I don’t mean to brag but the title of this post sounds incredible, doesn’t it? Like zero to sixty in 5 seconds for a Formula 1 car! And, yes, I am very proud of what I consider a crowning achievement of my career in real estate. What is not said in the title, however, is how long it took me to get to a point where I could pull off such a feat.
I am about to use the term, “perfect storm,” to describe how I was able to complete a real-estate deal in 15 days from start to finish. This deal involved our own residence and, I hope, will be the last one to which we will be moving for the rest of our lives.
The origin of “perfect storm” is related to a weather condition, of course. This expression has since been used to describe a chance or rare combination of individual elements, circumstances, or events that together form a disastrous, catastrophic, or extremely unpleasant problem or difficulty.
Well, this time, I’m taking the liberty to use the term to describe a situation that could not have been more perfect. Every experience I have accumulated since 2005 – when I first obtained my real estate license – has made it possible to pull this off.
Going back in personal history, I was doing quite well in the old economic system; i.e., going to school, getting a good job, working hard, and saving a lot for retirement. I worked my butt off throughout life to do everything as prescribed by my parents who, in retrospect, had always wanted the best for me. Then in the year 2000, seemingly overnight, the macro forces in the financial market rendered the existing paradigm outdated. In incredible timing, that was also the year in which I was introduced to “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki. Kiyosaki foresaw what was to come in the economy decades before I could see what was happening in my own life. Until age 50, I never knew that I would be even remotely interested in real estate. Kiyosaki is only a few years older than me but, in stark contrast, he started his career at age 9. Just saying.
In any residential real-estate deal, you go through the following basic steps:
- Identify the location in which you are interested.
- Specify the architectural style you desire.
- Specify what you need in a property.
- Understand the market value.
- Make an offer.
- Close.
I will share my thought process in deciding on our next residence using each of the above steps.
Location
Since around 2010, when we lived in our newly re-built, beautiful home in Bloomfield Township, I have always wanted to move to a location near Henry Ford Hospital West Bloomfield. Why?
First, with various valuable programs that HFH WB has hosted (pre-Covid), David and I have always been impressed with everything that this hospital does for the community.
Second, the desire to be close to HFH WB was prompted by an incident that had forced me to call 911 for David. That’s when I learned that an ambulance takes a patient to the nearest hospital, not necessarily to the one where your primary-care doctor practices medicine. Well, I also learned that the nearest is not always the best, either. David was taken to a hospital where the attending doctor told me, “Your husband may die.” I was stunned. He could have conveyed the same message to a distressed spouse by saying something along the lines of, “We’re doing the best we can to help your husband but there are no guarantees.” I never wanted to come back to this hospital ever again.
In stark contrast, when David needed to go in for an operation at HFH WB, the lead doctor made sure that I was being informed of the progress and prognosis every few hours.
I knew then that, someday, we’d be moving to West Bloomfield.
Architectural Style
When you are young, going up and down the stairs is not a big deal. In fact, it is good exercise. When you grow older, however, you prefer to have everything – including washer and dryer – on one floor. This leads you to a ranch-style home. And that’s what we were after.
Specifications
David and I (just the two of us) used to live in a 3,500 square-foot house. In our daily life, at most, we were occupying 2,000 square feet of it, which was roughly the size of the main floor. Realistically, we only needed 1,400 – 1,700 square feet to live a comfortable life. Anything above that is luxury, which accordingly gets reflected in the amount levied in property taxes. For example, in the house in Bloomfield Township, we hardly ever used upstairs (guest rooms with a full bath) or the huge basement with high ceilings, which remained unfinished. The taxes were approaching $13,000 per year. It made no sense to keep paying this kind of money for so many unused spaces. Time and circumstances were ripe for us to downsize.
In terms of the number of rooms, we wanted to have a minimum of two bedrooms, an office space, and two full baths. To be able to accommodate overnight guests was still a desirable feature as well.
Because I have always been a workaholic, I have consciously decided to be kinder to my older self by minimizing the number of daily tasks that I would have to carry out. This led me to the idea of buying a condominium unit because the exterior care, among other benefits, is being handled professionally by the association.
Market Value
Finally, in the summer of 2020 when we put our house in Bloomfield Township on the market, we began looking for a condo in West Bloomfield.
Since then, David and I have probably learned everything there was to know about every available condo unit in West Bloomfield. Most importantly, we learned to gauge if the asking price was reasonable.
Making an offer
After having lost several deals to those who were willing to pay more than I thought were worth the asking prices, when the “right one” came along on the market at the “right price,” I jumped on it. The offer was made the day it came on the market. (Effectively the next day, however, because it was after midnight.)
I offered the asking price. There was another party who offered the exact same amount. I made sure that the seller would prefer our offer, such as being willing to pay for the property tax effective the closing date and to let her stay in the property for about three weeks – as she had wished – after closing, and for no additional cost to her to boot. If the other buyer were to declare a price war, which would not have been justified, I was ready to walk. Thankfully, this did not happen.
Closing
To be able to close within 15 days after an offer is made, we must have a set of crucial elements in place from the very beginning: They are (1) a competent title company, (2) ability to pay cash, and (3) a REALTOR® committed to getting the job done on behalf of the buyers. This is what I call the “perfect” storm or, perhaps more appropriately, the perfect alignment of the stars.
Thankfully, the seller had chosen a competent title company, First American Title. It was, of course, a cash offer. And, lastly, I was the REALTOR®, representing the buyers (David and myself), willing to jump through hoops to make the deal happen. This is where 16 years of experience – and understanding of the process from start to finish – paid off handsomely.
In addition to the huge savings on the commission for the sale of our previous residence in Bloomfield Township on March 31, 2021, for which I chose to pay myself $1.00, this time as a buyers’ agent, my commission was paid for by the seller. Effectively, this lowered the purchase price by over $10,000. We closed on the condo on July 29, 2021.
It also helped that, as a reward for the intense two weeks of hard work, and to fully relax at a vacation destination without having to worry about whether or not the condo of our choice would truly be ours, I was highly motivated to close the day before we were scheduled to fly to Oshkosh in a C-47 from World War II. More on this here.
In conclusion, yes, it is true that it took only 15 days from offer to closing, but it was a year in the making until we finally found the right one to make it happen. The effort was well worth it.
I simply love everything about our new home. Above all else, it is only two miles to Henry Ford Hospital West Bloomfield. Mission accomplished, albeit it took 11 years to get here.
