Fox in New York City was working on an article on how violent crime, specifically a murder, might impact real estate sales. This got me thinking about a house I sold back in 2019. A gruesome murder, in fact -- a patricide -- took place at this home located in a generally quiet neighborhood in Dripping Springs, a somewhat bucolic suburb outside of Austin. With its complicated cast of players -- the court system, the attorneys, the bank and other parties involved in this transaction, this transaction taught me so much about a different side of real estate brokerage and working with complex and sensitive situations.
Pricing of the home took some finesse. In a location where fortunately there was and still is a lack of stigmatized properties, there was little guidance on comparable pricing. The only other such home, about a ten-minute drive, was on the market for over 600 days at the time, and ultimately took 2 years to sell. My listing had been vacant 1-1/2 years and was in considerably poor condition due to the torn-out sheetrock and insulation, missing ceilings, damaged flooring and trim, plus other general deferred maintenance not related to the incident. The abandoned cars out front did not help. While many folks were aware of the frightening circumstances behind the death, enough time had passed for what ended up being a double-probate to work its course a court receiver had been appointed and the home could be sold. The father and son were ordinary people, without fame or wealth that would produce a Menendez brothers type-hype to keep the story in the spotlight.
We offered the home for sale for roughly 21% less than the median sale price for like properties in the neighborhood. After one 5.8% price reduction, it sold in multiple offer for 88% of the original list price with 39 days on market. All-in-all, it was a success, and a super guy and local investor, who also owned a construction company, bought the property, rehabbed it and turned it to a rental.
Sharing a more spiritual moment, the dear reader of this blog might be interested to know that I was friendly with the family who owned this home. At first, I thought – I could never be the one to sell this house after what happened, but with time, the feeling grew – who better than me, who knew the victim as well as the perpetrator, to sell the home so it can regain a new life of sorts. Sitting it its current, dilapidated and forlorn condition, it was an ongoing reminder of tragedy. One of the only items left in the living room was a print of an angel that I placed on the living room mantel. To me, it was a guardian of sorts, a reminder of the larger purpose of getting the home sold. In an interesting epilogue, just this past year, I was shocked to see that a tree in the front yard that had looked deader than a doornail during the sale and for several years after, was now in full leaf. It was a symbol of rebirth, and the ability to emerge from the darkest of circumstances into new life. As a realtor, we have the honor to be there for our clients in the good and bad times.