When your Realtor advises you NOT to buy a house, what do you do?
A family of barn swallows built a nest in my boiler pipe. (Here are two of the baby birds peeking out.) When I told the boiler technician several weeks ago that I thought birds were building a nest there, he said there was absolutely no way. The pipe would be a very hostile environment for birds; the pipe is noisy, it vibrates, not to mention the vertical drop down into the boiler itself. There is not enough room for a nest to be built. Yet I have three baby barn swallows and their doting parents who built their dream home here.
To each his own, right?
“I need to rescue this home!” I had a client utter these words to me. Yes, this home certainly needed rescuing as it barely had any life left. But she was in love. Where she saw a cute, cozy home with old-world charm, I saw a tear-down with no heat source, rotten timbers and fire-waiting-to-happen wiring. There was nothing I could do or say to convince her otherwise. She purchased the home in cash, and then later admitted to me that this property wasn’t the best choice for her.
“We ARE buying this house!” On the flip side, I had a very determined client who was going to buy this particular property with a VA loan. I didn’t think there was a lender on the planet that would offer a VA loan on this sprawling mini-farm with a few issues. In fact, the listing agent agreed, and he advised his seller not to accept our first offer with VA financing. But that didn’t stop my client. She persisted, wrote another offer and did everything possible to convince the seller to give her a chance to buy this property with a VA loan. To my chagrin and total disbelief, she did it! She got the house using a VA loan.
So what DO you do when your Realtor advises you not to buy a house? Listen, and then investigate.
With my very determined client, she did hear what I had to say but then she talked to several lenders, she described the property to them, she asked a lot of questions that I brought up, and she did her due diligence. After her legwork, she felt confident that she could get the loan she wanted. And she did.
With my first client, she did not do any investigation. In fact, I had to beg her to have a home inspection, which she did not even attend. Because she didn’t want to hear what I or anyone else had to say and her lack of research and investigation, I believe that’s why she wasn’t as successful as she could have been with her home purchase.
Listen and then investigate. Your Realtor isn’t the end-all for determining which house is right for you. Make sure to take the time to do your research to determine if the property you have your heart set on is really a good match for you. Who knows – maybe living in a boiler pipe really is a desirable location!