By Living Room Realty, June 7, 2021
Congratulations to Pritha and Rowan on their first home purchase together!
I met Pritha through mutual friends when she moved to Portland a few years ago. We instantly connected, and often chatted about love, life, careers, and home ownership. Due to COVID, we didn’t see much of each other until she reached out this March.
She and her partner Rowan had been living in the house he purchased a few years ago in the Sumner neighborhood. Both farmers, they utilize a large portion of their backyard for growing, and had been dreaming of more space. Their next door neighbors presented Pritha and Rowan with a rare opportunity to purchase a home off-market. In this Sellers’ market, competing against other buyers to have your offer accepted can feel 90% of the battle. Pritha and Rowan understood what a rare opportunity this was.
The Sellers, who had bought and sold many properties before, decided to represent themselves. Pritha and Rowan were uncomfortable moving forward without the representation of a licensed professional. They hired me to guide them through the transaction, making sure no stones were left unturned. Typically, when a house is listed, the Sellers agree on paying both their agent as well as the buyer’s agent a commission. After we discussed my role and responsibilities as their agent, Pritha and Rowan recognized my value and we agreed upon a buyer’s agent fee.
From the start, the Sellers made it clear they felt they were selling below market value. They discussed known issues with us prior to inspections. Even with this knowledge (and several invoices, receipts, and inspections reports they provided us), I strongly encouraged my clients to get their own inspections (which I always do). We had a sewer repair invoice from less than 3 years ago, so Pritha and Rowan were leaning toward waiving their sewer scope inspection – but I was wary. A lot can happen in 3 years!
I had them speak with two of my go-to sewer scope technicians, and ultimately they decided it was worth the $150 to obtain a current sewer scope. It was $150 well spent – there was new major root intrusion. We were able to successfully negotiate thousands of dollars in credit to cover this cost, as well a few other surprise items that turned up in the report.
The appraisal came in $25,000 higher than the purchase price, more than covering the costs of my representation. That news, along with the credit we were able to negotiate, was music to my clients’ ears. Before we even closed, they had a signed lease agreement with friends for their former house. On closing day, they removed a fence panel between the two backyards, scheming of shared garden boxes and access to the hot tub on one side and the sunny yard on the other.
The vision of an urban farm has taken root, and my clients couldn’t be happier. Cheers to Pritha and Rowan on their off market win!
