Annie Price* called me, a hint of guilt in her voice.
“I’ve decided to come clean,” she said. “I broke the cardinal rule. I fell in love.” Annie, of course, was talking about the little white house with the black shutters and the red door.
“I know what everyone says. Until it’s yours, it’s just a house, not a home,” she said, reminding me immediately of the Luther Vandross mega-hit song.
“But as soon as I saw it, I was hooked.”
Annie had already driven by the home and really liked the neighborhood. That’s when she called her agent and they made an appointment to see it the following day. The interior needed some TLC, but Annie immediately saw what she could do with the house.
She took a handful of pictures, and was already re-designing the kitchen, choosing new flooring, and picking out paint colors in her mind.
She also did her due diligence by calling her lender and asking what the best program would be if she went the fixer up route, and confirmed that he was qualified to handle that type of loan. A grant would still cover her downpayment assistance, while the fixer loan would be added to the mortgage.
“We made an offer on the house the very same day,” Annie admitted. “Then we found out the the home had multiple offers. My agent checked the comps in the neighborhood, and we decided to go in at $5,000 over asking.”
It’s been almost a week, but Annie is still optimistic. I took a drive out to the house with her, and didn’t have to ask why it had captured her heart so quickly. We took a tour inside, and I saw the same thing she did — a place that needed some work, but had the potential to be a really lovely and comfortable home.
Will Annie get the house? Stay tuned.
Annie Price* is a pseudonym.
