To all the agents in the house,
Maybe you know someone like me. Maybe they're technically still your client?
You see, when everything still seemed so uncertain (back in the fall), my wife and I decided that we were ready to take that next step and become homeowners. We'd been renting in Brooklyn for about a decade but the pandemic had us rethinking city life. We caught the fever.
Anyway, we had our eye on fixer-uppers in New York's beautiful Hudson Valley, so a friend of ours recommended a real estate broker in the area.
The agent was friendly, seemed competent and showed us about half a dozen homes over a few weekend trips. She was great about quickly getting us information that we had requested.
But that market was punishing. Anything with the slightest bit of upside was gone in a day and went for well above asking price. We were perhaps naive and didn't realize we were competing entirely with dudes in Patagonia vests named Brad.
It didn't help that we were also looking for a more specialized mortgage product to bring a fixer-upper to life (Fannie Mae Homestyle rehab-purchase loan), and could not get a contractor to agree to a job. Plus, we didn't know if my wife's job would let her work from home in the future, so it's fair to say we were not fully committed at the time.
The real estate agent sent us a few listings for about three weeks after our final weekend trip upstate in the winter. Then we stopped hearing from her, and she stopped hearing from us. I don't know that we are her clients anymore.
In retrospect, we were absolutely not equipped to compete in that housing market. We were sincere in wanting to buy a house, but I think we missed the window in the Hudson Valley. Our real estate agent must have sensed it early on and quickly moved on to more promising leads (as she should!).
We ultimately decided instead to stay in Brooklyn and are now looking to find a weekend home in another nearby real estate market, the Poconos. It's a more affordable market and suits our needs well.
So, agents, let me ask you: Do you have "clients" like me? Ones where you thought in the beginning might lead to a sale but realized they weren't ready or able to close a deal? When do you decide to just cut bait? I'd love to hear from you. Message me anonymously at jkleimann@housingwire.com.
Hope you all have a great Fourth of July!
James Kleimann
Managing Editor, HousingWire
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