The following is a real, first-hand account of the home buying experience in Windsor-Essex for a set first-time home buyers.
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The home buying experience was nothing short of a roller coaster of emotions. From let downs to the ultimate goal, I'll walk you through our multi-month experience.
I'll start where every home search starts, finding your agent to guide you. We chose Mary and Jump because I know the service they would provide was second to none, and we were right as you will hear. From there, the next stop was the money, you cannot find a house if you do not know how much you can spend. Mary provided 3 amazing options and we ultimately decided a mortgage broker was best for us as they could shop the market and negotiate for us to get us the best rate. Our broker was amazing and worked hard to secure us the most amount of purchasing power and now that we had our pre-approval the housing search started.
Mary kept us updated almost daily on new listings that might interest us and luckily within just a few days what looked like a great option for us was on the market and the sellers were motivated. We walked through and while it needed some work, it was a great first-home. Next step was to get an inspector through. This is were the first blow to the home search was delivered but also an amazing lesson was learned. Upon inspection, mold was found in the attic, and not a small amount. This was an automatic disqualifier for us. We thought we might luck out and swing for the fences on house one and get lucky, this ended that dream and kicked off a months long search filled with more ups and downs.
Coming off the failed inspection, we re-grouped and continued on with our search. I should say that this process started in January so inventory and options remained low. Moving through February houses were visited, but nothing was right. In a highly competitive price bracket we were battling with what we wanted and where wanted as they seemed incompatible at times. I would call this search period a down time. At times you think you will never find a home or you are going to have to settle for something you don't want. Then comes the next upswing, some new homes on market and in our price range.
We walked through two homes in Lasalle on the same street. One was closer to move-in ready, the other needed some work. We decided we liked the bones of the one that needed work and prepared an offer. The ideas on how to make it ours were flowing and excitement was building. Offer date came and we were one of 6 or 7 offers. Not great, but not awful. We thought we had a good number and had a good shot. We waited for an update from the selling agent. 10 minutes turned into 20 and 30 and 40. Finally, nearly an hour later we got the update, "unfortunately we are working with another offer, thank you for your interest and offer". Blow number 2 across the bow. First the mold, now a rejected offer. Blow 3 comes just a day or two later when we find out we lost out by a mere few thousand dollars with no opportunity to match or compete. Back to the drawing board.
Those feelings above about settling and not getting what you want begin to set in again come March as the search hits that same point. Here comes the next high, and shock, low. A planned viewing is moved up a day because a pre-emptive offer is coming in. We get through the house and decide we want to get involved as we may have limited competition. We write the offer and think we have a great shot once again competing against only 2 or 3 others. The next morning we got the news, another loss. At least this time we lost by a factor of tens of thousands instead of a mere few thousand. A few days later another house walked through, another House we liked, another House we lost by tens of thousands, granted this one a bit more expected to help soften the blow. You know what comes next, back to the home search.
So before carrying on, let's take a recap of our journey so far. Hopes are high we are the lucky people who get a house early in the process only to be dealt a blow by the inspector. Then after searching again, hopes up and have an excellent chance to buy, only to be dealt the blow of losing by a few thousand dollars and never getting the chance to match. Then two more, albeit softer, ups and downs in our home search of finding a home and losing. I'll take this moment to share a mantra that really helped us throughout the journey. Something Mary told us, something we said to ourselves over and over. "It will happen when it is meant to be".
Here comes April, we've had the ups and downs. The excitement dashed by the unwanted news of losing. Two more houses come up in a very desired location of ours and Mary acts quickly to get us through. We go through both, one is a bit small, the other is bigger and we instantly love it. Offers aren't scheduled until the following week. Mary gets on the phone that evening and talks with the seller agent about reviewing offers early and to make a long story short, offers were now the next day. We had another chance and maybe our best yet. We put our absolute best offer on the table and we are up against just one other offer. Offer presentation time comes and goes and as we approach 30 minutes we get the sinking feeling we did when we lost by just a few thousand. My phone rings and it is Mary and she says in the most somber voice "are you going to be okay". Here comes the next blow I thought and my heart sank. Then she said words I'll never forget, "you bought a house!" We finally did it, we got our house. The emotions that took over are hard to describe. Speechless, almost breathless, pure elation, just to name a few we remember. Recalling that mantra, "it will happen when it is meant to be", well this was meant to be. Of all the offers and losses, this house was better by every measure. We got the right house, it truly was meant to be.
I'll wrap this up with some words of advice. First, hire the right agent to represent you. I cannot stress enough the importance of the guidance and advice we received from Mary over the course of 4 months. From the outset of our home buying journey she was there and the advice was always spot on. Get an agent who is putting you and your interests first. Mary and the team at Jump were invaluable to us. Finally remember, when it is meant to be it will be.
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Here at Jump Realty our agents will give you honest advice on what course of action is best for you in their professional opinion and will always put taking care of your best interests first! With offices in Windsor, Tecumseh, Kingsville, LaSalle, Harrow, Chatham, and Leamington, no matter where you are, a Jump agent is ready to help. Please contact us for any housing needs and let us give you a better real estate experience!
