First Agent Backed Out...

Remember that call I got from TikTok? The person told me they had already signed a listing agreement with another agent. Fast forward a bit, and I got a message: that agent backed out.

The reason? They weren’t the right agent to sell the property.

Here’s the interesting part—earlier conversations showed that agent was fully on board with the pricing and strategy the seller wanted. But when it came time to make the deal happen, they didn’t want to execute.

And truthfully, this wasn’t an easy listing. The house was older, needed significant work, and had tenants in place. Not the kind of “shiny” listing most agents want to deal with.

That’s where the right strategy comes in. Instead of treating this like a “problem” property, we leaned into what made it an opportunity.

Here’s the approach we used:

1. Pre-listing video highlighting the opportunity and location → 2,300 views.

2. Second pre-listing video on fixing up old houses → 2,100 views.

3. Promoted video the day the listing went active—speaking directly to contractors and investors, the most likely buyers → 8,600 views.

4. Video tying the house to downtown Catonsville (because lifestyle matters, even for fixers) → 1,100 views.

5. Newsletter to 900 subscribers with exclusive details and the backstory.

Instead of tossing the house on the MLS and waiting, we built a narrative, created anticipation, and put it in front of the right people.

The result? We showed the house 12 times to 10 different groups and generated 3 offers in 7 days. By day 11, we had a signed contract—on the seller’s terms.

Sometimes, it’s not that a house can’t be sold—it just needs the right plan. If you have a house or situation that needs a specialized approach, let's talk. My name is Matt, and I help people buy and sell houses in Catonsville.