Lower Second Offer’s The Charm for First-Time Homebuyer

Going The Extra Mile When It Mattered Most

First-Time Homebuyers Trade Scott's Addition Rental for Rancher in Forest Hill

 

A Great House at a Hard Time for a Good Price

 

An all-cash offer and a “really great Mother’s Day”

 

Facebook Live tour opens the door to a beautiful home on the other side of the country

 

Fourth Time’s the Charm – for a Charming Home

 

Quicks Forced to Move Slow — But Patience Pays Off

 

Like many Americans in 2020, Sarah and CJ Quick decided to move closer to family. So they packed up their two Jeeps in San Diego and moved to the Richmond region that August. The plan: Buy a home where CJ could build his dog-training business and the couple could raise their young son close to his family (CJ, a Marine Corps vet and former skydiving instructor, grew up in Prince George County).

That plan didn’t go accordingly. But, as these things go, it worked out in the end.

The Quicks started working with Mark Cipolletti that Fall through a referral, and found a house in October. But even though his business was a few years old, to get a mortgage, banks required CJ to prove a year of revenue as a Virginia business (Sarah is a stay-at-home-mom, a full-time job that unfortunately offers no income). So they put the big buy on hold, renting a country home for a year until CJ could show financial proof of his growing canine-coaching company.

Their home search continued.

“Yes, he sent us automated emails like every agent does, but he would also text us when he saw a house we’d like. He was so on top of it.”

“I don't know if it's because I'm from California,” Sarah jokes, “but I had a lot of specifics in what we were looking for in a house.” The number of homes they toured ran well into the double-digits, she says.

“But Mark was always there for us — he was so patient with us. He was really cool. Very patient and persistent,” she said. “Yes, he sent us automated emails like every agent does, but he would also text us when he saw a house we’d like. He was so on top of it.”

The Quicks eventually found a home on four acres in Powhatan County. It had separate spaces, both indoors and out, for CJ to train dogs. It had ample storage, modern appliances, a new kitchen, and freshly done bathrooms, with lots of trees and places for the young family to explore the outdoors. And it even came with a playset for their 3-year-old boy. “It’s honestly a perfect home,” she says. Mark walked them through the paperwork, sending little text reminders to keep the closing process moving.

“I think we were his longest home search ever, but I really appreciated Mark’s patience,” Sarah says. “I never felt pressure to buy a house just because we’d asked Mark to see ten other houses before that.”

So how has a California girl done in a transition from San Diego to Powhatan? “The first year was really hard,” she says. “San Diego is 70 degrees and sunny every day of the year — Christmas and summer. But it’s beautiful here in a different way. It’s so green.”

And most importantly, she said: “Our son is thriving here. With family close by, with the playground, and the woods, and this great house, we love it here. We’re super happy.”

Also: Before becoming a SAHM, Sarah was a video editor…and still dabbles. In fact, she made a video about their home-buying experience. Watch it here.

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Mark is ready to help you with your home sale or purchase. Schedule a Zoom call to get things started. https://calendly.com/kwmarkcipolletti/zoom

 

 

A Creative Offer Lands the Perfect Home for This Great Falls, Virginia, Transplant

Lynn Fitzgerald could be a walking billboard for Richmond. The (now former) Great Falls resident was looking to move out of Northern Virginia, and had some particulars in mind for her new hometown.

They were: To live near a mid-size or large city. And a city in a growth phase. With fun things happening. And in a region with great neighborhoods. She explored cities in Maryland and Virginia.

"I'd done a lot of research, and knew that Richmond was a good place for me," Lynn says.

One caveat: She has five dogs that need room to run. "I had to find a house and land that would allow me to have those dogs," she said.
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"Mark picked us up in his car, and oh my gosh. He took us all over. He took us everywhere," Lynn says. "All the neighborhoods - and on the weekend too, so he was giving up a weekend day to help us."

Lynn liked the large lots and homes of Salisbury, the historic subdivision in Chesterfield County.

But they couldn't get the offers to land. "I knew the market, so I knew I was going to have to go over asking price," she said. "I felt Mark was really good at providing guidance on what we should offer, what we should put our cap at, and things we should do as part of the deal."

There was another factor going into the home-buying journey: Lynn wanted a plain, understated home - one that she couldn't, in her own words, "become emotionally attached to." She and her late husband had restored an 1800s-era home in Great Falls that had previously been condemned. "I should have left that house when he died, but I didn't, because I couldn't, because I was so attached," she said.

"I felt Mark was really good at providing guidance on what we should offer, what we should put our cap at, and things we should do as part of the deal."

