Don't Take No For An Answer

by Darrin DeRoches May 24 - 30, 2012

I would like to continue my article with the client I mentioned in last week’s article. He was discouraged when he found a property and went to his bank to be told he did not have enough money saved for his down payment and closing costs. Within 24 hours, we not only had him pre-approved for a better rate mortgage, he also had three options to close the deal. He fired his agent and his bank. We took him out in our company limousine and showed him three possible homes to consider. He also wanted to look at the house he had thought was “the one” before the bank turned him down. We viewed three properties in the West end all within his dream area. All three had their pros and cons. We then went on to the property he wanted to buy in the Stinson neighbourhood and he was convinced that I would agree that it was “the one”.     Once we pulled up, I was impressed with the street but once we walked through the house my opinion changed. The house had no yard or land and was renovated in a very peculiar way. I started to point out all the shoddy workmanship and the costs it would take to improve. The house had a very “artsy” feeling but the bad foundation, original windows, old roof and overall depressed state was very apparent to me. My client was so in love with this property that I felt bad pointing out all the bad things he did not notice on his first visit. By the time we were leaving he realized that it really was not “the one”. We discussed the four homes we saw that day and he ruled out “the one” and began to consider the other ones we had viewed.     He came down to one in the West end and one near Pier 4. He was leaning towards the one at Pier 4 since he believed it was larger and had a bigger upside. After discussing the current market and future market, he realized that the home in the West end was his best investment. There were six showings that day so if he really wanted the property we would have to move fast.He decided to put in an offer right then and there. I called the seller’s agent and arranged a time to present and we sat in the limousine and typed out an offer, printed it, signed it and we were ready to go! Within hours we had negotiated the deal and our client had his dream home.     A week has passed and my client went from total disappointment to total elation. There is always a solution to your situation if you work with the right people to find the right answers. My client started to ask the right questions and we worked with him to find the right answers. He now has the right house in the right area with the best mortgage because he did not allow the bank’s “no” to stop him from owning his first home. V     Darrin DeRoches is a local real estate and mortgage broker. He can be reached to answer questions, comments or stories about real estate experiences through this weekly column at mail@uniquerealty.ca