From 365 Days on the Market to Under Contract in 18 Days
How Uncovering a Hidden Roof Problem — and Fixing It Before Relaunch — Sold a Stoneybrook Home That Couldn't Sell for an Entire Year
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"The home had been on the market for an entire year without anyone identifying an issue that would likely have caused a future contract to collapse during inspection."
A year. Twelve months. 365 days on the market.
That's how long 12554 Ivory Stone Loop in Stoneybrook at Gateway sat without selling — not for lack of interest in the community, not because the price was impossibly far from market, but because a critical problem was hiding in plain sight and no one had found it.
When the sellers finally contacted The Gottesman Group, they had already reduced their price from $379,000 to $354,000. They had endured a full year of showings that went nowhere, feedback that didn't add up, and the grinding frustration of watching their home sit while their plans stayed on hold.
What they didn't know — and what every other agent who had listed or shown that home didn't know either — was that the roof was actively leaking. And that the roof had reached the end of its useful life.
The Problem Nobody Found
When The Gottesman Group takes on an expired or stagnant listing, our process starts with what we call a Certified Move-In Ready evaluation. This isn't a standard walkthrough. It's a systematic assessment of the property's condition before we bring it back to market — designed specifically to surface the kinds of hidden obstacles that cause contracts to fall apart later.
For 12554 Ivory Stone Loop, that evaluation included a Four-Point Inspection and Wind Mitigation Report — documents that assess the home's four major systems (roof, electrical, plumbing, and HVAC) and evaluate its wind resistance characteristics.
The Four-Point Inspection found active roof leaks and confirmed the roof had reached the end of its useful life.
Think about what that means in context. The home had been listed, shown, and sitting on the market for 365 days. Buyers had walked through it. Agents had previewed it. And in all of that time, no one had identified a problem that would almost certainly have caused any future contract to collapse the moment a buyer's inspector looked at the roof.
"Rather than waiting for a buyer to discover the problem and walk away, we helped the sellers get ahead of it."
Getting Ahead of the Problem
There are two ways to handle a roofing issue discovered before listing. The first is to disclose it, reduce the price, and hope buyers are willing to accept the uncertainty. In today's Florida market — where insurance concerns around roof age and condition have made buyers more cautious than ever — that approach rarely produces a clean transaction.
The second approach is what we recommended to the sellers at 12554 Ivory Stone Loop: fix it before relaunch.
Through one of The Gottesman Group's trusted roofing partners, the sellers arranged for a brand-new roof to be installed before the property went back on the market. The cost of the roof was not paid out of pocket at the time — the sellers paid the roofing contractor directly at closing, out of their proceeds. No large upfront payment. No draining savings.
With a new roof in place, the home's entire buyer conversation changed. Instead of buyers arriving at a showing already anxious about what condition reports might reveal, they arrived at a home that could be marketed as move-in ready — with documentation to back it up.
The Relaunch and the Results
With the roof completed, The Gottesman Group relaunched 12554 Ivory Stone Loop with a completely refreshed presentation, updated photography, and a repositioned marketing strategy. The property came back to market as the kind of listing that today's buyers in Stoneybrook are specifically looking for: a home they can purchase with confidence, not uncertainty.
Property
12554 Ivory Stone Loop, Stoneybrook at Gateway
Previous Market Time
365 days — no acceptable offers
Price Reductions (Previous)
$379,000 → $354,000 with no result
Hidden Issue Discovered
Active roof leaks; roof at end of useful life
Action Taken
Full roof replacement prior to relaunch
Days to Contract (Relaunch)
18 days
Sale Price
$354,900
Days to Close
45 days from relaunch
Roof Payment Timing
Paid directly at closing — no upfront cost
