Ask anyone you know about your desire to buy a new home and they will tell you, it is the most…read morestressful experience of your adult life. Well, I don't think it has to be overwhelming and if you choose the right real estate agent, you may find this to be the most exciting experience of your adult life.
I lived in California my entire life and my wife accepted a promotion and relocation to SLC. Her company was kind enough to fly us out to SLC to check out the scene and see if we liked it, before we made the move. While she was preparing for her interviews and work-related meetings, I took to Google to find a real estate agent to show me around and help me understand what to expect. Mind you, we were planning to rent for the first year, get a feel for the area and figure out what fancy suburb to call home. I found Lori Anderson on Google and we began a lengthy and very detailed email exchange in advance of our trip. Lori was kind enough to pick me up at the hotel and drive me around, showing me the older neighborhoods, the not so desirable neighborhoods and explain the costs, best time to buy, current market conditions and it was clear she knows her stuff and has answers. In fact, she even pointed me in the direction of a website to help us find an apartment.
Lori added me to the email listing distribution, based on our proposed budget, size of the home we hoped for and selected some neighborhoods that we might like. Every few days, I'd get an email with available homes and I'd save the favorites for later discussion. This is a good time to discuss etiquette. We went to probably 50 open houses in the span of 3 weeks this Spring and met a ton of agents. I gave my phone number and email address, mainly to get an idea of what else was on the market that maybe we didn't see (not much and nothing worth looking at, is what I discovered) and boy oh boy. Some of these real estate agents are way too pushy and called or texted or emailed way too often. Lori, on the other hand, was not pushy at all. In fact, she basically let us do our thing, would check in on the favorites I added to my dashboard on her website and ask if I wanted to see the homes. It was the absolute perfect level of service, considering that we really were not in the market, just window shopping.
My wife and I had lunch with Lori to discuss all the fine points of buying a home, because we were aware of the market heating up and didn't want to sit on the sidelines while others found their dream home and we sat in a funky apartment. How much do we really need for a down payment? How do we get approved for a mortgage, in a city where we don't know anyone? Basically, Lori put me in touch with a mortgage broker and explained all the questions I should ask, to get the facts in place to make an informed decision.
Soon after that, we fell in love with a home and it was full steam ahead. I had never made an offer on a home before and I was overwhelmed. Lori and I talked through the price during our second visit to view the home and she was extremely thorough and brutally honest. In fact, she walked the entire property to check the gas connection, get an idea of surrounding open space, noting that her assistant would contact the city to see if they would be allowed to build on that space. She contacted the selling agent moments after we left, to see if the solar panels were paid for or leased. She is extremely organized and focuses on the details, so we didn't have to stress about not knowing what we were jumping in to.
Our offer was accepted, and we were in the 30 days to close phase, which is when the heavy lifting happens. Lori did a ton of heavy lifting on our behalf and basically cleared our plate of stress and worry. If there was action needed on my part, she would text and say, "email coming your way, need some signatures" and explained what we were dealing with. She scheduled the inspection for us and knew a guy that was good and available quickly. She worked with the selling agent to get all the invoices in place for the maintenance records and when we received the inspection report, she contacted the seller, asking them to make the necessary repairs in advance of closing day. She contacted the title company weeks in advance of closing day, scheduled our appointment for first thing in the morning, so we could close and fund early enough to get the keys the same day. It was a thing of beauty to watch her working behind the scenes to make this happen and to make it a very smooth and stress-free process for us.
As I sit here today, working away in my new home, I feel like Lori is part of our family now. Without Lori working her magic and making us feel confident and comfortable, we wouldn't be home owners today. I almost want to buy another house, just to work with her again.
Thank you for all you did to help us find our dream home.
