By Living Room Realty, June 20, 2018
I’ve known Paul and Ashley for a couple of years now. I worked with them in their relocation to Portland and I helped them get settled in to a great rental home while they learned this fine city. We’ve stayed in touch, become friends, and it’s been a pleasure to watch them grow into the community here and take a lot of pride in Portland. I was really happy when they were ready to buy, and wanted to find an awesome home for them. We talked through different scenarios for what they’re ideal home might be. It ranged from something that was new construction and open concept, to a house with good bones that they could remodel a few choice things like the kitchen or bathroom. Ultimately the latter won out, and they found a really solid house with a great layout, really nice period details and a great backyard for their puppy. The kitchen needed some work though, as the door to the backyard was covered by the fridge, and the space was really quite tight. I had just finished remodeling my own kitchen, including removing a wall and vent stack chimney. I knew there was a lot of potential to remove it, reorganize the layout and make a really fun, functional kitchen. We visioned it out, and they saw it too.
We went ahead with an offer, but it went multiple and escalated into a bidding war. They were pretty clear what their bottom line was for the house though, as much as they wanted it. We got the bad news that another buyers offer was selected, and they were offered backup position. They were pretty discouraged, but ultimately felt ok with sticking to their bottom line. As they were processing the information, we got a call that the buyer in first position had got cold feet right before signing, and my buyers were offered first position at their offer price. It was a rollercoaster few hours working through these details, but in the end they were so excited to get the house. The buyers and sellers were able to come to agreement on terms, work through negotiations for repairs, and they are closing tomorrow.
I often have a very personal experience of learning what’s important to my clients, and working very hard to make sure that they’re well taken care of through the process of finding a home and the buying process. Having been through a remodel and building my own detached ADU, I love to lean into that experience and vision out projects and potential. Even if ultimately my clients decide to pass on those ideas, I find the process of talking it through and feeling it out can often lead to more understanding of what the right home is. Let me know if you are interested in having coffee to talk about what’s important to you!
