The Phone Call That Would've Saved $500,000

When a Lake Keowee homeowner pulled his listing in 2019 after months of price cuts, it felt like the right call. Demand for second homes was soft, offers weren’t materializing, and breaking even seemed like a long shot. Then the world flipped. Remote work surged, “play where you live” became a lifestyle, and lake homes transformed from occasional retreats into full-time residences. Values followed.

A couple of years later, that same property sold off-market in the mid-$700s—only to be relisted by the new owners and closed a few months later for over $1.3M. The original seller? He left more than half a million dollars on the table, all because he didn’t check the new rhythm of the market before signing on the line.

Put plainly, this was the phone call that would've saved $500,000—a single check-in with a market pro that could have bridged the entire gap between a “fine” sale and a life-changing outcome.

Phone Call That Would've Saved $500,000

In this case, the phone call that would've saved $500,000 would have been a quick check-in with a market professional before agreeing to an off-market sale. The story begins pre-pandemic: a Lake Keowee home bought in the mid-$600s, listed in 2019, price-reduced into the $660s, then withdrawn. After remote work reshaped demand, lake properties shifted from second-home status to full-time living for many buyers—yet the owner sold FSBO in the mid-$700s. Within roughly three months, the next owner listed essentially the same property for $1.4M and closed for over $1.3M. The difference wasn’t granite or paint; it was timing, inventory awareness, and someone tracking the sub-market week after week.

What changed after 2019—and why the seller didn’t see it

From the outside, it’s easy to assume the price jump was exaggerated or that the later buyer “overpaid.” In reality, the demand story had shifted. More buyers wanted exactly what lake living offers: space to breathe, lifestyle on the doorstep, and a retreat that didn’t require boarding a plane. That shift had been building for months. If you weren’t tracking Lake Keowee every week, you could miss it—and miss the moment.

That’s the quiet risk of going it alone: the market can change faster than memory, and a price that felt ambitious in 2019 was outdated by 2021.

The comp sheet is only half the story

Pricing isn’t just “what sold.” It’s also what’s for sale. The show breaks the approach into two lenses:

• Comps tell you what will appraise. That’s your backward-looking anchor—similar size, condition, and location within a reasonable time window.

• Inventory tells you what the market will pay right now. When supply is tight for a specific product (say, a Lake Keowee home with certain features), buyers stretch. When supply is sloppy or stale, they don’t.

Both lenses matter. Lean only on past sales, and you can under-capture a surge. Lean only on today’s listings, and you can overreach and watch the market sour on the home.

Zillow can’t decode the one-offs

Automated valuations thrive in neighborhoods with lots of near-identical comps. Unique properties—especially custom lake homes—confuse the algorithms. In this case, even the big portal didn’t have a real read. That’s common with specialty inventory: the data set is too thin, and small differences drive big value changes. It’s exactly where a human who works the sub-market daily earns their keep.

The expensive myths of overpricing and underpricing

Two common tactics sound smart—and quietly cost sellers real money:

• The overpriced trap. Start high “to leave room to negotiate,” then chase the market down with reductions. The show cites a prior large-sample analysis (Episode 40) that found this approach lost about $12 per square foot on average. That’s five figures gone on even a modest home, purely from starting too high and letting buyer sentiment curdle.

• The underpriced circus. List way below the value to spark a bidding war. Yes, it can work in special cases. But it creates a stampede of showings and dozens of offers, which is exhausting for an owner still living in the home—and it isn’t required to hit the top of the market. The goal is the best offers, not the most offers. Ten excellent offers beat thirty chaotic ones every time.

A better path is deliberate: price at or just above the true market, present the home beautifully, and let competition concentrate among the right buyers.

How targeted marketing finds the right buyer (not just any buyer)

Great pricing opens the door; positioning ushers the right buyer through it. One recent listing example from the show: the standout feature was a layout that could function as an in-law suite. The entire package—from description to photo order—spotlighted that possibility. The result? The ideal buyer, strong terms, and a contract above. That’s not luck; it’s alignment.

For unique homes, value isn’t just square footage and finishes. It’s story, function, and fit. The right marketing tells that story to the people who need to hear it most.

Why this Lake Keowee sale hurt so much

With the benefit of hindsight, the math is heartbreaking. The original owner “won” a quick, simple sale in the mid-$700s. The very next owner won a windfall—over $1.3M—without major changes to the property. The difference wasn’t granite or paint. It was market timing and market knowledge.

And that returns to the central truth: a phone call that would’ve saved $500,000 was available the entire time. A single conversation with a professional who actually works the Lake Keowee segment could have recalibrated expectations, verified demand, and launched a strategy to capture the moment.

Practical takeaways for sellers (especially with unique properties)

• Markets move. If you last checked the value a year—or even a quarter—ago, you might be behind the curve today. Confirm before you commit.

• Use two lenses. Comps for appraisal reality, inventory for demand reality. You need both.

• Beware easy narratives. “Start high and test” and “start low and spark a frenzy” both have costs. Precision beats gimmicks.

• Treat specialty homes as specialty products. Algorithmic estimates are least reliable where nuance matters most.

• Make the call. A five-minute conversation can save five or six figures. Sometimes, seven.

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Bottom Line

This wasn’t just a pricing miss—it was a timing miss. The world changed, the Lake Keowee segment transformed, and a short, simple sale left a fortune on the table. For unique properties—and in fast-shifting markets—the edge isn’t a flashy tactic. It’s making the right call at the right time, with someone who knows the terrain. The next half-million-dollar decision might start with a single question: “What’s the market really doing—right now? ”

Ien Araneta

Journal & Podcast Editor | Selling Greenville