Buying the Famous JettSet Farmhouse -Part 2
By: Becky Cummings
My husband being the kind man that he is, agreed to have a look at this “final” property in our quest for a new home. Lucky for us the kids were all in a camp the day we could get in for a showing. We didn’t want to drag them into another house getting their hopes up.
We got the first showing available. As we pulled in painting trucks were pulling out. The street was nothing like our old neighborhood in Palencia. This road felt more laid back, with simpler homes on huge lots. The farmhouse was set at the end of the cul-de-sac on a large lot, with mostly a side yard and no backyard. That was a little unexpected, but we thought it could grow on us. As we walked into the house, we were in awe of the beautiful craftsmanship. For once we were speechless. The gold lighting, the wooden accents on the ceiling, the flooring! It was so elegant, but cozy at the same time. It felt far out of my reach. How could I ever own a house that looks like it belongs in a Southern Living magazine! Jeff who usually has many comments, kept quiet. He knew it was just perfect for us. There was no escaping, an offer had to be made!
We were going to wait a few days to put one in, but the people that came to look at the house after us beat us to it. We had to make a move and fast. We put in a full price offer knowing ours wasn’t as strong because it would be contingent on the sale of our home. In this market everyone was dropping full price cash offers. We crossed our fingers and prayed hard! The next day we found out our offer had been accepted. The one condition was that we had two weeks to get our current home under contract!
We were thrilled, but nervous too. Could we manage to stage our home, get it on the market and receive an offer within a few days? The days that followed were a blur. We purged old items and cleaned so hard, making the house perfect for the photo shoot. Then we had to maintain the perfection for potential showings with three little kids and a bunch of animals fighting against us. Our realtor brought me over a tub of Magic Erasers, and I went to work scrubbing baseboards and walls. Jeff power washed the whole house. We had our first showing immediately and got feedback. They said the house needed a professional power wash and baseboards cleaned. Back at it, we hired someone to come out the next day and power wash the whole house again and I spent hours doing touch up painting on baseboards and walls.
A few more showings were scheduled for the weekend. No offers just feedback the master closet was too small, and the oven wasn’t fancy enough. I was getting so frustrated! I guess these were deal breakers for some people. Our window to get an offer was on a Thursday and we had no more showings scheduled before then. We even dropped the price by 100K to our lowest number and prayed hard!
After a couple more days passes with no activity we had to go back to the sellers and ask for an extension. At this point they could have gone with the other full cash offer. Noell personally reached out and told me not to worry. They were committed to making it work with us and would wait. We renegotiated the contact with some new terms and went back to waiting for showings.
All of a sudden, the next Saturday we had 3 set up in a row. One would be a virtual one showing with a Canadian family that had their agent doing the walkthrough. One was flying in from overseas and one was a local couple. We packed up the animals and kids and set out for the day to let our realtor do her thing.
That night we got the best call. We had a full price; all cash offer and they would take it as is. Surprisingly it was from the Canadian family that didn’t even see it in person. We signed the paperwork and breathed a sigh of relive. The next few days would prove to be busy as well because we still wanted to do minor repairs found in the inspection report just in case. It was really happening. It was all coming together, and next step would be to focus our energy on the big move!
As I sit in my new office a few months later it still feels strange to me how fast and smooth things came together. The universe was shifting just right to make it happen and I am so happy to be here. I really loved the other house, but it never felt quite like home. Here it feels a bit slower, a bit simpler. One of the first things I did was put up a swing on the big old oak tree in our yard. I had always wanted a tree swing. I’m excited to swing on it and push my kids on it and someday see my grandkids play on it. This is a home we can grow into! There is no place like home!
