THE SELLER
Borhan Kotry, owner of a courier company, was splitting up with his wife of 19 years, Tara. Their house was one of the largest in the Scarborough enclave of Birch­mount, at 2,780 square feet, with four bedrooms and five bathrooms. The development, built in 1999, backs onto the Warden Woods ravine. Though nothing in the area had sold for more than $580,000, the Kotrys decided their large house could break the $600,000 barrier. They listed it at $625,000 on May 31. “We hoped to get about that,” says Borhan. “But then the market fell apart.”

The prep
Joyce LeClair of Keller Williams spent a week in April drawing up a seven-page to-do list, including touching up the painting, replacing wall plates and lampshades, distributing strategic floral arrangements and decluttering.

The strategy
LeClair placed ads in local papers, including Beach Metro and Snap (“I find The Star just hasn’t been working,” she says), as well as on Kijiji and Craigs­list, updated weekly, and a flyer delivered to homes in the neighbourhood.

The open house
There were five. The first, which usually attracts only neighbours, pulled in 20 people—a decent showing these days. The least successful drew two. The Kotrys worried they had priced it too high, but LeClair, who survived the last bust, told them to hang tight.

The offers
The first offer, for $615,000, came on June 5, from the owner of a house-painting company, an open-house walk-in who asked LeClair to represent him. The offer was conditional on the buyer selling his house in 45 days, so the listing stayed open.

The wait
Two verbal offers, both lower, were rejected. And then disaster struck. The U.S. market tanked and Canadian banks started to sweat. The buyer’s lender asked him for stronger proof of credit-worthiness. “We were there until 9 p.m. on closing day,” LeClair says. “The buyer was calling family members in Europe to try to get extra money.” He got the down payment the bank needed, but the buyer’s own house had still not sold. Closing passed. LeClair tried to dig up the contact information for those verbal offers.

6

The sale
The first week of September, the painter’s mother stepped up and said she’d take his old place off his hands. The bank approved the mortgage and the deal closed on September 8 at $610,000. The Kotrys went their separate ways.

Where: Scarborough’s Warden Woods
Listed at: $625,000 on May 31
Sold for: $610,000 on September 8

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• Crash Test: Torontonians are getting creative about recession-proofing their properties
• How Bad Do You Want It?: The truth about bidding wars