The Eve of Buying Her Very First Home
Yesterday I shared the story of helping former neighbors and lifelong friends through the multiple offer situation on their home. Today I bring you the story of a short-term neighbor that became my friend during a stint in the rental across the street from my house. It starts with her parents.
My husband and I believe whole heartedly in the notion that to have good neighbors you have to BE good neighbors. We moved into our newly constructed home in 2005 only to find that two of the homes in our four house cluster were going to be longer term rentals. Not easy to make friends when situations are temporary. Every time the home across the street became occupied with a new family, we would introduce ourselves. Well, in a couple of instances, those neighborly advances were welcome. Such was the case with Claire's parents.
At the time that Claire's family moved in, she was in high school. My husband and I visited with her parents and really enjoyed having them there. They didn't stay very long. In fact, it wasn't long before a real estate agent's car was picking them up and dropping them off on the weekeends. House hunting. Hmmm. I had only just met these folks....and had my license for a year at the time. Nonetheless, I kept in touch with Claire's mom. Over the years, we got closer and then, last year, we sold her first Virginia home and bought her a downsize, since Claire and her brother were long gone.
This year, Claire's very first home purchase loomed on the horizon and her mom got in touch with me to get Claire started. What a delight this young lady turned out to be. Her goal was to find a home where she could run a mini-shelter for elder dogs. Getting more information from Claire, it turns out that shelters get more public funding based on their turnover/adoption rate. Elder dogs don't improve that number since they take longer to adopt out. So her plan is to shelter some elder dogs at her place to help the local shelter improve their numbers and get more public funding. Works well for all the furry ones.
How could I not get behind this? She was a friend and former neighbor's daughter AND she had that awesome goal. So we went house hunting ninety minutes out of my normal service area, something I have never done. Thankfully, we found her something that will work perfectly.
Tonight, mom and dad came to walk through to see Claire's first home for themselves. You could feel the excitement in the air, just like on Christmas Eve.
Tomorrow Claire, her mom and I will meet for a pre-settlement lunch and then it will be time to make Claire's home ownership official. So excited for her. More excited that this amazing young lady is a friend of mine. She is someone who will make a difference in her community.
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