Michael and Vivian were clients of mine during the last year and a half. They owned a very comfortable home here in Tucson, but now that their kids were grown they yearned for a different kind of home. Something more adult, more suited to just the two of them, maybe something with a bit more pizazz. But they weren't in a rush, and ultimately they only wanted to buy a new home if we could find just the right one, and of course, at the right price. I understood exactly what they wanted and I would call them whenever something came on the market that I thought they should see. This went on for about 18 months, and in that time we probably looked at only 6 or 8 homes, that's it. I knew what they wanted and I was very selective in what I showed them, and while we came very close a couple of times, we still didn't hit the bulls-eye.
After about 18 months, Michael called to tell me that they'd decided to stay in their current home, do some remodeling and renovations and forget about moving. They apologized for all the time I'd put in but decided that they just couldn't afford what they really wanted, so they were going to stay put. I felt bad, but it happens.
During that last year that I was working with them, a new home had come on the market that was perfect, it was just what they wanted. But it was priced about $500,000 over their budget. Yeah, $500,000 over their budget, and it was also way overpriced at that, pie-in-the-sky. Overpriced at $1,495,000, so it sat and sat on the market. And of course I never showed it to them because it was way over their budget.
Six months later the price dropped to $1395,000. Then to $1,295,000. Then to $1,200,000, which was about the right price for this home, but still $200K over Michael and Vivians budget. It was right about then that Michael called to tell me they had given up on the idea of moving, and were going to stay put, renovate, etc.
About six weeks later, the price on this home was reduced again, this time to $1,050,000. $1,050,000, that sounded too good. I went over there right away to look at it again because it had been a long time since I'd last seen it, and I wanted to make sure. It was perfect for Michael and Vivian and at $1,050,000 it was a very good deal and just within their reach, IF I could get it for under 1 mil. Right away I called Vivian. She told me that she was at the tile store and she was just about to pay for all the exotic new floor tile for the renovation.
No, No, I thought, not possible, you cannot pass this up, you must see this home.
I asked her to put away her credit card, please, and come look at this home right away. No, she couldn't do that, remember we decided not to buy another home, Michael would go beserk. I asked her to trust me, please, come look at this home, if you don't like it you can go back and pay for the tile and go on with your remodeling...
it doesn't matter she said, we're not going to buy a house. just take a look.
From the minute she walked in the door, her eyes were wide, her hands were shaking and all I could make out was 'uhh, ahhh, ohhh, this is just what I wanted'
She called Michael.
He pulled up a few minutes later, and as he got out of the car all I got was a smirk, and, ' I thought I told you we weren't going to buy'. 'Yeah, well, you're right, but please, take a look inside, see what you think.'
Twenty minutes later we were writing a contract. Michael and Vivian got the home of their dreams. They got it at a great price-under a mil, and just in the nick of time. They're giddy with happiness. Absolutely giddy. The tile guy on the other hand,
