By Living Room Realty, October 8, 2020
We met Toody a couple years ago for some tea to make our introductions and to discuss the possibility of her moving to Oregon to set down new roots to be close to her grandchildren. We toured a few homes and then Toody decided that she wasn’t ready to make the jump quite yet. Then this year Toody decided she was getting closer to make the leap but needed the right home to come along. Soon after that decision a home popped up that Toody could envision herself in, but we quickly were met by a multiple offer situation which was not to Toody’s liking. Soon she understood that because of how desirable the community was that she was trying to get into that we would have to be more aggressive with her offer in the future to steal away the home.
A couple months past and her daughter was walking in the community and saw a very good candidate for Toody. A beautiful home a few blocks away from her own. AND! It wasn’t on the market quite yet. We called up the listing agent and were the first party through the doors as soon as the listing went live. Allison did a FaceTime call with Toody so we could show her the home since she wouldn’t be able to see it until our inspection if we did get into contract. Toody loved it and we submitted an over list price offer and soon found out we were again in a multiple offer situation. Gramma had to roll up her sleeves and really dig in if she was going to steal this home away as her own. So we got to work. And of course all of this was happening during our camping trip so we spent a good couple hours negotiating back and forth and digging out as much information as possible from our tent.
When we felt like we had as much information to present to Toody on how to win the multiple offer situation, Toody was definitely in shock with how much higher she needed to go but we did an escalation clause so that the sellers had to prove that there was another offer in the same price range that she was competing against just so she could sleep well at night. She decided to go for it. Her grandchildren had of course already picked out their bedrooms online so she couldn’t loose now.
We submitted an addendum to increase her offer along with the escalation addendum. That did the trick and we were able to give Toody the good news that the home was now hers. The speed at which things escalated was shocking to Toody so she needed a minute to let things settle. Soon she found herself heading down from out of state to see the home for herself. Allison and I were a bit nervous wondering if Toody would like it as much in person as she did over the FaceTime call. Thankfully the minute she stepped foot into the home she liked it. Phew!
We finished the inspection and found a number of surprise items that needed to be taken care of which the sellers agreed to do so that we could continue to move forward to closing. As we got close to closing we had to work very closely with all parties involved lender, title, escrow, Toody, Allison and our team in order to push every step of the way to get the lender all the docs they needed to give the final approval, wiring instructions, scheduling a notary, Fed Exing docs back to Oregon and all the while Toody was also working on selling her home in California. Basically, everything in Toody was being tested and she dug deep to make sure she would succeed.
The home buying process has gotten to be so digital and we were so proud of Toody for being able to go from learning to copy and paste, to navigating secure emails, creating online accounts, electronic signing, picking out carpet from another state, the list goes on. Basically we think you’re a badass Toody and you’ve taught us so much about what it means to never give up even though you are feeling like you’re drowning with so much technology. You’re one smart cookie and we are so proud to know you.
Congratulations on getting to the finish line. I know you probably hate that line by now, but you did it. And we can finally say our code word: “The Fat Lady Is Singing!” We are done.
Cheers to you Toody and all your hard work to get here!
