Our Clients Story...
Pradeep and Raji had purchased a townhome several years ago. The home had served them and their two children well, but they were aspiring to own a single-family home.
Unsure of how to begin, they called me and we began the process of upgrading their family to a new home.
Buying a new home while owning an existing home, can be a bit tricky. You see the existing mortgage you have will work against you and your ability to borrow on a new home. As a result, many homeowners who are faced with this dilemma sell their home first before buying a new home. This process comes with a lot of uncertainty and with a family that can be a challenge.
Fortunately for Raji and Pradeep, I set them up with my lender who found a program that would allow them to qualify for their new home before they sold their existing home. Once they were fully pre-approved we went home shopping.
Raji and Pradeep were excited to begin the home-buying process. We set up showings and covered a few areas. As we looked through homes, I got a better sense of what they liked. During the process, I wanted to educate them on which homes would make good investments and which homes may not be good purchases.
There were times when they would go out on the weekend and look at open homes and let me know about a home that they saw that they were interested in. I would then schedule a time to view it and afterward provide them feedback on what I thought.
On two occasions, I felt the homes they picked out had some big drawbacks. One was right next to a school and the front of the home was right at the entrance to the parking lot. The other home had a quirky layout that would have posed some challenges for a family of four.
In the end, I showed them a home I wasn’t sure they would like, but I thought was a great home. The property was a 1,300 Sq. Ft home on a large lot. The home had some decent updates, a large kitchen, and a reasonably sized living space. The backyard was huge and there was an oversized detached garage in the rear. The home was a very good home as-is, but also had tons of potential. The drawback- the lack of a dedicated bathroom for the master bedroom.
Raji and Pradeep agreed that the bathroom situation wasn’t ideal, but other features of the homemade it stand-out and they both agreed they wanted to make an offer.
There was one other offer on the table. The listing agent was an agent that I had worked with in the past, so we had a very good relationship and I was able to leverage that in order to get my client’s offer accepted.
As we were going through the escrow process on the new home, we moved our attention to their townhome. We quickly started the process of identifying what needed to be removed to make the home look its best. We updated paint colors, repaired items from the inspection, prepared all the marketing, and had the home on the market within a week.
The market was slow at the time, but I knew that it would start to pick up in September. For the first two weeks there was some activity but no offers. By the third week, I had noticed other properties selling around the market, I knew that we were close, and advised them to leave the price where it was, and after that weekend we received an offer.
After some back and forth we were able to negotiate a good price, and accepted the buyer’s offer.
Now we had two escrows open, and once they closed on the new home we were able to make some improvements before they moved in. I recommended a contractor to finish the garage and frame an office space that Pradeep would use when working from home.
Though the process was not easy, it was definitely worth it. Pradeep and Raji are so happy with their new home. They are excited about their family visiting and are already talking about future projects of expanding.
Working with them to identify the right property and helping them navigate the purchase and sale of their existing home, is what we do as real estate agents. The best agents want to help their clients make decisions that they will feel great about for years to come.
