Where Do I Park My Car?
This post was inspired by this: What Do You Mean My Car Won't Fit ...
Years ago, when I was 19, I bought my first home, when I was 27-years old I was buying house #3.
My buyer's agent was pushy. I knew it at the time and told her to take a hike after a few annoying instances.
One of which was when she had showed me a condo in a very nice area. I liked the unit and she was very eager to have me sign on the dotted line and make an offer.
I was just about ready to put my signature on the offer, and something made me ask . . .
"Where do I park my car?"
She stammered, hemmed and hawed . . . and told me to sign the offer. "We'll figure that out later."
"No, we're going to figure this out now . . . Where do I park my car? I'm not signing anything until I know!"
The condo complex had covered parking . . . covered for every unit . . . except the unit I wanted to buy. My car would have been parked in an alley, uncovered, and exposed to the elements (namely the California sun . . . ) I would be paying full HOA dues, but had nothing but a parking slip at the end of the alley.
My agent wanted me buy . . . just buy, and I could tell that her concern seemed to be more on closing the deal then where I was going to park my car. She argued with me, and the purchase seemed to be all about her, and not about what my needs were, at that time.
I stopped using her, and bought another unit through another agent. The townhouse had a lovely two-car attached garage.
The point is, it's important for the buyers and their agents to consider everything that entails the home purchase . . . including: PARKING!
The time to bring up "Where do I park my car?" is not after the offer is made, agreed to and mutually accepted. The time to think about that is prior to an offer.
I've pointed out many tough parking situations to my clients, and they thanked me. I suppose it's the "Due Diligence" I find in doing my job.
Parking can be hampered by:
- Narrow streets
- Small parking spaces
- HOA's that don't allow off-street parking
- HOA's that don't allow panel trucks with advertising
- Older homes that have parking very detached from the property
- Homes built on slopes that have no garage access to the property without scaling two flights of stairs
- Driveways that are steep
- etc.
Heck, I've shown property that had street parking with a elevator lift up to the home. The views in the house were GREAT! Parking was a bear!
It's called . . . DUE DILIGENCE!
Our clients depend on us to help them with this process.
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