I was referred to Jeremy and Stephanie by amazing clients and friends Jim and Tina Bucay. Other than handing clients keys, referrals are the most rewarding part of the job. I know what that means to refer someone, it means they’re putting their own name on the line. It’s a big deal to me and it never gets old.

When Jeremy and I first chatted they weren’t in a hurry especially since they had just signed a lease on their current rental. Their patience was rewarded because we initially talked in July. The market was trending down but we weren’t sure how much it would cool. By the time we starting making offers in October, the market had cooled considerably. It worked out wonderfully for them!

After seeing a number of properties over a few months. Jeremey and Stephanie loved a flip on Cartwright street. They really loved it and it was the first time I could tell they were really excited about a property. The challenge on this particular property was that it was significantly underpriced. This is a strategy some agents use to beef up marketing/sales numbers because they can turn around and tell other potential listings they had x number of showings and offers. This strategy is frustrating to those of us who work hard to know and price things accordingly. Anyway, I digress, Jeremy and Stephanie decided to make an offer. We made a fantastic offer, $20K over asking. I told them I wouldn’t be surprised if it went for $50K over asking but like I tell all of my buyers, make the best offer. Live with the results. We got beat out by one better offer, a perfect offer. I checked back later, it went exactly for $50K over asking(pats self on back 😉). They were bummed to miss out on Cartwright but smartly they knew it wasn’t often you got the first house you made an offer on.

A week later, I got a call from Jeremy. They were excited about a home down the street from where they were currently renting. After seeing it a couple times they offered the asking price of $829K, with really great terms. We beat out all offers except one. The list agent sent out a multiple counter. I advised them that based on the information I had, if we sped up our contingency removal date to 10 days, and gave flexibility on timeline to close the transaction that would absolutely improve our initial offer. I left it up to them whether they wanted to go up in price as a show of faith. They responded to the counter with 10 day removal of all contingencies and purchase price of $835K.

 The list agent called me the next day to congratulate me on an accepted offer. (Which was great timing since my water heater just blew up, haha.) She mentioned the other offer was higher but they decided to go with us for a number of factors. One being that they believed and knew Jeremy and Stephanie loved it. Two being that the terms were really strong. One day into escrow the list agent told me that the sellers are really excited to work with these buyers. That made me feel good because that meant I was doing my job. Jeremy and Stephanie are absolutely GREAT buyers to work with, all I needed to do was convey that to the other side.

 It was a long escrow (38 days) so that the sellers could have time to get all of their belongings out of the house. My twin boys were born 6 weeks early in the mean time. Jeremy and Stephanie were so supportive of my familial duties during that time. It meant and still does mean the world to me. Luckily, we were about to close and my partner Rick stepped in while my wife and I were in the hospital.

 During escrow we were able to negotiate almost $15K in repairs even those the home was in great shape. Additionally, Jeremy and I went to the home one day as the seller’s were packing it up during escrow. The seller Mike, was there with wife. They offered to go through the home and let Jeremy and Stephanie keep a number of pieces.

For me, the best part was hearing the story. It was Mike’s childhood home and his parents were in their 90s and died months apart from each other the previous year. Mike and his wife went through great painstaking care to get the home ready to sell including new plumbing, HVAC, and electrical. I can tell you, NO ONE does that as a trustee. Most don’t care that much. Mike and his wife wanted to pass this on to a young couple to begin to make their own memories in this house. Having personally gone through the process of selling my childhood home, it was a really magical conversation and meeting. I felt how much this home meant to them and it was a privilege to watch the metaphorical passing of the torch.

 To tell you how well it went, Mike went to run one last dishwasher load before leaving the house and realized it wasn’t working right. He wanted to make sure to ‘do right’ by Jeremey and Stephanie and ended up sending them a check toward a new dishwasher weeks after the property had closed.

 Jeremy and Stephanie will move into their new home just before Christmas, a special one most certainly. Congratulations on your first home, thank you for trusting me to guide you on this journey!