We got the house. For more than I wanted to pay, I reconciled
with myself that we were getting a unique location, almost ½ acre of mostly
usable space and a very private setting where we can only see two other houses
from the backyard. The house is funky, but in a way that really works for us.
The garage is behind and below the house (it’s kind of a ranch with a walk out
basement out the back), so the roof of the garage is a big deck (almost 900sf!)
that overlooks the yard and a stand of oak trees that lines the perimeter of
the property. The house was remodeled and updated at various times, so it has
an updated kitchen / small great room with a fireplace, 2 out of three
bathrooms are new, recessed lighting throughout, and the rest is somewhere
between original from the 1950’s and current. Just funky enough to be fun and cool. We
will need to do a minimal amount of work to move in, and then we will see about
the rest. I have ideas and plans of course.
More pressingly, we are in contract on a new house, our
current house is not ready for market and then we have a rental property as
well. We are three weeks away from owning three homes and we still have the
occasionally grumpy 6 week old.
No stress, no stress at all.
What would you tell your client, Chris?
I hope you enjoyed this little slice of life. We don’t have
any magic or unfair advantage in the housing market. I didn’t do anything in
this scenario that I don’t do for clients all the time, and the same goes for
most agents. Buying a house is tough, selling one is too, especially in the current market. That is why we value
our homes so much.
At the same time, it is both a great time to buy and sell.
While the market competition is hot and prices are up (good for sellers),
mortgages are still near record lows (good for buyers). We are paying less than 4% on our new
mortgage, which allowed us to get a bigger, better house in a better
neighborhood for the same payment relative to a couple of years ago. In our
little brokerage of 14 agents, FOUR of us have bought houses for ourselves this
year. If agents are buying, it’s probably a good time to do so.
At the same time, price have risen significantly in over the
past couple of years, and are mostly above the peak of 2007. We are seeing more
relative demand and less inventory across almost all price points than we have
in years, and that looks to be stable for another year until rates are expected
to start climbing.
The hard part is making the transition. With so much
competition, how do you make an offer contingent on selling your home, where do
you move, how do you move?
Stay Tuned for the other half of the adventure: A Realtor
Sells A House.