Case study | Written by Caitlin Ellis
How a Villages of Piedmont Family Sold With Four Kids at Home and Never Hosted a Showing
A family on Leopold's Trail in Villages of Piedmont wanted to move to Catharpin but did not want to prepare and show a house with four kids living in it. We sold it without ever putting it on the market. The buyers came from three streets away, a couple ready to move up from their townhome. We sold that townhome in 4 days for $26,000 over asking, a neighborhood record at the time, after an open house with a food truck.
What was the situation?
Two families, both in Villages of Piedmont in Haymarket, and one chain that solved both their problems.
The first family lived on Leopold's Trail, the first street as you come into the neighborhood. Four kids at home. They were moving to Catharpin and needed to sell, but the idea of getting a house market-ready and then keeping it clean for showings with four children in it was not something they wanted to live through. Anyone who has tried it understands.
The second family owned a townhome at 682 William White Way, a few streets over. They had outgrown it and wanted a single-family home, and they wanted to stay in Villages of Piedmont.
How do you sell a house with four kids at home?
You find the buyer before the house ever hits the market.
Listing a home means photos, prep, staging, and then weeks of clearing out every time somebody wants to walk through. With small children that is genuinely hard, and it is the reason some families put off moving for years longer than they want to.
So we sold the Leopold's Trail house off market, which simply means it never went on the MLS and was never publicly advertised. It went to a buyer we already knew was looking, in a transaction the sellers controlled.
What did we do?
We worked both sides of the move.
For the townhome owners, we listed 682 William White Way properly, and we did not run a standard open house. We brought in the Vienna Inn food truck and served chili dogs, and we marketed it to the neighborhood. We would rather give people a reason to show up than put a sign in the yard and wait. Neighbors come to something like that, and neighbors know who is looking to move up.
The townhome went under contract in 4 days at $26,000 over asking, a record in the neighborhood at the time.
For the Leopold's Trail family, those same townhome owners became their buyers. The family never prepped the house, never listed it, and never hosted a showing. They moved to Catharpin on their own timeline.
This was a disclosed dual representation transaction, with both parties consenting in writing. Both sides got what they came for. The sellers avoided a listing they did not want, and the buyers moved up to a single-family home in the neighborhood they already loved without bidding against anyone for it.
What did each family get?
The Leopold's Trail sellers sold without ever preparing or listing the house, without a single showing, and without disrupting four kids. They moved when they were ready.
The townhome owners got $26,000 over asking in 4 days, a neighborhood record at the time, and then moved up to a single-family home in Villages of Piedmont without competing against other buyers for it.
What would we tell someone in the same position?
If you are selling with small kids at home, ask your agent whether selling off market is realistic for your house. It is not right everywhere. It works when the neighborhood has buyers actively waiting, which Villages of Piedmont does. In a slower market, skipping the open market usually costs you money, so this is a conversation about your specific house and your specific neighborhood, not a strategy to apply blindly.
If you are in a townhome and want more space, look at your own neighborhood first. People assume moving up means moving out. In communities with a real range of housing, the move you want may be three streets away, with the same schools, the same neighbors, and no change to your commute.
And if you are selling anything, ask what the plan is beyond listing it. An open house with a reason to attend brings neighbors, and neighbors are the people who know who is trying to move into your street.
Common questions about selling off market and moving up in Villages of Piedmont
Sometimes, and it depends entirely on your neighborhood. It works where buyers are actively waiting and inventory moves quickly, because a serious buyer will come to the house whether or not it is publicly listed. In a slower market, fewer eyes usually means a lower price. The honest answer is that it is worth asking about, not worth assuming.
The two things that help most are doing the prep work before you need it and limiting how much of your life the sale takes over. Selling off market, as this family did, removes showings entirely. If you do go on the market, having photos, staging, and repairs finished in advance means a shorter window of disruption rather than a months-long one.
Not necessarily. This family's buyers came without competing, and on the other side of the same chain, a townhome we did list went $26,000 over asking in 4 days. Whether off market costs you depends on demand in your specific neighborhood. In a place where homes go under contract in a week, a serious buyer will still pay. In a slower market, exposure is usually worth more.
In a lot of Northern Virginia communities, yes. Villages of Piedmont has townhomes and single-family homes, so a townhome owner can move up once without changing schools, neighbors, or commute. Piedmont down the road has an even wider range. It is worth asking before you start looking at other towns.
It is called dual representation, and in Virginia it is allowed when both parties agree to it in writing. That is what happened here. Both families consented, and both got what they wanted: the sellers avoided a listing they did not want, and the buyers got a house without bidding against anyone.
A sign in the yard and a plate of cookies usually does not do much. An event people want to attend is different. We brought a food truck and marketed it to the neighborhood, and the people who turned up were neighbors, who are often the ones who know exactly who is trying to move up on their street. That townhome was under contract in 4 days.
Who wrote this case study?
Caitlin Ellis is a licensed REALTOR® and co-owner of Ellis Properties at Samson Properties. She is the top-selling agent in Villages of Piedmont, with 32 transactions over the last ten years, nearly three times the next agent, and she lived in the community for four years. She works primarily with clients who are selling one home and buying another at the same time.
