SSS #318: Project Weston SOLD!

Livin' La Vida Luna y Luca

Soakin' up the last bit of warmth @ the park.

Project Weston SOLD!

Last week, I gave Project Fairmount the code name: Project Murphy because what could go wrong did go wrong.

This week, I'm happy to give Project Weston the code name: Project Kismet because it took a handful of pieces to fall perfectly into place to get this deal across the finish line.

Previous Owner

Let's start with the lovely couple we bought this home from. I tagged the house while driving for dollars, and my partner sent them a "We Buy Houses" postcard.

They called us and told us to kick rocks, except it was much more animated and vulgar.

My partner, however, being the calm-cool-collected guy he is, followed up a few months later... It just so happened to be a day after the couple had a heart-to-heart conversation about moving down south.

The rest is history.

New NJ Mansion Tax

I promise this will be the last time I bring this up...maybe.

In the last week of June 2025, NJ passed a new Mansion Tax with no warning.

It went from 1% of the purchase price on homes over $1M paid by the buyer to an escalating fee paid by the seller.

1% on > $1M
2% on > $2M
2.5% on > $2.5M
3% on > $3M

This is probably not a big deal and likely affects very few people. However, it directly impacts my business. For context, the least expensive home we delivered this year was $1.7M, and I don't think we'll be selling another home close to that price anytime soon.

Anyway, there was a clause in the new law. If you were under contract to sell by July 10 and delivered the home by November 15, you would be grandfathered into the old rules.

So on a Saturday morning, while watching the kids' soccer practice, I called my partner to vent. We decided, in that moment, to call our agent, get the house listed ASAP, and shoot for a contract before the July 10th deadline.

We were able to do it with 7 minutes to spare. The house was barely out of framing. Thankfully, we had 2 similar completed projects to show the buyer. Those ~2 weeks were a perfect storm.

Project Timeline

We absolutely CRUSHED this timeline. I did Project Washington by myself (as an owner) with a Project Manager, and it took almost two years to complete.

The average of every other project besides Weston took roughly 1.15 years, or 14 months.

Somehow, we got Weston done in 11 months. Some of that is from applying lessons learned along the way, but a lot of that was just...kismet. 🤷🏽‍♂️