Asking prices in Salisbury got too high for comfort. So they looked further west, to Powhatan County. "I'd never thought about Powhatan until Mark mentioned it," she said.

They found a quiet, pretty, and simple home in a great neighborhood there. The yard needed some work, and the home some updating, but it was exactly what she was looking for. Plus, the property checked her must-have boxes, and is a quick drive into the city. "It's a nice neighborhood, too - it's not like you're in the middle of nowhere," Lynn adds.

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Mark learned the seller was downsizing following the death of her husband. So Mark and Lynn added some creative terms to the offer to make it easier to sell the home. That included free rent back after closing, $2,500 in closing costs, and $2,500 to have the seller professionally packed. They even offered to let her leave anything in the home that she didn't want to move out (though the seller ultimately moved everything out on her own). Mark and Lynn both agree the offer price wasn't the highest - but was clearly the best.

Lynn moved to Richmond at the beginning of June, and shares the home with her brother. But this home is just the start of her real estate journey in RVA: "My goal is to use Mark to buy other investment properties in the city," she says.

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Mark is ready to help you with your home sale or purchase. Schedule a Zoom call to get things started. https://calendly.com/kwmarkcipolletti/zoom

 

The Wildt's Home Was Exactly What Buyers Wanted (Well, After Removing That Wallpaper)

Tim and Cathy Wildt needed some maintenance done on their house. So they called a local handyman. 

While the handyman was there handling a few projects, the Wildts mentioned their plans to build a house in Chesterfield and sell their current one in western Henrico. He referred them to a REALTOR® he knew and trusted: Mark Cipolletti.

Mark reached out to the Wildts about their home sale and offered to meet. “I thought Mark’s presentation was very professional. He was well prepared,” Cathy says.

The Wildts had a well-maintained tri-level home that they had updated over time, including opening up the wall between the kitchen and dining room, and adding a counter in between with pendant lights. 

“This room will sell your house,” Mark told the couple.

Still, Mark did have a few suggestions, including removing outdated wallpaper in the foyer.

“I really didn’t want to do it — I wanted to sell the house as is, and that was one of his suggestions. But it turns out, he was right,” Cathy says. The couple took down the wallpaper, trusting Mark’s professional judgement. (Tim now affectionately refers to Mark as “the a-hole who made us take down the wallpaper.”)

“I have not regretted having Mark as a REALTOR® at all. He is an an experienced, trustworthy professional and we are thrilled to have signed on with him.”

With the house prepped, it went on the market on a Friday. Around 10 p.m., the Wildts got a text from Mark that they had an offer for $15,000 over the asking price, with no inspection and a month rent-back. The closing timeline and extra month gave them ample time to find living arrangements before the completion of their new home. 

After the sale, Mark even researched short-term rental properties for Tim and Cathy as their Chesterfield home continued to be built. “He goes above and beyond what you would think a REALTOR® would do,” says Tim. (The Wildts also compliment Mark’s partners at Vesta Settlements for keeping the closing process efficient and painless).

For the retired couple who lived in the home for 32 years and had little understanding of the real estate buying and selling process, the Wildts are happy with the results. “We don’t know what we don’t know, so it was great to have Mark,” Tim says. Adds Cathy: “I have not regretted having Mark as a REALTOR® at all. He is an an experienced, trustworthy professional and we are thrilled to have signed on with him.”

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Mark is ready to help you with your home sale or purchase. Schedule a Zoom call to get things started. https://calendly.com/kwmarkcipolletti/zoom

 

COVID forces an early retirement — and Henrico townhome sale

Keller Williams team leader Mark Foss Brown was Mark Cipolletti’s mentor. When Brown suddenly passed away last year, Cipolletti knew the late agent’s clients needed a place to turn for their real estate needs.

So Mark C. emailed Mark B.’s clients — something Mark B. would have appreciated — to let them know he was there for them.

Cathe Snyder received that email, but wasn’t in the market to sell or buy at the time. “Then COVID changed my life,” she says. She lost her interior design job, and was forced into an early retirement.

Suddenly, her 2,000-square-foot, three-bedroom townhouse “was way too much space for a single lady,” she says. So she gave Mark a call — and a little phone interview, just to make sure he was the right fit. “It sounded like he had a lot of integrity, which is what I was looking for,” she says.

“Mark has fantastic follow-up, was very diligent, and kept his finger on the pulse of the entire process,” Cathe says. “His customer service skills were fantastic.”

