How many agents should you interview before selecting one to list and sell your house?
This seller interviewed 4 agents. And they got 4 different price recommendations!
The 2nd agent said it would NEVER appraise for more than $435,000.
After hearing this, I had a tiny panic attack because that was really low in comparison to the price I was recommending!
I went back to my computer and looked at the pricing seven ways to Sunday (literally, I have 7 markets on this!) and we settled on a list price of $475,000.
Preparation makes all the difference.
We took the time to prepare the listing for market, had it beautifully staged, and wouldn't you know it - we got a full price offer.
More importantly, the property APPRAISED for a teeny tiny bit more than the list price.
Just goes to show that data driven analysis + a great exposure strategy gets results!
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Recently, I was talking with some buyers who are moving to the Des Moines area from Tacoma, Washington, and they found me on YouTube. And I love it. When people find me on YouTube, it's sort of a thankless job making videos, And then you never really know who is watching or if the information is really any good or helpful.
So of course they assured me, yes, it's great. It was very helpful. And one of my follow up questions was, what am I missing? What other type of video should I do that would have been helpful in your home search or what could be helpful in your home search? And their feedback was that they wish there were more neighborhood tours.
And of course, I don't have any neighborhood tours until now on my YouTube channel. And they, they struggled. They, they had a hard time really understanding what the different areas of Des Moines were like, what made them different, what the houses looked like, how big the yards were the used Google earth for, you know, getting a lot of that information, but still felt like they didn't understand what each neighborhood had to offer.
Well, you know, who does know what neighborhoods have to offer? I do. And actually in this upcoming neighborhood tour video, I learned a lot old dogs can learn new tricks to I promise, and I'm gonna share them with you. So this is my very first neighborhood tour video. And that being said, the video was recorded from the car, which I felt like I was going slow, but it looks like it was going fast.
Well, you know, who does know what neighborhoods have to offer? I do. And actually in this upcoming neighborhood tour video, I learned a lot old dogs can learn new tricks to I promise, and I'm gonna share them with you. So this is my very first neighborhood tour video. And that being said, the video was recorded from the car, which I felt like I was going slow, but it looks like it was going fast.
So we may have to slow down the video. I don't know. We, hopefully we have some tricks for editing. Some of the roads in this neighborhood were a little bumpy and, and that's actually a pretty common thing in Des Moines are, are roads get chewed up every year by, by the snowplows and by the salt.
And it's just, you know, in order for the city to take care of the streets, it's rough on the streets. And so that means Heather's gonna have some bumpy video on the neighborhood tour. So now you know that I am a real estate agent and not a cinematographer, although credit is due to Mr. Wright because he is the one who put up with my directing from the steering wheel when I told him, oh, did you get that?
Did you get this? Make sure you get that. So I'm sure he was very annoyed with me today too. So anyway, let's get to it. The very first neighborhood tour, our community that we spotlighted is Westwood. Westwood is a really cool neighborhood that is south of grand to Walnut Creek and between 45th street, about And 63rd street.
Now the neighborhood's been around obviously a really long time, but in the year 2000, some neighbors got together and decided that they should form a, an association. So Westwood neighborhood association was born in the year 2000 and it's actually a voluntary association.
The dues are really inexpensive. I think it's $25 per year for one person or $40 a year for a family membership. And it looks like they do a lot of really great things. They have a newsletter that goes out. They have a couple social events that they run each year. And from what I understand, it's very active and for what you get in return, not a bad investment of your money.
The dues are really inexpensive. I think it's $25 per year for one person or $40 a year for a family membership. And it looks like they do a lot of really great things. They have a newsletter that goes out. They have a couple social events that they run each year. And from what I understand, it's very active and for what you get in return, not a bad investment of your money.
Now, Westwood as a neighborhood is known for having access to really great Des Moines public schools. So I double check the Des Moines public school's school finder and confirmed that as of the moment that this was recorded, that the elementary school would be Hannah waltz, which is a great school Merrill middle school.
And Roosevelt of course, is an excellent high school. So don't take my word for it. If you're buying a house that, and you have to have a specific school, I want you to go to the school and call and confirm that you will be in the right zone because they can change zones. They can do whatever you want at any time.
So you always wanna double check that before you make a major investment, like buying a house. There is a private school called Bergman academy that is tucked away inside Greenwood park. I'm not sure what the ins and outs are as far as enrolling in Bergman, but it's a nice option.
And I have a friend whose daughter goes to school there and she speaks really highly of, of the teachers of the school, of the overall education that her kid is getting. So there you go. Okay. But I'm a REALTOR, so let's talk homes, right? That's what we're here for, to find out what kind of house you can get in Westwood.
