Working in Real Estate just got REAL

Things have been a little insane over the course of the last week. As you may know, we recently were able to get pre-approved for a mortgage after over 6 years of being trapped in rental world. We wanted to keep our housing expenses lean and mean so we decided to do it now rather than wait until we had more income. Working in the industry now, I have a much better feel as to what is available in our price range and the current interest rates and loan programs. I also want to be sure that we are in a good position regardless of how well or poor the real estate market is doing.

That all brings me to where we sit right now. First, we found a home that seemed to good to be true and put in an offer. The problem was that ours was one of 3 or 4 and we didn’t get it. Then we found another home that we liked, but unfortunately it needed a lot of work and was not an ideal fit. Then we found a twin home (not my preference) that had recently been renovated, the overall location is great in terms of proximity to work and family, etc. However the home’s specific location leaves a little to be desired. We decided to put in an offer, which was then rejected. We were not that disappointed because we believe that God is orchestrating our search and that it must not have been the home for us. That gave us a sense of peace.

Then 30 minutes later, the listing agent called back and told us that the sellers had reconsidered our offer and accepted.

Ever since that phone call it has been a whirlwind of emotion. We thought we knew what we wanted and trusted that God had closed the door and then here it was swung open again rather unexpectedly. Every 10 minutes I go from feeling excited to being overwhelmed with dread. It’s been over 10 years since we bought our first home, and even though I now work in the industry, I guess I was not quite prepared for this much anxiety. We thought we knew what we were getting into but I guess you never can predict the future.

We are now going through the process of getting the home inspected which is not an enjoyable experience because you suddenly see every flaw that the home has and that you didn’t notice before. It’s an older home so it definitely has its share of flaws. Now we need to decide what to do next. Ugh. Talk about pressure. I’m supposed to have all of the answers but it is an entirely different ball game when you are buying the house for yourself.

It definitely gives me even more empathy for my clients and I hope that in a few short weeks I will be thankful and confident that we made the right decision, but right now the stress and difficulty tend to overshadow the excitement. We will see how things go.

Until later,

Geoff