My husband and I represent the millions of working class Americans who struggle to make ends-meet living paycheck to paycheck. Our budget does not allow for hefty mortgage payments in custom-built neighborhoods with comfy amenities. On the contrary, our comfort-zone includes; low mortgage payments, moderate neighborhood amenities and the realistic expectations of raising two children in a troubled economy with no guarantees – (including no such thing as job security).
It’s often the case that REALTORS spend more time on smaller sales, making a fraction of the commission for double the work. Knowing our budget and what we reasonably felt we could afford, I felt bad for taking up our agent’s time when she could have been showing million dollar listings on the beach to clients with deeper pockets. However, not once did she make us feel like we were wasting her time or acted uninterested in showing us the homes we were interested in. In fact, she was genuinely attentive and compiled a list of properties for us to tour that included the home we purchased – a bank-owned property in a respectable neighborhood.
Once we decided on this home she immediately jumped in to quickly complete the necessary paperwork and submit our offer. Knowing how swiftly bank-owned properties are snatched up, she contacted the listing agent, kept us informed of other offers and promptly responded to any correspondence regarding our offer.
Well, it’s been almost one year since the perfect-offer came in on our old home and we moved into our new one. It’s been a great choice for our family. We moved from a cozy little 2 bedroom home into a large 3 bedroom home with oodles of extra space and room to grow. The neighborhood pool was a hot spot for our family last summer, our neighbors are awesome – lots of kids too, and our new home is still close to the same conveniences as our old one (which I still miss from time to time).
Thanks to our REALTOR for everything she did for our family throughout the process. She truly did go above and beyond anything I could have expected. Without her, I’m sure our family of four would still be in our cozy little two-bedroom house – with the coy fish pond – desperately trying to make it somehow work for us.
– Kimberly Raley-Kimes
Advertising & Marketing Director, Garden City Realty, Inc.