Now there's probably a more thorough way to talk about the total number of homes in the architecture and the averages of whatever that you could do, but because I'm a REALTOR, I have access to the MLS. And so of course, that's the tool that I used. And that being said, well, it comes with its own set of problems because it's meant for selling real estate, not for Heather's neighborhood tours.
But anyway, I looked in the neighborhood in the Westwood neighborhood for all of the homes, just, I didn't put in a timeframe. I just wanted to see everything that was there. So there were 368 homes that came up, but those aren't necessarily unique and that's all kinds of different statuses of homes.
So active listings, sold listings, a house may have sold a couple of times, you know, maybe somebody listed their house and then took it off the market. So it also only goes back, I think, like 10 years of data. So this is a totally inaccurate number, but it was quick and easy. So let's use it.
So there were 368 homes that came up in that, that very unspecific query. And, you know, like, let's think about what ages of homes are in the Westwood neighborhood. And I was kind of surprised by this because I would've told you that the homes were probably primarily built in the twenties to like in the twenties and thirties.
Right? Well, 12% of the homes that I found in Westwood were built in the year 1900 or before 10 and a half percent were built between nineteen hundred and nineteen twenty, forty 2% were built between 1920 and 1940, which is a pretty good chunk, which was where my guess would've been at. And technically that's right.
Right? Well, 12% of the homes that I found in Westwood were built in the year 1900 or before 10 and a half percent were built between nineteen hundred and nineteen twenty, forty 2% were built between 1920 and 1940, which is a pretty good chunk, which was where my guess would've been at. And technically that's right.
That is the, the time period that most of the homes were built, but it's not as big of a percentage as I expected it to be 20% of the homes were built between 1940 and 1960 and 31% were built after 1960. So you definitely have a wide variety of, of homes. The oldest home was built in 1875. And again, that may not be the oldest home in the neighborhood. That's just what came up on the subset that I had access to.
And then the newest house on the MLS anyway was built in, in 2020. And it's, as of today, it is for sale for $869,000. And it's very cool. It is, it's brand new, only a couple of years old, but it looks old like they built it to fit into the neighborhood. And I just think that was so smart and it fits right in.
You would never know, unless you knew that it was brand new naturally with a neighborhood that was developed over this, you know, big span of time, your styles of homes are also going to be pretty varied. You'll find a good mix of colonial homes, tutor style, Cape Cod, even some mid-century modern.
And then the newest house on the MLS anyway was built in, in 2020. And it's, as of today, it is for sale for $869,000. And it's very cool. It is, it's brand new, only a couple of years old, but it looks old like they built it to fit into the neighborhood. And I just think that was so smart and it fits right in.
You would never know, unless you knew that it was brand new naturally with a neighborhood that was developed over this, you know, big span of time, your styles of homes are also going to be pretty varied. You'll find a good mix of colonial homes, tutor style, Cape Cod, even some mid-century modern.
There's two stories, one and a half stories, ranches split levels. There's probably split foyers. There's, it's just filled with variety. When you are driving down the street in Westwood, you are not going to feel like you are in a cookie cutter neighborhood. It is definitely unique. And each house is different from its neighbor. And I love it. The home prices are pretty diverse too.
In the last year, there have been 23 sales recorded on the MLS in Westwood and the prices ranged from $133,500 on the low end to 1 million, $175,000 on the high end. The median sales price for this last year was $335,000. Now, of course, we know that it's 2022, when I'm recording this video and prices have been up market wide in the, the last year.
So that statistic is not going to stay the same forever. It could be higher, it could be lower. It just, it really depends on what is going on in the market at the time that you are shopping or at the time that you watch this video. In addition to a really cool houses, there are a couple of really cool parks in, in the Westwood area.
So that statistic is not going to stay the same forever. It could be higher, it could be lower. It just, it really depends on what is going on in the market at the time that you are shopping or at the time that you watch this video. In addition to a really cool houses, there are a couple of really cool parks in, in the Westwood area.
So this was the part that I had to do a little bit of research on today. And so Greenwood and Ashworth park are two very different parks that are in Westwood, but most of the locals would probably tell you that it's just one park and they call it Greenwood park. So in my research, what I found was that Greenwood park was the very first park in Des Moines.
And then several years later, the Ashworth family donated a large plot of land and required that it have a swimming pool and be used as a park. And so that is adjacent to Greenwood park. So it, it feels like one big park, but that's where we got the Ashworth pool because of course they required it when they bestowed the land onto the city.
And that was the very first municipal swimming pool in Iowa fun fact. There's also a cool splash pad, a playground, a tennis court, that's where you'll find the art center, the rose garden. And there's lots of trails, both paved and off road in the forest. If you prefer to go hiking in the woods, they have a pond in Greenwood park, although it's actually called the Greenwood lagoon, but I thought it was a pond.
