Sylvia called us because they knew we were selling the farm with castle next to their property for over 6 million euros.
Together with Mrs. Virginia Vaccaro, we conducted the first interview with the clients to get more details about the property. Then, a few days later, we went to San Venanzo to see their magnificent farmhouse with our own eyes and, on that occasion, we had the pleasure of meeting them.
Giampaolo is originally from Bologna, while Sylvia is from the Netherlands. In the 1980s they fell in love with San Venanzo and decided to buy a ruin, what we now know as “L’Antica Pietra”: they transformed what was once a pile of bricks and stones into an oasis of peace and beauty. Over the years, they have turned the property into a holiday farm, much appreciated by Italians and foreigners alike, who want to spend the warmer months of the year in the shade of the large oaks on the property, immersed in the beautiful Umbrian countryside.
– Excellent. Was the property already for sale with other agencies?
Unofficially with a famous international real estate group, at €1,150,000, for over a year and a half, during which time no visit was carried out.
In 2019, when Giampaolo and Sylvia decided to contact an agency like ours, which has several offices in Umbria and knows the area of San Venanzo and its surroundings very well, they withdrew from the agreement with the other agency to rely exclusively on us.
I remember that Giampaolo and Sylvia informed me that that agency had never provided them with a sufficiently precise and structured evaluation. Furthermore, they did not appreciate the fact that the agency was managing their property, which was so important and objectively complicated to sell, from a distance, i.e. from Rome.
So, unlike before, by starting to work with Great Estate the clients received for the first time a professional valuation of their property, obtained through our valuation tool The Best Price: an estimate of 900,000 euro that they fully agreed with.
So, Giampaolo and Sylvia decided to give us an exclusive assignment, sharing a very structured marketing plan (Silver + video) for an amount of about 3,000 euros, and to set the asking price of “L’Antica Pietra” at 990,000 euros.
– Based on your experience, what do you think are the most interesting qualities of “L’Antica Pietra”?
As the English say …. location location location!
In fact, “L’Antica Pietra” stands on a hill, almost 500 metres above sea level, from which it is possible to admire an extraordinary panoramic view overlooking a beautiful green and unspoilt valley in Umbria!
– Let’s talk about the evaluation with The Best Price? What are your comments on this?
Well, here I can answer rather briefly!
The sale order was made official in June 2020, so in the middle of the pandemic, and after only 9 months the property was sold! And guess at what price?
900,000 euros, exactly equal to the valuation price indicated by our powerful tool T.B.P.!
– And let’s come to the negotiation: would you like to tell me briefly how it took place?
At Great Estate Group, we firmly believe that there are no easy negotiations and difficult negotiations, but rather negotiations that are not analysed and not prepared and others that are analysed and well prepared.
You will perfectly understand that if you start a negotiation with an asking price that is clearly out of the market, with a presentation of the property that does not match its beauty and, last but not least, without knowledge of the technical (urban planning, tax, cadastral and legal) part of the property, it is very likely, indeed it is certain, that the negotiation will be very complicated and, in 99% of cases, will turn into a disaster for everyone!
For years now, our group has followed a tried and tested and innovative method.
First of all, this method involves a careful check of the value of the property (the first point) but also, and above all, of the whole technical part of the property.
Secondly, great visibility is given to the property for sale (the SECOND point) through the most innovative communication systems, both online and offline, and above all thanks to a group of professionals who, both qualitatively and numerically, are without doubt the most structured in Umbria.
Finally, our method involves verifying the results obtained by the property in terms of market appreciation (the third point): today we are able to do this thanks to a sophisticated and innovative system of statistics that allows us to see, day after day, how the market responds to our property in terms of visibility, requests, inspections and negotiations.
In this regard, I would like to emphasise that our IT intelligence confirms to us, day after day, that when the foundations are laid for good visibility and the results obtained are in line with what was hoped for, from then on we need “only”, so to speak, to find the right client, the one who can appreciate the property at its best, so that we can reach the 4 point: that of the sale.
In this negotiation, not only did we implement our method precisely and completely, but we also respected it and managed to “bring home” an excellent result, which is a source of great pride for all of us, especially since we know that both parties were delighted and satisfied with our work.
This result is what I and all of us in the group say is the best result for an agent or agency:
a result that can only and exclusively be achieved thanks to all of the above activities, encapsulated in a truly innovative and comprehensive method that allows us to bring happiness to our customers and ourselves every day: this is an enormous satisfaction!
– Stefano, so we can say with some confidence that you are very happy with this sale…
Very happy I would say because we made both the parties happy.
The buyer, because he wanted just such a property, and the seller because, together, we achieved the right and hoped-for economic goal.
As always in our negotiations, the aim is always to make both parties win, achieving a fair balance: the win-to-win concept, both of the parties and also of us, as professionals and as people.
Finally, I would like to emphasise that we are not only honoured by the trust that sellers have placed in us, and which we have been able to repay through the use of all our innovative IT tools and the power of our team, but also particularly thrilled to have made the buyer very happy, both with the negotiation and, of course, with the purchase.
