A few of you know this, but Josh and I have been house hunting to some extent for basically the whole time we've been married. Yes, for seven years we've had our house radar in the 'on' position just so we know what's happening with interest rates and the market...and so we can completely exhaust, stress out, and frustrate ourselves for fun.
Coincidentally I'm sure this exhausts our poor realtor...who at this point has probably shown us 50+ properties in the past five years. We've purchased one, with a pretty mediocre price tag. After working for Tami for 3+ years, I am the first to realize WE ARE BASICALLY THE WORST CLIENTS EVER.
The plan was to live in our Ames house for 3-5 years before upgrading, but during that time we bought an acreage (mainly for it's old barn and dream-location) to use as a rental until we're ready to build. So that changed the timeline a little and we've found ourselves still needing a third 'in between' property to grow the business until we truly need to build our dream home.
I'm using the word 'need' completely wrong, and I want you to know I realize that...we don't 'need' a third house (that's insane!) and I am forcing us to be patient and content in this house until we die if God doesn't bring about the 'right' property with easy-open doors.
It's so hard to know what direction to pursue...we want to spend our money as wisely as possible and we really would just like a giant red flashing sign that tells us exactly what to do. Since we can't have that, we have the next best thing...a realtor. And her name is Tami Hicks.
 |
| I have to take credit for making Tami show me THIS gem...she dropped what she was doing on a Friday night and drove to Maxwell for a house saturated in dog pee...but it's a fixer-upper with outbuildings in a location we're interested in so of course, she showed it to us with a good attitude, as per usual. |
A few weeks ago I got a letter in the mail saying our assessed value went up nearly FIFTY GRAND and my very first reaction was to text Tami to ask her opinion because hers is the only one Josh and I BOTH trust. It means Josh and I don't have to discuss/argue about it...we just do what Tami suggests. lol. Start the appeal process? OK!
They are patient. I mentioned this before but Tami has traipsed all over Central Iowa showing us acreages and she has never once said, "I don't think this will be the one for you guys" or "This seems like the wrong location for what you" or "Why am I spending my Saturday night looking at a house I know you're not going to buy?" Baaahahaha. I have no idea how she does it because I'M ANNOYED WITH US. Instead she says things like, "It would definitely not be a waste of my time to show you a house" and she's always sending beautiful calendars in the mail and stopping by our house WITH GIFTS. What in the literal heck.
They aren't pushy. At the end of a showing we usually stand by the car for a little bit while she asks what we liked, what we didn't like...we chat about the pros and cons of each place and probably waste way more of her time than the typical client, because we know her as our friend too. She listens to us and then casually says, "ok well let me know if you want to make an offer" and then Josh asks her more questions and then we NEVER DO. Ok that's not true, we've made two official offers, one that resulted in a house, so I guess that's not terrible...but we've come super close to making an offer two or three other times (once during the middle of church a few weeks ago...talk about annoying clients) and I would guess doing all that texting/calling/paperwork isn't exactly a thrill.
They're direct. Things like ignoring the assessed value and stupid 'Zestimate' on Zillow or only using Realtor.com to search for houses (because it's a direct feed from the MLS!) are just a few of the tips Tami's given us. Her emails aren't wordy, but they're full of valuable advice and information. I remember the first time she sent me an email that included CAPS and no smiley-face punctuation...I thought she was yelling and mad (which, if you know Tami is pretty much never the case). I've come to thoroughly appreciate her directness and even copy how she communicates.
They have valuable experience. Stuff like lost abstracts and crazy sellers don't scare them (so. much. crazy.). Dark, rotten, moldy basements don't even scare them! They know exactly what to do and how to go about getting it done. I LOVE that Tami just gets crap done all day, every day. It probably helps that I've wittenessed her in action, but seriously. At the beginning of the year she casually makes goals like 'Memorize Proverbs' and 'Sell 60 Houses' AND THEN SHE DOES THOSE THINGS. I'm telling you...in a market that is saying you can FSBO your house and (insert dramatic finger quotes here) "SAVE A TON OF MONEY" (to be honest, you probably can) there is just NO WAY we want to do it that way. And I say that having been in that exact situation a few months ago. After casually looking at a friend's FSBO without Tami (and literally feeling naked at a showing without her) we knew we needed her for everything from writing the PA to negotiating to the inspection and we didn't want to 'fake' it through legal things like that on our own.
I guess this stuff really only applies if you're realtor is as good as ours. She puts up with us when we're ten minutes late. Shows us houses at ridiculous times. Invites us to her house to drink wine and eat cheese and THEN GIVES US A FREE PIE to take home. She's just the best all-around. So I guess what I'm trying to say is...if you don't have a realtor you love, I do and you should call her. If you do, I'm glad you have someone helping make the stress of house hunting easier, and I wish you luck!
...but not if you're looking for an acreage between Ames and Ankeny with a couple metal buildings...in that case...umm...maybe you should try your search without a realtor. It will totally work just fine. ;) ;) ;)
MmB
No comments:
Post a Comment