Rose Park Home Sold For Nearly 400K Over Asking!

Leslie was ready to sell her home. This was a pretty big deal since she had lived there for the past 30+ years. She thought a one-story home in a less urban location would feel better. She asked me to help her sell her home and buy a new one. She also told me that her grown son would be moving back to California and that he would need to buy a home and that, ideally, he would be close by (hey, she's a mom right?) So I helped her son Greg get connected with an awesome agent in Texas to sell his home and in nothing flat, his home was sold for top dollar, and he was on his way back home to CA! As I began to run scenarios for both of them, I suddenly realized that if Greg tried to purchase something on his own, his money from his Texas home sale wasn't going to go very far here in California. I also realized that Leslie wanted some pretty special things in her new home that were going to put her at a price point that might be a lot to take on as a retired person. I had an idea brewing but I was hesitant to suggest it... could it be possible that this mother and son who are both very independent people, might be able to get into a home that could work for both of them together? I watched how they were together; very chill, super laid back and they cohabitate well together. But buying a home together? Hmmm... One day Leslie and I were talking about what her options were, and I decided to test this idea. She thought it could possibly work with the right property; maybe something on a big enough piece of land to accommodate an ADU, or "accessory dwelling unit." I asked her to run it by Greg and see what he thought.  Ultimately, this idea was centered around several important things that help families grow generational wealth and make provisions for elders WELL in advance of needing to make provisions for them. My goal is to help people make wise decisions about their real estate investments, so that life can just cruise right along without too much upheaval as the next chapters of life unfold. Greg loved the idea and now it was on like Donkey Kong! And so, the search began in one of the HOTTEST seller's markets that has ever happened historically.  I helped my clients put together a game plan so that we knew where the funds would be coming from, and I even connected them with a hard money lender to do a bridge loan at a very competitive price so that they could go make offers on homes without having to write them as "contingent upon the sale of their current home" which of course doesn't fly in a bullish seller's market.  The shopping commenced, and we got shut out on two homes when the bidding got too crazy. They almost bought a home that we had an accepted offer on; only to discover that it had many expensive repairs needed when we did the home inspection. Well, now this can get a little bit trying dontchaknow, but my philosophy in life is that when something doesn't work out for us, we have a choice; we can view it as a loss, a failure and a letdown, OR we can get really curious about the EVEN BETTER thing that the Universe has in store for us! Thankfully, the clients I work with tend to roll that same way, so even with the letdowns, after 5 weeks of shopping, Leslie and I met up to tour a "definitely not the one" home. We were about to part ways when she told me that there was a house that she didn't "think" was her forever home based on the exterior, but the inside looked really nice. She leaned her phone over for me to see and my jaw dropped! Girrrrrrl! We need to get over there RIGHT NOW! The home was on lock box, and the MLS had instructions that it was meant to be toured by appointment. They were going to be shutting down appointments and offers on Monday at noon... it was presently Sunday at 3PM. We drove over, and on the way, I got permission from the listing agent Nicole Rivera from the Rivera Group to go on in (thank you Nicki!) This home was BEYOND stunning; newly updated by the loving homeowners with top-end materials. The homeowners had planned to gussy it up for themselves, but instead ended up falling in love with life in their second home in another state which was why this GEM was on the market. I RAN back to my desk, and we put in the offer. It took the owner 4 days of rounds to finally choose the offer and all the while, Nicole, the listing agent, learned just how invested I am for my clients to have their dreams come true. I became a subtle but fairly constant presence in her day with cute little notes and jokes and video letters. In the end, the home was going to belong to the Jensens because it just HAD to! During escrow, the two families actually got to meet (something that doesn't always happen- though I wish it did). Stories were shared about plans for the future, and the sweetest moment of all was when the homeowner got a little bit misty when she told Leslie that she had never even had the opportunity to cook in her brand new kitchen that she helped to design; unless you count warming up water in the microwave! Leslie said that the kitchen was a HUGE selling point for her, and I could tell that the home owner was happy to see that her labor of love was going to be greatly appreciated by this new family. The homeowners made sure to tell Leslie and her son who lived nearby that this was an incredibly tight neighborhood with awesome folks. So many sweet moments from that day that I will always cherish. As for Leslie's home sale... uh, well, that was sort of the headline of the story! Yep, I helped them make a plan for clearing the home so that I could stage it, and then we did our TV-style listing video, and it sold in 3 days for nearly $400,000 over the asking price. So, that happened... Now Leslie and her son Greg are getting settled into their new digs and they absolutely love it. I just love a story with a happy ending don't you?

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