The young couple's first obstacle was to sell their home in New York. They signed a listing agreement with a local agent who was recommended as being one of the best in the area. On one of their many visits here, they came to my office asking for help. Their agent didn't have any photographs of their house in the Multiple List, and even worse, had the house listed as being in a different city than it actually was. They told me that even with repeated phone calls, the agent did not fix the problem. I made a few phone calls and finally, a few days later, the agent got the problems taken care of. Several months later, the house sold and the couple, who by now had become my friends, made the arrangements to move to Morgan County.
Due to a personal situation and a not-so-perfect credit score, they opted to rent an apartment while they looked for their new home. Over the months that passed, we went out on numerous occasions to look at homes. What they wanted and what they could afford just didn't match up. They decided to look for a fixer-upper until it was determined that they could not finance any additional funds to renovate.
It was actually a good thing that they were delayed. In the time that passed their needs changed and they realized they needed to move closer to the local Interstate which was in another county. So, we started over once again, looking at homes in Berkeley County. Nothing we saw was quite right -- either the neighborhood was bad, or the house needed too much work, or another contract had come in and the house was no longer available.
Finally, I suggested looking at a brand new townhouse. There was resistance at first, because all they knew of townhouse was that they felt like an apartment. I encouraged them to look at a brand new end unit. It was close to I-81, it needed absolutely no work, and it was in their price range. They fell in love with the house and we put in our offer. The offer was accepted and now it was just a matter of their lender finalizing their side of things. We had our share of problems - there always seems to be problems no matter how hard you try to prevent them - but we got through it all fairly easily.
17 months later, my friends and their children are finally settling in to their brand new, beautiful townhouse. It has 3 finished levels, a gorgeous kitchen with granite counter-tops, whirlpool tub, hardwood floors and over 2400 square feet. I am so happy to have played a part in it. It's the most rewarding part of my job.