Her townhome in western Henrico went on the market on a Friday. “My sister was living with me, and Mark told me ‘If you, your sister, and the cat can clear out until Sunday night, that will likely be the end of your inconvenience,” she said. By Monday, there were six contracts. But it didn’t end there.

Their selected buyer got cold feet. Mark called the agents for the other buyers, and most of their clients backed out, too. Fortunately, two new showings were requested on Monday and Cathe and crew vacated the townhome for a couple more hours. She ended up receiving three new offers and Mark negotiated an even better offer than the original. “Cathe got everything she wanted as far as price and terms,” he says.

“Mark has fantastic follow-up, was very diligent, and kept his finger on the pulse of the entire process,” Cathe says. “His customer service skills were fantastic.”And while she’d certainly be open to using Mark to buy her new house, there’s just one problem: She’s retiring in Sarasota.

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Mark is ready to help you with your home sale or purchase. Schedule a Zoom call to get things started. https://calendly.com/kwmarkcipolletti/zoom

 

Thinking Twice Before Selling Without an Agent

Knowing the housing market was hot, friends tried to convince Liz Farber to sell her western Henrico County home on her own. But she eventually came around and realized that maybe wasn’t such a great idea.

“In this seller’s market, I actually think you need a REALTOR® even more,” she says. “If we tried to sell it ourselves, we never would have gotten the price we got for it.”

In need of a pro, Liz reached out to Mark after seeing his real estate posts on Facebook. The two know one another from high school (both are Godwin Eagles).

Liz’s Canterbury house had been updated over the 15 years she’d lived there, so it didn’t need much work to be presentable for prospective buyers. They cleaned the place up a bit, purged a few loose items, and hit the road for the weekend for the showings and open house.

Oh, and who can forget the photos! “The photographer Mark works with is phenomenal,” Liz says. “When I saw the pictures of my house, I was like, ‘Oh my God, do we really want to move?’ The listing generated a ton of traffic.” "The results are not something I could have done on my own."

The house went live on a Thursday. They received multiple offers, and signed a contract on Monday. With an original asking price of $439,900, Mark helped Liz negotiate a sale of $465,000 — all cash, with no inspection. “Mark took care of it all,” she said.

“The results are not something I could have done on my own.”

And while it’s a seller’s market, for buyers, it’s not as easy. Liz is on that side of the game now, and has kept Mark on her team. She continues to search for a townhome in western Henrico, and gets regular updates from Mark on available listings.

“Mark is one of the nicest people I know,” Liz says. “He goes the extra mile. All around, it’s a great experience working with him.”

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Mark is ready to help you with your home sale or purchase. Schedule a Zoom call to get things started. https://calendly.com/kwmarkcipolletti/zoom

 

 

Service — and a Sales Price — that Exceeded Expectations

 

Gwen Childress and her husband Carl were looking to relocate closer to their son and daughter in the Nashville area. They’d lived in western Henrico County, and in the same Kingsley subdivision home, for over 40 years.

 

Gwen’s daughter Carla and son Jason wanted to be involved in the sale. Living nine hours from Richmond made meeting face-to-face with a REALTOR difficult — but thanks to the lessons of the last year, transacting business online wasn’t difficult.

 

Their search for an agent began with three REALTORS via Zoom. “My husband is in real estate and my brother is a CPA, so we’re familiar with the buying and selling process. We’re pretty savvy,” Carla said. But they were impressed by Mark’s knowledge and approach. ”What stood out about Mark was his attention to detail and his attitude of doing whatever it took to work in the best interests of his clients.”

 

With minimal time and a wild pandemic market, Mark began navigating the selling process, using virtual methods to his advantage. He made the process simple for the family, using a PowerPoint presentation to guide decision-making. Despite being remote, Carla and Jason were entirely involved, regularly updated with texts, calls and emails. “Mark kept all of us informed of what was going on, so we knew what was happening and when,” said Gwen. 

 

‘We felt like our parents were in good hands.’

Because the family aimed to get the home on the market fast, there was little time to prepare. Mark brought in a handyman to make minor repairs and paint, a service he provides to all his listing clients. Mark and his three sons even took care of cleaning up the yard and mulching when professional landscapers were unavailable on short notice.

 

“He’s a compassionate person,” Carla said. “He met my parents where they were. Some needed updates to the home just weren’t done, but it didn’t prohibit them from getting several terrific offers.”

 

Indeed, to everyone’s surprise, the home sold for $85,000 over the asking price — 14.5% higher than the list price in a market averaging 3.4% over asking. 

 

To celebrate the sale, Mark brought Gwen and Carl dinner from Ukrop’s Market Hall, giving them one last taste of Richmond before their move to Tennessee. 

