Written by Andrea Twombly.
It was September, 1981. My future husband and I had a November 15th wedding date looming and we needed a place to live. Because he was a builder, we had to have a house, not an apartment, and preferably the property would have a garage for storage of building supplies and staging while not in use. It was imperative that it be income property, because he was self-employed and we needed the income to offset the mortgage payment. I had full time employment, but we wanted to have a financial cushion. We also wanted a yard because we were both gardeners and could not imagine not having a garden. A pretty big order for a couple of newlyweds on a shoestring.
The real estate agent showed us some ark-like 3-family houses, one of which was in very good condition, but it had no garage and no yard to speak of. The other two were beyond us just by sheer size and age of the building. Then the agent drove us past an over-sized Cape Cod style house with a two car garage and a decent yard for a small garden. He told us that this was the house for us, but it was under agreement, so sorry, too bad, blah, blah, blah.
So why show that house to us? What the agent knew and we didn't was that the pending deal was likely to fall through and it might soon be available but we would have to act fast if we wanted it. Interest rates at the time were running around 18 percent, and this house had an assumable VA mortgage at 9 1/2 percent.
Sounded too good to be true. We went home that day house-less still and not finding anything we wanted to buy. The following Friday afternoon, I received an urgent call from the agent telling me that the deal on that house had fallen through and it was available if we wanted to see it, but I had to go right then. I left work with my dad and we went to look at the house. My future husband was 60 miles away on a construction project, and of course there were no cell phones in 1981, so I had no way to reach him. Dad and I looked at the house and yard, and we thought that with a little elbow grease it would be quite suitable and it was move-in ready for a tenant to live upstairs. While leaving the property, the agent told us that he already had an offer on the house, and that he would be submitting all offers at 6:30 that evening, giving me one hour to make a decision. I decided to make an offer on the house, and by the time my future husband got home, the offer had been accepted.
When he arrived home from work later that evening, I greeted him with "I bought that house today!" We closed the deal 11 days later, and my future husband got to see the interior of our house for the first time.
Two things to note. 1. When your real estate agent tells you about a house that "is a good one for you" but it's under agreement, don't brush it off as silly. He or she may know something about the transaction that they cannot tell you. and 2. Don't be afraid to make a decision quickly. When the right house presents itself, go for it.