And then several years later, the Ashworth family donated a large plot of land and required that it have a swimming pool and be used as a park. And so that is adjacent to Greenwood park. So it, it feels like one big park, but that's where we got the Ashworth pool because of course they required it when they bestowed the land onto the city.
And that was the very first municipal swimming pool in Iowa fun fact. There's also a cool splash pad, a playground, a tennis court, that's where you'll find the art center, the rose garden. And there's lots of trails, both paved and off road in the forest. If you prefer to go hiking in the woods, they have a pond in Greenwood park, although it's actually called the Greenwood lagoon, but I thought it was a pond.
And then I read further and said that it's also called a pond. So whether you prefer lagoon or pond, it is the same thing and it has a boardwalk and a trail surrounding it. So you can walk around it. You can even fish in the pond, the DNR stocks, the pond with bass bluegill and catfish. That's cool.
The Sylvan amphitheater was originally built for standing room only, but I read that it was renovated in 2004 to create seating for 200 people. And it's available for rental. That could be a very cool party. I have a client that lives in Westwood and asked her what she liked the most about the neighborhood.
And here's what she said. She said, my favorite things about Westwood are all of the trees and the beautiful old houses, the schools and the trails are all in walking distance. There are strong neighborhood connections. People say, hi, all the kids play together. It feels like a small town, but you're only five minutes from downtown. She also said that there's no cheesy chain restaurants or strip malls.
And here's the thing. The people who live in Westwood in Ingersol in south of Grandon, north of grand, these are people who really don't love chain restaurants. So it made me giggle when she said that, because it's so typical of somebody who lives in, in these older neighborhoods, they are pro local business. For sure.
And here's what she said. She said, my favorite things about Westwood are all of the trees and the beautiful old houses, the schools and the trails are all in walking distance. There are strong neighborhood connections. People say, hi, all the kids play together. It feels like a small town, but you're only five minutes from downtown. She also said that there's no cheesy chain restaurants or strip malls.
And here's the thing. The people who live in Westwood in Ingersol in south of Grandon, north of grand, these are people who really don't love chain restaurants. So it made me giggle when she said that, because it's so typical of somebody who lives in, in these older neighborhoods, they are pro local business. For sure.
Now, if you are pro chain restaurant or pro strip mall, well, you don't have to drive too far to get to those. So don't worry about that. And she also said with all those trees, it is gorgeous in the fall. Now, if you know me, you know that I'm very food oriented and I need to know where I'm going to eat, or I'm going to get my groceries.
Plus if you're a house hunting, like that's a, that's a good question. Where am I going to shop for food? Where am I going to get all of the things done in my life that I need to get done? The closest grocery store to the Westwood neighborhood is going to be fairway, which is actually in west Des Moines, but it's just a couple of blocks west of 63rd street, which is the border of the Westwood neighborhood.
So it's just a couple of minutes down grand on, I think it's on fourth street and grand that intersection in west Des Moines. My client also recommended the price chopper grocery store on Ingersol. She said, that's not too far away. And as an Instacart user, I can tell you that Instacart will deliver anywhere in town.
So if you prefer Aldi or hve or some other grocery store, then use your Instacart app and they'll deliver the groceries to your house. As far as restaurants go, my client recommended VIVA, which is a good restaurant within walking distance of their home. And if you're walking home after you're eating dinner, you're probably gonna have to walk uphill.
So if you prefer Aldi or hve or some other grocery store, then use your Instacart app and they'll deliver the groceries to your house. As far as restaurants go, my client recommended VIVA, which is a good restaurant within walking distance of their home. And if you're walking home after you're eating dinner, you're probably gonna have to walk uphill.
So I feel like that gets you extra points in, you know, the calorie department. So you could probably splurge on dessert, cuz you're gonna walk it off on your way home. She also recommended restaurants on Ingersol like eatery a, which is known for killer happy hour specials, not just on their booze, but on their pizza, which is delicious.
Just so you know, she said the cheese bar and Jesse's embers are both great options as well. I don't know about you, but I'm sold on Westwood. I'm also biased. I'm sold on anywhere in the Des Moines. Metro, if you'd like more information on living in the Westwood neighborhood, I'll include some resource links that I found when I was preparing this video include them below so you can check 'em out.
And of course, we're also available to answer any questions that you have. And if you're ready to start house hunting and you wanna add the Westwood neighborhood as an option, just let us know. Hopefully you've enjoyed my very first neighborhood tour and learned some information.
Whether you learned that you love Westwood, or maybe you learned that you need a newer neighborhood than Westwood, whatever the case is, I'm sure that we can find something that fits you exactly the way you want it to fit as always,
if you need anything from us, you are welcome to schedule a call with my team on our website, or you can always email us at hello@myrighthouse.com. I'll talk to you soon.
if you need anything from us, you are welcome to schedule a call with my team on our website, or you can always email us at hello@myrighthouse.com. I'll talk to you soon.
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