I am really excited to hand over the keys to my “new first time home buyer” This is a first time home buyer that I just love working with. She has owned a home many moons ago and is starting fresh with a new place after saving for a few years. Although this buyer had indeed owned a home years ago, everything felt new all over again. The taxes changed, the rules changed and the prices most definitely changed.
I teamed up with my mortgage broker to guide this new home buyer through the stressful process of selecting the right home and mortgage for her. It did happen a lot faster than she had expected! After much investigation the choices were narrowed to one area and building. There were 3 units offered for sale. We first brought her brother through with his wife and mother to be. It was a hard decision. It came down to 2 options. This building had upper units and lower units. They had almost identical floor plans; the third unit was too close to the road for our liking. (location, location, location)
So it was a toss up. Both price points were very similar and both units had pros and cons. The bottom unit was really nice as it had an outdoor patio area which would be convenient if my buyer ever wanted to have a puppy. It would be much more convenient than trekking down the stairs to find a grassy patch from the upper unit. It however was also a bit darker as it had 3 smaller windows and a bit different exposure. So back up to the top unit we went where the flooring was carpet instead of the laminate down. It also didn’t come with a dishwasher..!!! ahh!! and lacked 2 other appliances being the washer, dryer. It was freshly painted and had the outdoor living of a covered balcony. Because price was an important issue and these units were priced very similarly we decided to make the first offer on the bottom floor unit. It was a really kind young couple who lived in there, they just had a baby and well the complex was dedicated 19+ so they new with the bylawys they had to sell and also will eventually be needing more space. Unfortunately, for these folks they bought in 2008 for $244,000 . They were listed just over $230,000 and with the real estate fees, bank fees the numbers wouldn’t work for my purchaser. The market has dipped since 2008. It is really unfortunate for many folks who purchased with little down as they are now in a tough spot if they “need” to sell.
I could tell that our negotiating was going nowhere fast when I pulled the sales history and saw the purchase price the sellers paid. Instead of stressing my buyer out with the heartache of losing this place and having to start all over again, I called the listing agent of the upper unit, a close friend and colleague. I told him our situation and that my buyer could move in asap if his seller would consider making us a reverse offer to jump from the lower unit up to the top unit. He called his client and she made us an offer of $208,000. This was $20,000 less than the floor price of the sellers we were previously negotiating with. What a deal!! We took the offer and I am handing the keys over to my client who took advantage of the boxing week sales to pick up some appliances!!