I’m so pleased to finally write this post, and to congratulate my amazing, dedicated & steadfast clients, Michael & Amber. Yesterday they closed escrow on a beautiful 4bd/2ba Victorian home, after a two year epic house-hunting adventure. We began shopping together in December 2012, just as the market began to take it’s upward turn. I remember making our first offer together in May of 2013, and we got blown out of the water by the competition; multiple offers were just beginning to appear, and being first-time buyers/shoppers, it took us awhile to get into the offer-writing groove. On the next few places we tried for, they arranged for home inspections in advance – we did at least four pre-inspections, enough for Michael & Amber to be on a first-name basis with our favorite home inspector. We wrote offer after offer, sometimes getting second or third place in this competitive market. We got smarter about our terms, realizing that the ‘winners’ in this market waive every contingency. In at least two instances, we were offered ‘back-up’ position, and patiently waited to see if the deal would fall to us…it never did. At one point, on a probate sale, we won a multiple offer situation of over 7 offers and then got beat out in the court confirmation auction process. It seemed like a never-ending cycle of Open Houses every Sunday, Tuesday Tours and Twilight showings. Michael & Amber told me that they kept every property flier from every single listing we visited together -there must be at least 100 flyers in their file. FINALLY a few weeks ago we noticed a new listing on Phelps St. that wasn’t scheduled to be shown for another week but Michael & Amber went to the property and sweet-talked the workers into letting them view the house early. And after all these months of writing offers that didn’t go anywhere, the TWELTH time was the charm! They pounced, wrote a generous & clean offer that the sellers couldn’t refuse. They now own a charming, spacious house that suits their needs better than many we had previously tried for. I’m super excited for them & wish them many happy years of happiness.