Thursday, March 08, 2007

Don't get discouraged

Sometimes looking for a house to buy can be extremely discouraging. This lovely family came to me after working with another Realtor, a friend of the family, and asked me to help them find a house. Apparantly this other Realtor was only showing them houses in neighborhoods they didn't want to live in, and in need of desperate repair.
So after getting fed up, this client calls me and says ok, I want at least a three bedroom house. I have six children. I want a decent neighborhood, and I only qualify for a mortgage amount of $115,000.
They come to the office and we find several properties to look at in good areas and condition. We write a contract on one only to have the lender now tell me that they really only qualify for $90,000.
So we start our search again. Although these houses were a little farther out, we found another they liked and wrote a contract. I call the listing agent to let her know I have an offer, but she tells me that an offer has already been accepted.
The search trudges on. Now we are running out of good homes to look at. My client asks his mother to cosign on the loan so that we can get a larger loan. Now we are back to $115000.
I found a great buy for them but we must act quickly since 2 other offers will be coming in also. It is an estate sale, so it is listed well under appraisal. So we offer a little more than asking price and now my clients are homeowners.
Don't get discouraged, you will get the house that is meant for you, all things happen for a reason. My clients ended up getting a much better buy after everything they went through.