A Lovely Home Buying Experience
This month Lisa Von Domek invites us to share some of the more amorous transactions we've had the pleasure of participating in, and my first entry is a no brainer because it closed just 6 days ago.
A lot of people hate working with their friends and family. I'm not one of them. The reason I think I enjoy it is that I treat friends and family just like I treat the majority of clients - like friends and family. My job is to educate, guide, and offer as much help and understanding as I can while getting a mortgage through the finish line. What my job is not (for friends, family, and 
complete strangers) is to be a doormat, argue over prices, and provide a supernatural level of service at 0 cost. As long as I've held that model, friends, family, and complete strangers have all been a joy to work with.
The recent transaction that was one of my favorite all time was for my best childhood friend. This guy moved to my neighborhood when we were in 3rd grade, and we became fast friends. We shared a love of hockey, music, and getting into trouble. I moved away in 6th grade, and as fate would have it, his family eventually (without him) moved to the same town I did, and I kept in touch with his family. He came to my high school graduation party. I haven't seen him much over the years, but we've kept in touch thanks to social media.
When he wanted to buy a house, he called me, all the way from Pennsylvania and years away from seeing each other last. A family friend was selling a home and wanted to go through the transaction without real estate agent involvement (red flags, anyone?). First time home buyer, 3000 miles away, with no representation...good idea, right (where's the sarcasm font button?)?
While I advised he get some help, I decided to help as best I could. I got him a copy of an official contract, had he and the seller go through it step by step, and I reviewed it to make sure all the t's were crossed and i's were dotted. Everything looked good, and he was getting a good deal on the property - seemed like the family friend was really being a friend. The inspection confirmed that. Home was in great shape, appraisal came in higher than the contract price, and my friend made settlement on his house last week.
My favorite part? He, his wife, and their young son were sharing a 2 bed apartment and I learned there's a new baby on the way. So in about a month, he went from uncertain of what they were going to do and doubtful they could afford to get into a new home to keys in hand and moving into their new, much larger, home, with plenty of space for the growing family.
They're super happy, I'm super excited for them, and I can't wait to get over to Pennsylvania again in a month or two to check out the new place!
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