By Kim Parmon, May 15, 2019
By Kim Parmon, May 15, 2019
Often times in real estate things do not go as planned. That’s part of what I love about it: I just never know what each day will bring and that can be fun. But sometimes that element of surprise can be challenging, especially when my clients are first time homebuyers.
Marcie and Dustin worked hard to be ready to buy their first house. They saved up a great down payment and went into the process with open eyes. They wanted a home they could live in long-term in a great, appreciating neighborhood. Oregon City stood out as the perfect fit for them from the start: it has a quaint small town feel, historic architecture, and an up-and-coming food and beverage scene. The prices are quite a bit better than close-in Portland as well! We started looking and found THE house quickly. Marcie and Dustin wrote a strong offer and it was accepted even though it wasn’t the highest- they were thrilled!
We jumped right in to our inspection period and quickly discovered that there was an issue: the crawlspace wasn’t accessible because of animal activity. If there were animals down there they needed to be removed before the inspector could finish his work. This could be a problem: we knew there was a higher offer in back up position and removing the animals and cleaning up the crawl could take weeks. Would the seller extend the contingency period? We weren’t sure.
Thankfully, we had a wonderful list agent and a reasonable seller on the other side of the transaction. It took almost until closing to finish our investigating but the seller understood that Marcie and Dustin needed to feel confident in their purchase. We were all able to communicate and navigate this unusual situation together and get to the finish line.
Marcie and Dustin are closing on their first home today and I couldn’t be happier for them!