Last week, in a post titled a case for a good agent I wrote about how I had just botched a deal to buy a home in the Tucson Foothills, a home for me and my wife. We sold our home in the Tucson Foothills six months ago, and we've been looking since then. I wrote, ...from the minute we walked in, we knew. It had that certain something, for us it was special...Just our luck, Brand new listing, priced high in a slow market - two showings and two offers in less than 24 hours...The other agent wrote a full-price offer. They got the house, and we didn't. ...I wish I could do that day over...
And for days that's all I wished and hoped for, please, let me do that day over, I promise,I'll get it right this time.
Then a miracle happened and I still can't believe it, I got my wish, I got a second chance, because the other deal fell thru on day 8 of the inspection period. The listing agent let me know that the home was going back on the market. I want that house, that's all I said. Well apparently the other offer was from an agent who was buying it for themself too. And now there were other buyers who also wanted it. So of course for this second go-round I had to write a full-price offer, but that was no problem. The real rub though- the reason the other deal fell thru- was that the house didn't appraise for the sale price. And even that was no surprise to me. When we wrote our first offer, I told my wife that it wouldn't appraise. But the seller still wanted full price, despite the appraisal. And they knew they would get it. If I didn't do it, there were other buyers lined up, who were ready, willing and able to do what needed to be done. So I did it, I wrote a full price offer. An offer that was about 7.5% over the appraised value. And I had to add a clause to the contract that said the sale was not contingent on the property appraising for the sale price - and I did that too. Can you imagine, in this market. I'm talking about now, today, October 2006. I got the house this time, and I'm thrilled that I did, because for us it's well worth it. But...sometimes, no matter how you crunch 'em, you gotta look beyond the numbers. And I won't even get into the Z word here. And it occurred to me that if I had advised a client to make that kind of offer, in this kind of market, they'd have probably fired me on the spot. But I'm lucky, because I got a second chance, and because this time I saw what was reallly important, I saw beyond the numbers.
