Buying My House in Philly

I needed to buy my house. Aside from just needing a stable place of residency, I couldn’t stand the fact that the apartments I rented had limitations to what I could actually do as far as design. Every apartment I’ve had, I had so many ideas that could make the place a lot better for storage and functionality.

When I first even thought of purchasing my own property, it was a house next door to my grandmother. It was a well kept home.The owner, Mrs. Sara had passed and the property had went on the market for a very good deal. Our family likes to live close to each other so I thought that would be a good place for my daughter and I. When I contacted a loan officer, she gave me a hard time about the amount I needed versus the minimum amount of what the bank could offer. Things didn’t work out, and it wasn’t the right time for me to buy. I had to make some changes in my life in order to get into a better position to buy, especially knowing the potential obstacles that could arise from requesting a loan.

Time had passed and I got in touch with a new loan officer, and a real estate agent. Since my sister had success in recently purchasing her new home, she passed the contacts to me to start my process.

So I started.

Buying my house was such a tough process. The realtors, and my loan officer really hung in there for me and thank God they had the patience. My list of must-haves seemed really hard to find.
I knew what areas I would live in, what areas I would never live in, and what type of home I would be comfortable in. I was dealing with a couple of guys from Keller Williams. They worked as partners. Most of the time, one of the two agents would do a property showing.

Here is my list.

I wanted a 3-bedroom home with the following:

Dishwasher,

Garage or Driveway

Large bathroom

Finished basement

Washer & Dryer

A powder room would be ideal, also, but it’s not major right now. Basically, I’m tired of hand-washing dishes (no matter what people say about dishwashers not getting the job done); I don’t like looking for parking spaces outside of my home (especially with groceries to take in), and the rest is luxury. Which I need. I wanted a good block live on, too. Clean, respectful neighbors.

Rich, the main guy who took me to showings, had just as much faith as I did in every property. He didn’t try to force a sale on me. After so many houses, he knew before I ever said anything if we should keep looking as soon as we stepped foot in the property. From the door, it had to smell right. I have asthma, and I already know what smell will potentially cause problems regardless of how nice a house appears to be cosmetically. If we made it past that, the next dealbreaker was the basement.

This house we found had a lot of what I wanted. The kitchen was a weird layout, but it had a dishwasher. The back had a driveway, the garage was sealed up for the basement expansion, but it was my own parking spot. The basement wasn’t finished but it was clear and had higher ceilings than most. Everything else was okay. So I put my offer in hoping it was a go from there. The seller accepted, but shortly after something  traumatic happened.

My realtor had to give me the bad news that the seller, a young man around my age had a sudden death. 

He had some kind of motorcycle accident. It was unbelievable that something like this would happen while shopping for a new home. I was like, wow, this was clearly an eye-opener.

Apparently, that property was an inheritance and several family members owned it. After, trying to give time for grieving and understanding what the family must be going through I had to move on. I had to worry about my situation. It was late in the year, and by now it was 8 months of house hunting.  I needed to get my down payment back that was in escrow for the house. The seller’s agent was being a jerk about refunding me my money, and was trying to hold on to it. My realtor tried talking to him. I tried to talk to him. He still didn’t budge. Then one day, the owner of the firm I worked at asked me how everything was going. You know how small talk is in the break room or kitchen at a job. So I told him what was going on. He said, “Send me his information.”
I sent the guy’s name, email and phone number. In my boss’s office, he called him on the speaker phone, and basically demanded my money back. The next day I got a check.

Finally, I could start looking again. After that experience, and it being months and months of not moving  into a home with my daughter, I felt like I needed to change things up. I got in touch with a different realtor from a different company. I went to ReMax. It was an older man from Ukraine. The plan was to view only three homes. I saw one, and it didn’t really give me the feeling of when you know, you know. Plus, it was on a street that had a bunch of trolley tracks. It had columns in the living, but for some reason, they didn’t seem like they went with the house. The living room was small and awkward shaped or something. The bathroom was beautiful. I remember there being his & her sinks on granite. But I still couldn’t see myself living there.

We drove to this chill block. Open the door, and it is bright, clear, and refreshing. No weird smells, okay... check. It doesn’t have that old-timey amber ambience lighting as the last property, I notice. It does have the two Romanesque columns like the last place, but here, it makes sense. The kitchen is spacious and even though it didn’t have a dishwasher, the washer and dryer happens to be on the first floor. This made up for the basement not being renovated. Everything else was fine after that. Spacious and bright bedrooms, roomy closets... the only part I was disappointed in was the small bathroom. Overall, the layout works out, and the finishes are nice. It doesn’t look like someone tried to keep up with trends or do some crazy design that would disgust me everyday. The backyard isn’t landscaped by the Gods, but it has ample space and sooo much potential.

Standing in my bright master bedroom.

I stood in the living room visualizing where I would place my furniture. I could easily see the flow of circulation of how I will move around. Took another look at the kitchen. It has a white subway tile backsplash, which is classic, but nothing fancy. Millwork around the perimeters and at the doorway is charming, all the walls and trim are painted a crisp white. The floors are real hardwood, a shiny polished natural stain. It felt peaceful and like home. There is no driveway or garage...but it’s not a busy street so I’ll be okay. I didn’t need to see a third property. This is my house.