A gift to treasure

It was almost a year ago we started working with Darren and Shona. They were newlyweds looking to buy their first home. At last count, we had shown them over 60 homes in North San Diego County. I may have lost track on a few. If I was out of town representing Women's Council of Realtors, my husband, Steve, would show them homes. We wrote several offers along the way. Sometimes with as many as 20 other buyers competing for the same home. Their price point is a fast moving section of our market. Finally, we found another house that would fit their needs. It was a bank owned property built in 1971, complete with shaggy, smelly dirty green shag carpet, outdated wallpaper that looked like it could be Christmas wrapping paper, and linoleum that I'm sure is the same pattern that was in a house I lived in in Mississippi in the late 60's. Oh,yes, there was some red carpet upstairs, a mural of a forest (often seen in dentist offices) stapled up in the living room. There was also a special wallpaper (apparently superglued to the wall) in a study-like room that looked like it could have come from Disney's Haunted House. You could say it was a house that required vision. We wrote an offer. It comped higher than list price, and we encouraged our clients to offer higher than list price. It was a multiple offer situation, and the bank came back and asked for "highest and best." We ran the numbers again, looked at monthly costs, and put their most reasonable and best foot forward. They got the house!

Of course, then followed home inspections, in-between inspections, more photos, furnace repairs, appraisals, having the police kick transients out of the property, and waiting for the bank..........

They got the keys Friday before Memorial Day weekend. We checked on their progress this weekend. The old flooring and wallpapers are gone. Bathrooms have been expanded. Non-load bearing walls have been opened up. With the help of their Aunt Amanda, new paint colors have been expertly chosen. Floor coverings have been picked, and the home is taking shape! The nasty shower stall is gone and replaced with a hand-tiled masterpiece created by Darren. Family members have pitched in and put their heads through walls when needed and hung drywall (remeber the superglued wallpaper!). It's a work in progress, but you can tell that a tremendous amount of love from the extended family and Darren and Shona will make it a wonderful home to behold.

They had a special gift for Steve and I this weekend. It is a gift I will always treasure. In the center is a picture her parents took on Memorial Day weekend -- Steve and I standing next to Darren and Shona. They are holding the SOLD sign. In the shadow box around that picture are, you guessed it, a snippet of the green carpet, the wallpapers, and that geometric 60's linoleum.