Agent Lady team member Brittany Loeffler writes about the reality of buying a home in Philadelphia through a series of short stories.
Offer Up
Lydia McConnell sat across from her real estate agent, Cherise Wynne, who was known in Philadelphia as the Agent Lady. Her office was a tad bit cold, but it was barely noticeable because Lydia’s excitement kept her warm. Cherise was writing an offer on a house she had taken Lydia to the day before. It was a beautiful brownstone in Society Hill with a communal patio that overflowed with ivy and colorful flowers. Lydia knew that this house was what she had been looking for from the start.
After filling out her financial information and signing a Buyer Agency contract, it was time to move on to the most important contract in buying a house, the Agreement of Sale. Cherise had explained to her that this document outlined the terms and conditions of the sale. It was important that they wrote it correctly, reviewed it, and were on the same page about deadlines and what was included with the house, if anything at all. “So, are we going to ask for the washer and dryer?” Lydia asked.
“If you’d like to, yes. However, keep in mind that there is no warranty on the appliances and that they will come ‘as-is.’” Cherise warned her.
“That’s fine. As long as I can put off buying new machines for at least a few months, I’m happy.” Cherise typed some words into the document. After putting some dates in she printed out the contract.
Get one step closer to writing an offer today!
Lydia took a pen in her shaking hand. She was finally doing it. She was going to buy her first house. After months of thinking and planning and looking over numbers, she decided it was time to buy when her landlord passed away last Christmas. She had rented with him since she had graduated from Drexel University. After hearing horror stories from her friends about their landlords, she knew she had lucked out. When he died, she decided she wanted to buy a house instead of trying to find another landlord, especially one who was as kind and attentive.
Cherise came back into the room and passed the thirteen page document over to Lydia. “Okay, I’ll need you to initial each page and then sign and date the last page. Look over your name and information to make sure it’s positively correct.” Lydia skimmed over the document, not fully retaining what she was reading. Her pen flew across the bottom of each page, imprinting her initials. She flipped the packet over and handed it back to Cherise.
“Now what?”
“Now, we wait.”
It had been a couple of days since Lydia had heard from Cherise. She tried to keep herself busy to keep her mind off of the offer she had submitted. Fighting to urge to call and text her realtor every two hours asking for an update, she went to get her nails done, took a day at the beach with her sister, and cleaned out her apartment. Just as Lydia sat down to have dinner, her phone rang. It was Cherise.
She held her phone to her ear, “Any news?” She skipped the salutations, wanting to get straight to the point.
“Lydia, I’m afraid I have some bad news,” Cherise’s voice was quiet and solemn. Lydia’s heart dropped. “The seller’s have accepted a different offer. They said that your offer price was too low. The buyers they decided to go with offered above asking price.”
“How is that possible?” Lydia’s voice was strained and tears started to come to her eyes.
“Well, in this market, it’s not uncommon for multiple offers to be made on a house. There aren’t many homes on the market right now, but there are a ton of buyers.”
“I can’t afford to go over the asking price.” Numbers from her bank account and assets ran through her head.
“It’s okay Lydia. We’ll keep looking. We’ll look for something more in your price range. This house just ended up not being the right one. I promise we will find you the best house for you.” They ended their conversation and Lydia put her phone down.
She looked over at the shrimp scampi she had just put on her plate and realized she had lost her appetite. Grabbing a plastic container from the kitchen, she put her food into it and placed it in the fridge. Not only was that her dream house, but now she felt even worse knowing that she had to look for a house in a lower price range, which made her doubtful that buying a house was a smart financial decision right now. Lydia sat in her bed with her laptop open searching Realtor.com once more.
About Brittany: Brittany is the super organized (and awesome) office and marketing assistant that helps home buying and selling clients have the best experience possible. She also shares her creative side by writing compelling short stories about the home buying process that are loosely based on actual client situations. Expect to receive emails and phone calls from Brittany if you decide to work with the Agent Lady team to buy or sell a home!
