Agent Lady team member Brittany Loeffler writes about the reality of buying a home in Philadelphia through a series of short stories.
How Low Can You Go?
The Johnson family was about three quarters of the way through their home buying process. After months of searching and going to home showings, having one of their offers outbid by other buyers, and renewing their lease for one more month, they were in the final stretch of buying their first house. Thanks to their fantastic real estate agent, Cherise Wynne who specialized in first time home buyers, they had an unexpectedly smooth process compared to what they heard from their friends when they bought their homes.
Today the mortgage lender promised that they would receive the appraisal report back today on the house they were buying. With only a week and a half left before settlement, they were waiting on the appraisal report and their mortgage commitment to come through. Ella Johnson prayed that the appraisal would come in at asking price or even a little higher. She had heard of horror stories where the appraisal came in so low that the deal fell through. That was the last thing she wanted.
Liam Johnson was tying his royal blue tie in front of their body-length mirror getting ready for a meeting at work. Ella hated that tie more than anything in his closet. “Do you wear that tie just to annoy me?”
“Yes,” he chuckled and gave her a pearly white smile. He gave her a kiss on the forehead and picked up his briefcase. “Do you want to meet for lunch? My meeting should end around noon. “We can go to an all you can eat place.” He put his hand on his wife’s pregnant stomach. For the last couple of weeks she was a bottomless pit for food, always hungry.
“Brazilian steakhouse?” she asked, craving some medium rare meat.
“Of course. I’ll give you a call when I’m done.” They kissed goodbye and Ella tidied up the kitchen while watching her favorite morning talk show.
While the expecting couple called over waiters carrying slabs of meat, Ella’s phone rang. She pulled it out of her purse and saw it was their realtor, Cherise, probably calling with an update on the appraisal. “Give me some good news,” Ella demanded playfully. She was so surprised at how much she liked Cherise and how friendly the two became, joking around and grabbing coffee once in a while.
“I wish I could kid,” Cherise answered. Ella waved away the waiter standing next to her waiting for her preference of meat.
“What’s wrong?”
“The appraisal came in low, too low.”
“How low?”
“$20,000 too low.” Ella dropped her fork. Twenty grand? That would have paid two semesters of her college. Liam looked at Ella confused, wanting to be looped into the conversation.
“Appraisal came in $20,000 too low,” his wife explained, covering the mouthpiece on the phone. “So, what are our options?”
“I’m going to talk to the seller’s agent and see if they can’t come down to that number. The lender will only approve you for the appraised amount. Give me some time to negotiate with the sellers and I’ll give you a call either tonight or tomorrow, sound good?” Cherise talked quickly, wanting to get the listing agent on the phone as soon as possible.
“Sounds good. Thanks for calling, Cherise.” Ella hung up and explained the situation to her husband. The only thing they could do now was wait and pray that they wouldn’t have to renew their lease for yet another month.
Meanwhile, at Cherise’s office, she dialed the listing agent’s phone number and waited for him to pick up. “Richard, it’s Cherise Wynne, how are you?”
“Doing well Cherise, super busy. What’s going on?” Richard Drake answered the phone in his most salesman voice.
“Well, the appraisal just came in and it’s about $20,000 below your asking price. Let’s work together to make this work, okay?” Cherise wasn’t taking no for an answer. “What are your sellers willing to do?”
“Oh man, that’s a doozy right there. The thing is, they’re in the process of buying their next home and they were really dependent on getting the asking price. Upgrading and everything, you know how it goes.” It didn’t sound like Richard was going to give Cherise and inch here.
“Listen, Richard, you and I both want this deal to go through. Why don’t you go back to your sellers, explain the situation. Maybe we can meet in the middle here?”
“I’ll try, but they’re hardheaded clients.”
“Have them come down ten grand, I’ll see if my buyers can bring the other ten to the table and we’ll live happily ever after.” They ended their conversation and Cherise knew it was time to give the Johnsons a call. She wasn’t sure how it was going to play out, but she had to do everything she could to make this deal go through.
Ella was impressed at how quickly Cherise called her back. “Good news?” she asked, hopeful.
“Still negotiating, but I just wanted to know if you are willing to bring an extra $10,000 to the table at settlement?”
“That’s a lot of money, Cherise. Let me talk it over with Liam. I’m sure we can get it if that’s what it’ll take for us to get the house, but it’s less than ideal. We were really relying on the mortgage coming through.” Ella started to bite her nails due to the stress of the situation, which her husband smacked away.
“Okay, good to know. I’ll let you know when we have reached an agreement. Thanks, Ella. Take it easy!” The phone clicked and Cherise was gone. They had to trust their realtor to help them as much as she could now.
Settlement day came and the Johnsons directed their Uber driver to Cherise’s office on Walnut Street in Center City. “Right here is perfect, thank you,” Ella said as she struggled to get out of the car. She felt as if her stomach grew three inches overnight. She took Liam’s hand and finally got to her feet and up onto the curb. They rode the elevator up to the eighth floor office where Cherise met them with excitement.
“You’re almost there!” she exclaimed as she sat them down in a conference room with a table full of papers and her number one Title person at the head of the table.
The couple sat down and started signing papers, the first of many. Once they were about a third of the way through, the listing agent and sellers walked in and sat down across from Cherise and the Johnsons. There was a formal greeting and some laughs about the process. “Thank you for working with us over the appraisal,” Ella said gratefully.
“Thank you for bringing the other half today,” the woman responded with a kind smile. After all was signed and done, the Johnsons received the key to their first home thanks to their amazing real estate agent who was willing to negotiate the deal with them and get them their dream home.
About Brittany: Brittany is the super organized (and awesome) 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.