 

“Mark seemed very in tune to what needed to be done and worked very hard to get it done efficiently,” Gwen said. “He went well beyond the call of duty to make sure we had a good experience.”

 

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Mark is ready to help you with your home sale or purchase. Schedule a Zoom call to get things started. https://calendly.com/kwmarkcipolletti/zoom

 

A New Realtor, a New Area, and a Wild Market

Mark Cipolletti made Marty and Maddie’s first home purchase a swift success.

The couple began their home search in Alexandria, but navigating prices and demand of the pandemic market proved difficult. “We started looking at the exact wrong time. We were unwilling to pay those prices,” Maddie explained.

As they expanded their search to the Richmond area, they were connected with Mark, a longtime local native, by Bonnetta Hubbard, their Keller Williams REALTOR® in Northern Virginia.

“We weren’t the easiest clients to accommodate.”

Since Marty, Maddie, and their four children were based in NoVA, exploring home options in Richmond (two-plus hours away in good traffic) was tough. They knew they wanted a home with a Catholic school nearby and had their budget in mind. Being first-time buyers with loads of questions, Mark took time to walk them through the process. 

“We were completely unaware of how the whole thing worked. Mark built a full spreadsheet that clearly showed us the homes we should be looking for given our budget and available cash,” Maddie said. Mark suggested searching for suitable homes that needed some work, to compete with fewer buyers and to allow Marty and Maddie to make improvements over time that would enhance their investment.

The family had a planned camping trip in North Carolina and would be passing through Central Virginia. So Mark planned several house tours around the two travel days through the area.

During a tour on their way home (all six “smoky and dirty” from the camping weekend), they found a home in Bon Air, and put in an offer. The home was close to a local Catholic school, one of the most important aspects in the home search. “You could tell Mark was listening to us and our needs,” said Maddie.

‘A positive, thoughtful experience’

To everyone’s surprise, the offer of just $10,000 over asking was quickly accepted in a market where offers of $50,000 or more over asking have become commonplace. “I must admit that we were all stunned since I had been priming them for losing out on several homes before landing one,” Mark said. “Our strategy to focus on homes that needed some work paid off and avoided a bidding war in this crazy seller's market.” Plus, limiting the number of trips to Richmond to look at houses was a huge stress relief for these busy parents.

“It was a very positive experience,” Maddie said. “Mark was truly thoughtful and you could tell he really cared about our family's needs.” 

During their time with Mark, they also mentioned they enjoyed taking their kids to minor-league baseball games — a low-cost, family-friendly activity.

So in his usual style, as he does with all his clients, Mark left a framed sketch of their new home in the foyer — along with six free tickets to a Richmond Flying Squirrels game.

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Mark is ready to help you with your home sale or purchase. Schedule a Zoom call to get things started. https://calendly.com/kwmarkcipolletti/zoom

 

Michele and Kenny Brooks Were Pursuing Their Dream of a Home on the Water

They’d initially hunted for homes around Lake Gaston, a popular destination on the Virginia-North Carolina border, and worked with a real estate agent in that area. But prices in the area have exploded in recent years. “Our housing dollar did not go very far in that market,” Kenny lamented, and when they finally found a house in their budget, the owner was unwilling to fix the home’s many problems.

So they turned their eyes back to Virginia, closer to their Mechanicsville home. Regulars at the Urbanna Oyster Festival and with friends in Lancaster County, they decided to focus on the Northern Neck and surrounding communities. They hired Mark as their Realtor. For their house hunts, Mark would come with all necessary paperwork and their journey mapped out down to the minute. He even had drinks and snacks. “He was totally prepared,” Michele said. “He never missed a detail.”

The Brooks toured nine homes before they found The One. “We pulled up in the driveway of this place and it clicked for us on all levels,” Kenny says. The house checked off their requirements: a dock, privacy, and the ability to sleep a lot of people. “We wanted it to be a big gathering place for family and friends,” Michele says of the four-bedroom home. It also had a garage — a bonus — where Kenny can work on his “little project” of restoring a 1966 Ford Mustang (he’s three years into it, with still a ways to go).

Their original offer for the property, located at the confluence of Millenbeck Prong and the Corrotoman River, was $34,000 less than the list price, and the owner wasn’t willing to budge. “Mark was helpful throughout that process and when it fell through, he told the Realtor to keep us in mind,” Michele says. Mark kept tabs on the listing and when it still hadn’t sold a few weeks later, he called the listing agent to see if her client wanted to reconsider our offer.

