Livin' La Vida Luna y Luca
We made it to the town pool once this summer, and that was only because it felt like we were running out of time. Funny how that works.
Project Girard SOLD!
Project Girard might be my favorite one to date.
How we sourced it, the floorplan, the marketing strategy, and the construction timeline all worked out in our favor.
I'm struggling to recall any obstacles here.
Sourcing:
The seller called me off a mailer, and a local agent called my partner because she had an inside track with the seller's family. We attacked from two separate angles.
Ultimately, my partner built more rapport with the seller than I could, so he put the property under contract using a strategy we like to call "over the top". That's when you offer the seller a little more than they're asking for, with the understanding that they're not going to shop your offer to other parties.
Floorplan:
Floorplans
We did what we always do for the floorplan: found something that worked and improved it.
Some of the improvements made: adding a first-floor en-suite behind the garage, restructuring the primary bedroom, and doing all en-suites instead of shared hallway baths upstairs.
Marketing:
We received an unsolicited full-price offer from a neighbor looking to upgrade their home while we were framing.
Before that offer turned into a contract, the buyers requested a few changes to the floorplan and finish selections. We went back and forth on what types of changes we were willing to entertain, but we couldn't come to an agreement.
We ended up letting the buyer go, which was highly uncharacteristic of us. My partner and I are very much "Bird in Hand" type people.
When it came time to list the property on the market, I gathered data that supported increasing the price by $100,000 over our original ask. It was crickets for a few weeks. But just as I started to question my ability to predict the market, a relocation buyer fell in love with the home and made an offer we accepted after one short round of negotiation.
Timeline:
We purchased this home on 10/06/2025 and sold it on 8/21/2026.
319 days total. 10 months and 15 days. That's friggen lightning fast for new construction.
We requested our first draw 186 days ago, which means we broke ground ~216 days ago, assuming demo, excavation, & foundation took 30 days.
319-216= 103 days in entitlements. There's some room for improvement on that process, but not much. Maybe 13 days or so.
All in all, I think this project came out great, and I'm very much looking forward to doing another one of these as soon as possible.
Click here to see more pics.
✌🏽&❤️