Buying a home in Highlands. What does it involve? That was the question I asked since it has been 5 years since I bought my last home. I have bought rental property since, but for the first timein five yearsthat I am going through the process again not only as an agent, but as a buyer. And let me tell you, things sure have changed.
When your full time job is to help people buy and sell a home, you can't help but gain a different perspective about the entire process. My job as a Real Estate Agent is to not only help find the right home for my buyers, but more importantly, help them make it from the time of contract to close when their earnest money is on the line and so many variables can come up. Along the way, I find myself not focusing as muchon the emotional aspects of the decision making and buying process and focusing more on the logistic and business side, since that is what I am getting paid to do.
So when I put an offer in on a charming Tudor in West Highlands last month, I couldn't wait to see what type of buyer I am and what I could take away from the processto help my clients down the road. It is always interesting wearing two hats at the same time, that of buyer and agent. The biggest question I had for myself is if I would listen and follow the advise I give my clients, or if I would let my emotions take over and go against what I typically advise?
Turns out, it wasn't as easy as I thought to follow the advise I hand out on a daily basis. When I made the offer, of course I wanted to low ball the sellerand see how far down I could get them. But I couldn't be a hypocrite, so I remembered back to what I tell my clients whenever we make an offer. "Sure. You could make a low ball offer, but odds are the seller is just going to get offended and counter back with a really high, just as insulting offer. This could go on multiple times and there is a very good chance emotions will get in the way and an agreement will never be reached. So why don't you make a solid offer. One that works for you, but also that shows the seller you are serious about buying their home. Make it so they don't want to risk losing you as a buyer and I can guarantee you are going to get much closer to your desired price than throwing out an insulting initial offer."
So following my advise, and realizing how difficult it can be,I made an aggressive, but strong offer. A few phone calls back and forth, and we were under contract at the price I was hoping for. So that piece of advise passed my test. Now on to the inspection. I was hesitant to spend all the money on inspections and can certainly see why buyers shy away from doing them all. But again, following my own advice, I went ahead with the full shebang. I got a general inspection, which showed the house to be in excellent shape, so I started to relax a bit more. Then I started the waiting game of waiting for the sewer scope and the radon test to come back. These results weren't so hot.
It turned out the sewer line was broken three feet from the main. It doesn't impact the functionality of the sewer line, but if the city ever found out, I could find a hefty, $5,000 bill on my front door. That was a bit scary. I then got the radon results back and unfortunately they too were higher than the recommended value. Since we are going to be spending a lot of time in the basement, these are serious safety concerns that must be considered and concerns I never would have known about without the inspections.
Here again I came to a cross road. Do I give the seller a laundry list of items and walk if they don't fix them like I have had numerous buyers want to do? Or do I again follow my advise, which was starting to get a little annoying, and go after the big ticket items? I chose to ask for the sewer line to be replaced since I knew it could easily be in the thousands. After getting some bids, the seller agreed to fix the sewer line which will cost $4,000. It would have been nice to get the radon too, but I knew it would be too much for the seller to handle andit could riskthem think Iwas being greedy andthen not agreeing to do anything. I decided that is something I will just take care of once I move in. With older homes, like those in the Highlands, you have to go into an inspection budgeting money to fix items down the road since there are going to be issues no matter what. If you aren't okay with that, then looking at newer homes is probably where you need to be. I am willing to get my hands dirty in exchange for the location, so I was happy with how the inspection turned out and luckily didn't lose too much sleep over it.
I am now a week away from closing. I am playing the waiting game, wishing my lender would callwith more updates, note to myself, andhoping there are no issues with the loan and we can close on time. I am trying to get everything lined up for after closing, movers,new carpet, paint, appliances, etc. But I have to keep reminding myself that anything can happen and I can't fully commit to any of these things until I have the keys in my hands. It certainly is stressful and it has given me a much greater appreciation for what buyers have to go through.
Luckily, I have found all the advise I give my clients, and this time, myself, to have been the best course of action and it has gotten me a better deal on the house than I originally thought possible. It has also taught me how difficult it can be to listen to this advise when you are talking potentially thousands of dollars and I feel better knowing I have been in the buyers shoes not so long ago when I might be delivering this tough news to them and trying to get them to understand my reasoning.I feel the process has made me a much better agent and I look forward to working with my next buyers to see how well I can relate all this new found wisdom to help make their transaction the best ever.
I would be lying if I told you buying a house is an easy process, especially with older homes like in the Highlands. But every time it has gotten tough, I think about how great it is going to be to be able to walk to Highlands Square, take my dog to Sloan's in a matter of minutes and enjoy the incredible lifestyle Highlands has to offer. So when you are thinking about buying and want to know what is involved, feel free to pick my brain. I now have the luxury of telling you all about the process both from a buyers prospective and an agents prospective and I will letyou decide just how different each view really is.
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