"Mark's persistence got us the house. On our second round of negotiations we ended up agreeing to a price that was $24,000 under the original list price," says Michele. The Brooks closed in January. “Mark was so detail oriented and focused on getting us to the finish line. He just always wanted to make sure that we were getting the best deal we could get,” Michele says. “We really appreciated his dedication to our best interests.”

During the inspection, Mark also worked closely with the listing agent to ensure fixes were addressed prior to closing. “Mark was totally on top of everything,” Michele says. “Nothing fell through the cracks.”

And as he does with all his buyers, at closing, Mark presented the couple with an original, framed sketch of their new river home.

 

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Mark is ready to help you with your home sale or purchase. Schedule a Zoom call to get things started. https://calendly.com/kwmarkcipolletti/zoom

 

 

A First-time Home Buying Experience That ‘Blew Our Minds’

Five hours. Five houses. One Saturday. Mark Cipolletti came prepared.

 

“I was impressed, because when we met him that day, he had a cooler filled with water and snacks,” recalls client Beth Clingenpeel, who with husband Tim met their REALTOR® at the first walk-thru home in Ashland on a hot Saturday in June. “He said, ‘I know we have a crazy day ahead, so I want to make sure we have time to eat as we can’t stop for lunch.’” Mark had also not only mapped the route they’d take that day, but drove it himself the day prior to make sure he knew the roads. “Those little touches were amazing,” Beth says. “He blew our minds.”

 

“I didn’t know the home buying process could be so easy.”

 

It was house three of five, on a sun-kissed cul-de-sac in Mechanicsville’s AshCreek neighborhood, that was love-at-first-sight for the parents of soon-to-be-three. “As we drove in, I loved the entryway, the trees, the young families everywhere,” Beth recalls. The house was “right within” the couple’s price-point, and more importantly, met the list of all their “must-haves” and most all their “nice-to-haves.” Mark, by the way, had created a checklist for each home listing the musts, nices, and absolutely-nots (no busy street out front, as they’d had in Fredericksburg).

 

With their home under contract, Mark didn’t disappear. He managed the inspection and repairs process. He also helped the first-time homebuyers run the financing gauntlet, working directly with the mortgage lender, First Community Bank, and keeping Beth and Tim appraised of the progress so they could handle packing and work (all during a pandemic). 

 

At closing – done in just 45 days — Mark presented the pair with a custom drawing of their home, made by a local artist, as a gift. “That picture now has a central space in our new home,” she says. Overall, Beth says, Mark was flexible and accessible anytime the couple had a question. “And I had a lot of questions,” she jokes. “He provided us with a wonderful experience. I didn’t know the home buying process could be so easy.”

 

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Mark is ready to help you with your home sale or purchase. Schedule a Zoom call to get things started. https://calendly.com/kwmarkcipolletti/zoom

 

“Mark was such a pleasure to work with, and was very honest and professional.”

 

Debbie Harris was overwhelmed.

 

In the middle of a global pandemic, she was charged with selling her uncle’s house of over four decades. As his health started to decline in recent years, so did upkeep to his Mechanicsville home. He knew it was time to move to an assisted-living community.

 

The three-bedroom brick rancher, Debbie notes, is in a great neighborhood and looks nice from the street. “But the inside,” she said, “was a mess.”

 

She didn’t know the first thing about selling a home. She was referred to Mark Cipolletti by his colleague, Christina Hall — who happens to be Debbie’s daughter.

 

On their first meeting Mark immediately quashed concerns, taking over the complicated paperwork, listing requirements, and marketing strategy of the property. Debbie and others spent the better part of a month clearing out the home to prepare for sale. Empty but for appliances, the house went on the market in late September “as-is” — needing some obvious work on the floors, walls, and various unseen unknowns.

 

It sold 24 hours later after receiving eight offers. To finalize the deal, Debbie visited her uncle in his new assisted living apartment while Mark waited outside due to COVID-restrictions at the community. They were about to sign the papers when Mark called from the parking lot: another offer had come in. While it wasn't the most attractive offer for Debbie's uncle, it did increase the ultimate purchase price for the home due to an escalation clause in the winning bid. The home ultimately sold for $11,000 over asking price.

 

“Mark was such a pleasure to work with, and was very honest and professional. He handled everything, guided us on what we needed to do, and kept us in the loop on the entire process,” Debbie says. “I would recommend him to anyone.”

 

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Mark is ready to help you with your home sale or purchase. Schedule a Zoom call to get things started. https://calendly.com/kwmarkcipolletti/zoom