When we last left Luke and Lauren they were devastated at losing their supposed dream house. I gave them a couple of days to digest what had happened then encouraged them to get back out there. The next weekend we had a full schedule! Here is what they had to say.
"This past Sunday Luke and I saw 10 houses in 5 hours. After each house we would write notes on the pros and cons of the house so we wouldn't forget. We also took pictures of houses we really liked to it could refresh our memory. It was a lot of houses and some things ran together but it was nice to knock out that many houses off our list. We weren't as excited to see houses this go around but we knew we needed to get out there so we could find the right house. Our excitement levels diminished after losing the previous house the week before.
Most of the showings actually went well. We met a few home owners, which we felt a little awkward about. We weren't sure if it was a good thing or not to meet them and we didn't know what to say. At least they left the house when we viewed it so we didn't have to hold back our comments. This time we didn't have any crazy bad houses. There were actually a few really nice houses but the main thing they were missing was a second family/TV room. For Luke and I that was a deal breaker.
Sarah had tried to set up an appointment to see this a house in the area we really liked. The realtor never got back to her and her voice mail box was full. It was very hard to contact that listing agent and we almost missed out on seeing that house. When we did a drive by the listing agent finally called Sarah back and we were able to get in to see the house. It was just frustrating to see a listing agent that their priority was not to sell the house as quickly as possible. Luke and I kept thinking we have to be the first couple to view the house since it just came on the market and the listing agent was so hard to get a hold of. However, after all that trouble we were glad we were able to see the house. It ended up having everything major component on our must have list and it checked off a lot of our extra's. We weren't very excited about the house but we think our emotions were hindered from the previous house we put an offer on. Luke and I discussed that house that evening and we decided to just put an offer in to see what would happen and if they countered then we would truly consider the house. This is when even more frustration occurred with the listing agent. The timeliness of the other agent was shocking to us. We both felt bad for the home owner because we were ready to put in an offer and there seemed to be no urgency. The following day we got all the documents and started signing our life away for the second time. After about 1.5 hours we received a counter offer. They countered with full asking price but said they would pay the 3% in closing costs. Luke and I had to have a serious conversation about this house. We were really happy they were providing closing costs but the asking price was a little over what we wanted to spend a month. We called our lender to get the approximate closing costs and monthly finances to get a better idea. We debated this house for a while. We were being held back by the price a little and we both just lacked the emotion we thought we should feel. That was our major concern. We talked to both sets of parents and Sarah and everyone agreed that if we saw this house first we would be more excited about it. Luke and I decided to accept the offer because it was everything we could have wanted in a house plus water views and access, which a huge benefit in my book. We started to get more excited as the night when on and we call our family and friends to let them know we just might have bought a house. At this point it is still crazy to think we just bought a house but I think we will settle very nicely into this new house of ours. Plus, this house has better features than the first house we put an offer on. I think in the end we will get a great house in a great location and we will be very happy there for a long time.
Sarah really helped us and made this process so far very enjoyable. She gave us great advice but still let us make our own decisions. We couldn't have asked for a better realtor. Plus she is responsive and prompt with everything!
Now we move into the next phase of home buying: inspections and the actual closing!" Luke and Lauren
As you can see, buying a home is really quite emotional. A Realtor can help you decipher those emotions and play an unbiased role.
From a buyers stand point they have already bought their home. It was my job to help them understand that we had a long way to go. Inspections, Appraisal, Loan commitment and many other things.
Tune in next time to see what happens during and after the inspections...
Have any of you gotten to the inspection stage only for it to fall apart? How did your Realtor handle it?
Are you looking to buy a home and don't know where to start? Contact me and I can walk you through it.
Are you looking to sell your home or to see what its worth? I can help with that too.
Sarah Garza
410.946.6054 cell
Keller Williams Select Realtors
410.972.4000 office
Realtorsarahgarza@gmail.com
www.sarahgarza.com
