From Touring to Owning: How I Secured My First Home After 50 Attempts

DEBARYLIFE – After seeing over fifty homes over two years and failing to secure any of his offers, a Baltimore man eventually came up with a novel way to outperform the competition.

After nearly two years of perseverance and patience, Skutch M., who requested that Realtor.com not use his last name, bought his first house with his partner, Allie.

“My partner and I were certain that we would succeed and that the ideal house at the ideal cost would eventually find its way to us,” he says.

According to Skutch, they “managed expectations” in the current challenging housing market, which allowed them to ride the highs and lows of the homebuying roller coaster.

The pair realized they shouldn’t waste any time when they discovered a treasure of a 1,800-square-foot, three-bedroom, three-bathroom row house for $389,000. They overasked by $4,000 in their offer. But there was a catch to it. The conditions of the offer ran out the very next day, which was the day before the planned open house.

Here, Skutch shares with Realtor.com the reasons this strategy worked for him as well as some of the lessons he discovered before getting the keys to his and Allie’s first house.

Lesson #1: You may need to look outside of your neighborhood.

When Skutch and Allie outgrew their flat, the house hunt began. The couple’s goal was to purchase a house rather than take a larger rental.

They initially focused on a particular Baltimore area that they adored.

“I was obstinate about it for the first twelve months like I was waiting for a unicorn to appear,” admits Skutch.

The couple soon found that the number of houses available in their preferred neighborhood was few. The ones within their budget also required renovations.

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Skutch and Allie had to find a new renter or change their house-hunting strategies because their apartment lease was about to expire.

Lesson #2: You may need to travel to a lot of bad shows.

Skutch modified the listing criteria for his online house search to include neighboring communities as the couple began to look through additional outlying neighborhoods. He advises customizing your home search by utilizing every filter, particularly the listed price.

He admits, “I wasn’t going to go over $400,000.” “It makes no sense to use houses you can’t afford as a joke or diversion.”

After that, the pair embarked on a marathon open house tour, stopping at each home, but there were no winners. Even worse, their offers were rejected the few times they did fall in love with a home.

Nevertheless, Allie and Skutch remained persistent. For their protracted quest, he even came up with the encouraging maxim, “The more homes you see, the more you know.”

Lesson #3: Record your house hunt with notes.

Throughout the pair’s two-year house shopping binge, Skutch maintained a spreadsheet with his wishes. He also made notes with that, noting things like the age of the appliances in the houses they had seen.

“Although no single house can ever fulfill all the requirements, it certainly helps to know that there are winners and losers when you’re thinking back on the houses you saw that day,” adds Skutch.

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He says that in the end, the spreadsheet allowed them to maintain objectivity and even identify patterns in the speed at which houses in their price range sold.

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Lesson #4: Make a perfectly reasonable offer

Finally, on a Thursday evening in April, Skutch and Allie went to see a few row homes with end units.

He remembers, “That night, we saw three other end-unit row houses, but nothing compared to the fourth one.”

They thought the $389,000 home was meant for them the moment they fell in love.

Now that they were true experts, they looked up the property history in the listing and saw that the seller had the house listed for sale for a month or so, but at a lower price.

Skutch knew not to lose any time on this treasure and made an offer above asking for $393,000—and including his cunning catch—having lost every open house bid he’d ever made.

The day before the open house was set to take place, Skutch explains, “We put in an offer that evening—just over the asking price—that had terms to expire the very next day, Friday at 5 p.m.”

Lesson #5: As a consumer, always keep yourself safe.

Skutch might have offered more than he was willing to pay and insisted on a prompt closing date, but he wasn’t going to back down from an inspection.

“With these historic row houses in Baltimore, you’d be crazy to take that chance,” he remarks.

Additionally, he obtained information from the real estate brokers indicating the homeowner valued selling to a local, such as Skutch, above selling to an investor.

Thus, the couple’s narrative was recounted to the vendor in a letter. The fact that Allie, who works for a nonprofit that promotes nature, emphasized how happy she was to take care of the lovely perennials and wildflowers the seller had planted probably didn’t hurt either.

Skutch and Allie’s diligence paid off, whether it was because of the generous offer, the letter, or some other factor.

Skutch received a call on Friday night, ahead of schedule, informing them that their offer had been accepted.

Skutch and Allie were eager to settle into their new row house after a protracted journey filled with ups and downs, turns, and twists, but they still had one obstacle to overcome. There were only a few days separating the closing date and their vacation date.

They essentially moved out of their flat, left their possessions at the new residence, and left on a vacation. They had no regrets about their vacation when they got back.

“We adore it,” Skutch declares. It’s fantastic! Although there are occasional hiccups and minor headaches, those are all part of the experience.

Advice on putting in an offer before an open house

For Skutch and Allie, everything came together perfectly, but an offer that expires before an open house may not always work out that way.

The expiration date may offend certain sellers, particularly if your offer is at or below the asking price. During the open house, they may wish to hold off on making a better offer.

According to Jake Northrop, an agent at Northrop Realty in Clarksville, Maryland, this tactic can nevertheless be effective if executed properly and the conditions are ideal.

It was an excellent opportunity to implement this strategy because, according to Northrop, “the seller had already tested the waters at a certain price before adjusting to a lower price, which typically reignites the momentum on any property.”

“Convince the seller that this is the best offer they would receive through the weekend, so much so that they are willing to forgo the potential buyers at said open house,” he says, emphasizing how important it is.

To get the seller to agree to your offer immediately and cancel the weekend showings, Northrop advises providing “just enough” favorable terms.