Murphy's Law is alive and well especially when you end up doing a short sale with a family member. Twas the summer of 2008 and my sister's oldest daughter and her fiance were ready to start looking for a home. Being that I am their Aunt they had no other choice but to come to me or be written out of my sister's will. Well, as most Realtors know the hardest client is a FAMILY MEMBER!!!
As long time Fox Valley residents all we had to do was narrow down the choices to what town to start our search. Aurora was out because they had been renting in one of the smaller towns around the 2nd largest city in the state.....Yes, Aurora is the 2nd largest city in IL....not the favored sister town which everyone knows that starts with a N...... and is always in Money....but its tougher, worldly sister...Aurora. Hey, I grew up in this town, went to school, got married, divorced...got married....divorced and went into real estate in this town..so I have a soft spot for it. But I digress.
Narrowed down to a smaller town....Yorkville....Plano....Montgomery....Oswego...I guess I showed quite a few homes to my niece all summer long but nothing was hitting the emotional buttons. Late fall andI was getting a bit worn around the edges and my niece was starting to think that all the builders did their shopping in the same big builder's warehouse because the homes were looking the same.
Then the magic moment arrived and we found IT....she knew the moment she walked into it and I knew my job was almost over. She was "In LOVE"! The perfect townhome....OK she wanted single family but after looking at some in her price range she was a bit underwhelmed. Barely 3 years old, sleek, with a great floor plan, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2 car garage, a large kitchen and best of all a large loft perfect for a 2nd floor family room. Now, the hard part or the good part depending on how you view it started.
The home was a short sale! Agh! I was excited....I saw opportunity...great price and possible loss of income. My niece was in love and all she had to do was show it to her fiance since he was the one buying it after all. So we thew some other homes in for a weekend showing....all the almost right ones and kept our fingers crossed. After spending about 2.5 hrs seeing homes in the greater Auroraland area.....we saved the "perfect" home for last. We held our breath as we told him it was a pre-foreclosure. All he saw was that it was 5 minutes from work, had a 2 car garage and then when he walked upstairs and I heard him talking about putting his 50" plasma TV on the wall....I knew we had him! He felled fast and furious.
Now my job really started! Contract signed, price set.....about 30K less than asking and the wait started.
I won't bore you with the long details but let me make this SHORT....contract signed 10/10/08.....offer verbally accepted late November, closing set for early December, cancelled due to formal acceptance, rescheduled for last Friday in December, cancelled due to HOA lien, rescheduled, cancelled due to loan hiccup (another story...don't get me started), rescheduled 1 more time and finally closed January 9, 2009. Closing at 9:00 a.m. disbursement .......4:55 p.m. Enough said!
We had more drama during this time than a segment of Oprah, Jerry Springer and Ellen put together. But as they say....all is fair in love and war....and as my niece's fiance.exclaimed..Who came up with the name "Short Sale????...because there is nothing short about it!"
They are thrilled that they waited because the home is well worth it. They have equity built in and would not have been able to afford buying in this neighborhood when the home was built. They are in the same school district...minutes from his job..minutes to expressway and Shopping..10 minutes from my sister and 10 minutes from ....their favorite Aunt the short - "Short Sale" Realtor(r),.
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