This is my second entry for the November challenge, hosted by Lynn B. Friedman CRS Atlanta, GA 404-617-6375
Last year I received a call from a young couple who had recently married and wanted to meet and talk about using my services to buy a home. This was in September and when we met at a Starbucks I came prepared. I have helped many young couples buy their first homes. It can be a stressful and heart wrenching process, especially in a market that leans strongly towards the seller and with so little inventory.
I asked several questions, about what their life style was like, what they enjoyed doing, how they lived life. Then we moved onto the nitty gritty of what sort of house they were hoping to find. What areas they were looking in and where they both worked. We covered mortgages and how much they had for a down-payment.
I explained the home buying process, the recent changes and how Realtors were now expected to work with buyers. Of course we went over the Consumer Notice explaining all the roles in the transaction.
They were not in a hurry, really just starting the process and hoping to find something by the following summer. They worked in different directions, so we needed to find something in the middle hopefully. They had both grown up in older homes so were used to that and liked the style and feeling of solidness of an older home.
At the end of our meeting they said they wanted to work with me and what were the next steps. I explained I would set up a search in our MLS that would send them homes. Give me feedback so I could refine it and get it more accurate to what they were looking for. And if they saw anything they wanted to see, let me know and I would set up a tour.
Very quickly they said they had three homes they wanted to see. As I looked over these one it became obvious was not a good fit, they agreed so we scrubbed that home from our tour and they asked on the morning of the tour if they could add this one home that had just come on the market. They apologized profusely for leaving it so late but if we could fit it in they would appreciate it.
It was vacant, and so making an appointment was easy, we slipped it into the front of the tour and set off.
It was an older home, a twin, or semi-detached home as we say in England. It was solid, but it was not going to appeal to a lot of people, it had its quirks. We then visited the other two homes and at the end of the tour they said they really liked the first home and wanted to consider making an offer.
I discussed with the listing agent what the sellers wanted and if they would accept a longer settlement period. It turned out to be an estate, and they basically wanted to wrap it up. My buyers had been led to believe by their landlord that they would be able to break their lease. Now it became an option the landlord balked.
We held off making an offer. The house stayed on the market, time passed, they talked with lenders and worked out a way to move ahead and break their lease. We put together an offer, with inspections and as long a settlement date as we could.
Well, it all worked out, the inspections revealed some issues which we negotiated and got a very fair result. There were several times I had to be at the house as work was done on their behalf by the seller before settlement. Installing a Radon system we discovered just how solid the house was as it took all day and broke one of the drill bits used to dig through the walls. This was a house from the 19th century.
Settlement day came and everyone was happy. Afterwards I got the following testimonial from them. It was a joy working with them, the were very organized and their families loved their choice of home.
A Superstar! Nick is 10/10!
Nick is knowledgeable, supportive, and always ready to take action. For our first home buying experience, Nick took the time to thoroughly explain the process before we even began to work together. His preparedness and willingness to help never faltered at any step of the way. He went above and beyond and was always available when we had a question! Would definitely recommend Nick if you are looking for an experienced, reliable, and friendly realtor! Thanks Nick for all of your help!
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