Selling a decatur home

from 4,000 miles away

How do you prepare a home to list

when you’re separated by an ocean?

PROBLEM: After 20 years in her Decatur home, the seller had moved to France, leaving behind aging systems, deferred maintenance, an overgrown yard, and a long list of projects that needed attention before the house was ready for market.

RECOMMENDATIONS: Address the high-priority mechanical and electrical issues first, then tackle exterior maintenance, landscaping, paint, and staging to present a well-maintained, move-in-ready home rather than asking buyers to inherit a project.

ACTION: Through our project management service, Eric sourced bids, coordinated vendors, monitored the work, and adjusted plans as conditions changed, while the sellers continued their lives overseas.

RESULTS: After completing the work and launching at $699,000, we adjusted to $675,000 after two weeks, secured a contract in 21 days, and ultimately closed at $681,000.

CONCLUSION: Preparing a house from another country could have become a second full-time job. Instead, the sellers had one team on the ground managing the details from the first contractor visit through closing.

BEFORE
AFTER

Their Second Sale With Us, But a Much Bigger Project

This was actually our second time working with these clients in two years. Before marrying his current wife, the husband had purchased a townhome following his first marriage. After the couple met, that property became a rental. When they began planning an international move to France, they hired us to prepare and sell the townhome, which we successfully sold in September 2025.

By the following year, it was time to sell her house at 153 Ponce de Leon Court and complete the move. This was a different undertaking. She had lived in the home since 2005, and after more than 20 years, there were some significant maintenance projects that we believed should be addressed before asking a buyer to make it their home.

Complicating matters, the sellers weren't going to be around to manage any of it. Their new life in France had already begun.

BEFORE
AFTER

Project Management Became the Key

One of the optional services we offer sellers is project management. There's a small additional fee for the service, while the sellers pay contractors directly for the work itself. But instead of handing clients a list of things we think they should do and leaving them to figure out how to get it all accomplished, Eric on our team handles the process.

He walks the property and helps prioritize which improvements are actually worth considering. He sources quotes from multiple vendors, helps evaluate those bids, schedules the work, communicates with contractors, checks progress, and makes sure the finished work meets expectations.

That's useful for almost any seller with a demanding job, a large family, or simply no desire to become a temporary general contractor. For sellers living thousands of miles away in another country, it can completely change what is practical. In this case, our clients could continue building their new life in France while Eric became their eyes, ears, and boots on the ground back in Decatur.

BEFORE
AFTER

Twenty Years of Maintenance to Prioritize

The goal wasn't to renovate a 20-year family home into something brand new. It was to distinguish between the things buyers would reasonably expect to work and cosmetic improvements that would help the house make a stronger first impression.

Some of the mechanical issues were substantial. Both the furnace and water heater were at the ends of their useful lives, so we recommended replacing them at a combined cost of $11,650. There were also electrical problems that needed correction, including an improperly installed system that caused the stove to repeatedly trip the breaker.

Outside, the home needed attention as well. A beautiful backyard garden and the large magnolia in front had become overgrown. Approximately $2,600 in landscaping brought those areas back under control. Pressure washing, exterior touch-up painting, and repairs to deteriorating portions of the deck became part of a larger $15,900 exterior project.

These weren't improvements chosen simply to make a long list of “new” features for the listing. They were targeted investments intended to remove the kinds of visible maintenance concerns that can make buyers wonder what else might have been deferred.

BEFORE
AFTER

When the Plan Changed, We Changed With It

The hot tub provided a perfect example of why managing a project like this from France would have been difficult.

An inoperable hot tub had been built directly into the deck. We initially obtained a $1,875 proposal to repair it and scheduled the work. But when the hot tub technician arrived and was able to evaluate the equipment more thoroughly, he determined that its condition was considerably worse than expected. Repairing it no longer made financial sense. Replacement would have been the better option.

But replacing an old hot tub solely for the benefit of the next homeowner didn't make much sense either.

So we changed course. We cancelled the repair rather than having the sellers throw good money after bad. The hot tub was removed, and our contractor rebuilt the resulting opening in the deck for approximately $2,000.

It's a relatively small part of the overall project, but it's a good illustration of what project management actually means. The job isn't simply scheduling contractors from a checklist. It's having someone at the property who can recognize when the original plan no longer makes sense, communicate with everyone involved, and find a better solution.

BEFORE
AFTER

Making 2005 Feel Fresh Again

Once the maintenance issues were addressed, we turned our attention to presentation.

After two decades in the house, the interior needed a reset. We repainted throughout in a neutral, creamy shade of white that immediately made the rooms feel brighter and allowed the home's natural light and architectural features to take center stage. We then brought in approximately $3,500 worth of professional staging, giving the house a polished, cohesive presentation for photography and showings.

The landscaping, pressure washing, exterior touch-ups, repaired deck, fresh interior paint, and staging weren't intended to disguise the home's age. They allowed buyers to encounter a house that felt cared for rather than one presenting them with a list of projects from the moment they pulled into the driveway.

Meanwhile, the sellers didn't have to fly back from France to meet the landscaper, let contractors into the house, compare bids, check the deck repair, or make sure the staging arrived. We handled those details here while they remained overseas.

BEFORE
AFTER

From France to the Closing Table

We brought the finished home to market at $699,000. After two weeks, the market was telling us that our initial price wasn't quite generating the response we wanted, so we made the decision to reposition it at $675,000.

That adjustment worked. The home went under contract after 21 days on the market and ultimately sold for $681,000.

There are success stories where the headline is seven offers in a weekend or a sales price dramatically above asking. This one demonstrates something different. These sellers had a 20-year-old home with real maintenance needs, a long list of contractors to coordinate, and an ocean separating them from the property. Our job was to make all of that manageable.

By the time the sale was complete, they hadn't just sold a house in Decatur. They had closed out the last major piece of their old life in Atlanta while already living the new one they'd planned in France. And they didn't have to put that new life on hold to get it done.