CASE STUDY | RANSON, WEST VIRGINIA

1240 Red Clover Lane

Realtors Chloe Powell & Sherry Santmyer representing buyer Jordan K.

LIST PRICE

$324,240

SALE PRICE

$308,000

STATS

2 B | 2.5 BA | 1,723 SF

THE STORY

Following in Dad's footsteps

Just before Christmas 2025, our client reached out with a new goal: he was ready to become a real estate investor.

He had grown up watching his dad build an investment portfolio in Maryland, and now he felt ready to take on the challenge of becoming a landlord himself.

So, between Christmas and New Year’s, we started exploring.

We toured several communities throughout Jefferson County and ran the numbers together—not simply looking at purchase prices, but asking the more important question: *Does this actually make sense as an investment?*

1240 Red Clover Lane did.

Our client felt comfortable moving forward. The builder, however, was creating a sense of urgency that we didn’t think needed to dictate his decision.

Our message to him was simple: *We’re in control here. We don’t need to let someone else’s timeline pressure us into making a decision.*

So we kept negotiating.

The home was originally priced at $324,240, and we secured it for $308,000—a savings of more than $16,000.

Then came the next wrinkle.

The builder anticipated having the home ready by the end of February, but construction didn’t stay on schedule. Rather than simply accepting the delay, we went back and negotiated another $2,464 toward our client’s closing costs to account for the additional wait.

Eventually, we closed, handed him the keys, and moved into the next phase: finding a tenant.

That part required patience, too.

The home didn’t rent immediately, and we weren’t interested in pretending otherwise. An investment property is still a business decision, and sometimes the right outcome takes a little longer than expected.

Then we found the right tenant.

Not only did they lease the home—they signed a three-year lease, giving our client something particularly valuable as a new landlord: longer-term stability as he begins building his portfolio.

His first investment started with a big idea, a few tours between the holidays, and plenty of questions. It ended with more than $16,000 negotiated off the purchase price, additional closing-cost assistance when the builder missed its timeline, and a tenant committed for three years.

But perhaps the most important part came somewhere in between.

Learning that good investing doesn’t require reacting to someone else’s urgency.

It requires understanding the numbers, knowing when you have leverage, and feeling confident enough to make the decision on your own terms.

For our client, 1240 Red Clover Lane was the first step into something he had watched his father do for years.

Now, he gets to build a portfolio of his own.

Good investing doesn't require reacting to someone else's urgency.

Chloe and Sherry

$16,000

Under asking

Good investing doesn’t require reacting to someone else’s urgency: it requires understanding the numbers, knowing when you have leverage, and feeling confident enough to make the decision on your own terms.