Well, maybe its not the best analogy, but I’m guessing that if you sat down and talked to Eric and I for a few seconds, you’d figure out what our house must look like. As soon as ‘architectural salvage’ spilled out of my mouth – you could imagine that I’m the kind of person who wants her home filled with glass doorknobs and recycled fixtures.
When Eric and I embarked on our latest house hunting trip, we were advised by our agent in Houston that ‘10% of the real estate agents do 90% of the work’. He offered to find us a few of Madison’s top agents. Eric began the interview process, and quickly found our woman. We were lucky enough to find a real estate agent who prides herself in ‘finding the perfect fit, every time’.
We flew up to Madison for ~3 days of house hunting. We were already familiar with Madison – having spent 6 years here in grad school – so we knew which neighborhoods to target. On day 1, we found a house that looked like it was designed by us, it was really move in ready, and in our price range. The down side was its location – 1 block off a busy road, near train tracks, and in the flight path of planes heading to the airport. But – Eric was sold. On day 2 we saw a ranch home that was super nice, but not at all our style. We figured it could work, but it would have to be temporary. On day 3, I saw a true fixer upper, in the most prime location – backing up to a park in a quiet neighborhood. I was sold. That night, Eric and I sat up until 2 AM arguing about what house we were going to make an offer on the next day. I must’ve worn him down, because we (reluctantly) wrote up an offer for the house on the park.
Learning moment here: don’t make an offer on a house after arguing for 8 hours about it.
Long story short, they countered our offer, and we didn’t accept it – and pulled out. We were back to square 1. There was a bidding war on the house that Eric liked, and we weren’t in any position to participate in that. So, we figured that our back up ranch house was the best bet.
Our agent wouldn’t let us make an offer on it. She knew exactly what was important to us in a house, and the ranch house wouldn’t cut it. She asked us if she could take another look around, and we were happy that she offered.
She came back to us with an option. A FSBO – built in 1940 – character in tact… she toured it, took a bazillion photos, and asked us what we thought. What we thought was, ‘wow… she really got us’. After sending another friend of ours in to look at the place, we decided to make an offer, without even having stepped foot in the door.
We moved up to Madison in June 2008. Literally drove into town, and set eyes on our house for the first time. The previous owners were still living there. They invited us over to have lunch with them… seemed like they were interviewing us to make sure that we’d treat the house well. I suppose we passed muster. The house already felt familiar to us, it was a great feeling. This had everything to do with our agent – who read us so well.
I guess I really don’t look like my house. Maybe I just feel like it.
Here's our home... watch her grow over the coming years!
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