Tennis. Social media. Hyper-local expertise. These are the elements that provided the impetus for Nathan Shih to choose John L. Scott broker Peng Tea when he decided to sell his home in Bellevue last fall.

A native Eastsider, Shih purchased the home in 2008 in the Bridle Trails neighborhood. He remembers feeling exhilarated to be a first-time homeowner.

“Whereas renting is a temporary mindset, owning a home makes you want to keep adding value. For me, owning means putting more heart in your place.”

Shih’s reference to heart has another meaning too: he proposed to his wife in the home in 2011. They recently celebrated their sixth anniversary.

After nine years of ownership, Shih and his wife considered making the home a rental property. Nathan contacted his former high school tennis teammate, Tea, via Facebook to ask for assistance with getting necessary rental documents. Also, he casually asked Tea: “What do you think the home would be worth if we sold it?”

Numbers are, in fact, Tea’s specialty. Formerly of the tech industry, Tea applies the analytical skills he honed leading a team of developers to his real estate career.

A believer in the philosophy that the time to sell is when it is right for you, Tea shared comps with Shih and his wife, and reminded them of the high desirability of the neighborhood: close to Microsoft and Google campuses, in an award-winning school district, and within walking distance of a future light rail station.

“We never felt pushed working with Peng. We just knew it was time to move on, and Peng gave us the numbers to confirm when we felt was the best decision for us.”

Rather than list the property immediately, however, they decided to further update it to ensure it would fetch a premium price. “Another thing I really valued about working with Peng was his advice on where to spend the remodel budget. His recommendation to invest in the kitchen, for example, was strategic counsel that really paid off.”

The house was listed on a Wednesday in October and, within one week, they had ten offers. “I was surprised by the intensity of the demand,” said Shih. Tea filled in additional details: “The most attractive offers were free of contingencies and offered nonrefundable earnest money. We also had one cash offer but — because the proof of funds weren’t shown to already be in the U.S. — we felt it was safer to go with an offer in which the assets were more accessible.”

The home sold for $85,050 above the original asking price and $130,000 above the last highest priced home sold in that townhome community. Shih described the transactional experience as “exceeding expectations” on all fronts: the opportunity to work with a high school friend, the level of service, and the higher than expected price thanks to multiple offers.

“I highly recommend Peng to anyone looking for a broker. Peng was our advocate throughout the entire process. In addition to being a subject matter expert — especially in the areas of when to list, the price, and staging the property — I like the way Peng does business: he’s very detail-oriented and incredibly responsive. These are absolutely qualities you want in a person you are trusting with one of the largest financial transactions of your life.”

Tea was recently honored with a Chairman Circle award for being a top-producing broker in 2017, a significant distinction among the company’s 3,000+ broker associates.

If you’d like to get in touch with Peng Tea, email him at pengtea@johnlscott.com.