WELCOME HOME BUCAYS!
“I cannot give Brendan high enough praise for the great job he did in helping us purchase our home. This was the fourth time I've gone through the home buying process and have never had an agent do such a thorough job.”
- Jim Bucay
My family loves to be outside and we definitely love the water. Some of our best friends Andre and Diana live about 10 minutes from us and have a beautiful backyard and pool. Let’s just say we’ve invited ourselves over more than a few times! It was at one of these impromptu backyard get togethers that I met Jim and Tina Bucay. They had just moved back to San Diego after spending several years in Tucson. That afternoon most of our conversation revolved around Tucson (having lived there for almost 4 years myself) and how excited they were to be back in San Diego. I could relate, big time…
A few months went by and Jim reached out. They were renting an apartment but wanted to become homeowners again in San Diego. However, they were frustrated with the skyrocketing prices and feeling a little hopeless. Unfortunately, that’s a common feeling among home buyers in the last two years. We talked about the current market - where I thought it was going and the best strategy to find something that fit their budget. It was important that I understood exactly what they were looking for so I could help guide them. Jim called me a few weeks later to tell me they were going to wait out the market.
3 days later, he called to ask me to show them a place in Cardiff that weekend. Jim laughed and said, “we pulled a 180 on you!”. They didn’t end up liking the place in Cardiff but the search was off and running. After a few weeks we started honing in on Allied Gardens as a great landing spot. It was close to Jim’s work and had good schools for their daughter. Allied Gardens is a beautiful neighborhood with many young families, and it fit many of the criteria that the Bucays were looking for as it's safe and centrally located.
“While agents I’ve had in the past would rush through the process, Brendan took time to thoroughly review documents with me and to answer any questions or concerns that I had.”
Allied Gardens has seen lots of flips since prices have accelerated and one, in particular was of high interest. The flippers had just listed this home at $975,000. However, I simply couldn’t find any justification for the list price. In my opinion, the value was about $100,000 less than what they listed. I told Jim and Tina that I would make any offer they felt comfortable with... AND if they wanted it, I would do everything I could to get it.
I was especially concerned that the home would not appraise at list price, which would position them poorly in the middle of escrow. I make it a priority to put clients in the best position throughout the process. So it was important for us to have a conversation about it since it would dramatically affect how much they could borrow and how much money they'd need to put down. After much discussion we decided to make an offer at near value, not list price. I didn’t think we would get them to engage the offer... after all, they were flippers and couldn’t afford to take a loss on it. Still, I felt it was a great offer and stood behind it 100%. Ultimately, the flippers wouldn’t budge on price. Down the road they pulled the home off the market to start renting it. This is what happens when you dramatically overprice a home, but that’s a story for another time.
A few weeks later, we went to see a home on Alfred Street. It was a quiet street and the home was located on a beautifully cultivated lot. They fell in love with the backyard space, the potential of the home, and the location. Buying a home is a lot like love stories, sometimes you just ‘know’.
We were up against multiple offers but were able to get our offer accepted while keeping the appraisal contingency in the contract. Over the last few years, it’s one of the few homes I’ve been able to buy with that contingency included! As luck would happen, we would be able to use that contingency to get a $15,000 price decrease. Not only did we outduel multiple offers over asking, we were able to get a price decrease in this market!
Over the past couple of months, the Jim and Tina have done an amazing job making this house their home. I just visited to see how it was going and the small changes have made a dramatic difference. I’m really excited for them. They moved in less than a month ago after their daughter finished the school year - just in time to enjoy the San Diego summer in their beautiful backyard.
Just want to send a massive congratulations to the Bucays for navigating this wild market and becoming homeowners again in San Diego!! Thank you for letting me be part of the journey!