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Client Success Story: Christi and Christina
Following their experience with the team, we caught up with Christi and Christina, clients who bought a home with Brandon. Follow along in the interview below to see their feedback, advice and one of our favorite compliments.
Who are Christi and Christina
Our Buyer’s Agent Brandon worked with Christi and Christina helping them find their new home. Here’s what he has to say: “I met Christi and Christina back in December 2020 when they reached out about a property they saw for sale on Zillow. After I informed them that that specific property was no longer available (as can be the case quite often with Zillow), I talked with Christi for a while about what they were looking for in a new home. I then went to work searching for properties for Christi and Christina, and the search really kicked off in January when we started looking at houses every week.
The market was tough and we made several very strong offers, but unfortunately none were meant to be. Then we saw a house in early April that Christi and Christina loved in Sun Prairie, and so we made another strong offer to the sellers (along with 20 other offers. No joke, there were 21 offers on this property). By keeping in constant communication with the listing agent about the situation and explaining the pros of our offer, along with a beautiful letter from the buyers, the seller decided to accept Christi and Christina's offer!
I'd love to say it was all easy sailing from there, but unfortunately the lender returned a low appraisal, which threatened to kill the deal. At this point Christi and Christina had their hearts set on this property, and so we were able to switch to a new lender which returned an appraisal value even higher than the purchase price, which was amazing news! Closing was shortly thereafter, and Christi and Christina, along with their awesome cats, now get to live happily ever after in their new home.”
Why did you decide to buy? How did you know it was the right time?
Christina: “We actually were supposed to get married during Covid. But unfortunately, due to everything, we had to postpone our wedding. We were pretty bummed out about that and decided to take it in a more positive way. We said, ‘Okay, so we have to skip the wedding for now, let’s go to stage two, let’s buy a house.’ We missed a wedding but got a house. Our wedding is rescheduled for 2022.”
What were you most nervous or concerned about in the process?
Christina: “We knew nothing about the whole process when we started. Youtube videos can only show you so much. Luckily we had an amazing agent who walked us through the whole process, and just was fantastic. We could always text him with a question and say ‘Is this something I talk to my mortgage person about? Or you? Or someone completely different that I don’t know about?’”
Christi: “The market was really intense and pretty difficult to work with because all the information you had from research about it — it would all be out of date because the market just completely changed.”
Christina: “I had a family member try to walk me through the steps and none of them applied. During this market people were having to forgo their inspections, they were having to make an offer after seeing a property once for 15 to 20 minutes. We offered on a lot of properties. Probably at least nine before we found one that worked.”
Christi: “We toured a lot more.”
Christina: “When we got this place, there were 21 offers total. The sellers went with us! It was the greatest outcome I could think of, but I might be a little biased.”
What you were looking for in a real estate agent?
Christina: “We really wanted someone that wanted to get to know us and the things that we were looking for. We’ve heard horror stories about realtors who see people as just numbers. We didn’t want that, we didn’t want to be just one out of dozens, we wanted to be Christi and Christina. It was great working with Brandon, he immediately figured out which one of us was which, got to know us, learned about our pets, and the things that we need in a house. He would text us, ‘Hey I just added one to the site, I think you’re really going to like it!’ It was just a wonderful process with him.”
What stood out to you during the process?
Christina: “The whole thing was different than what I expected. The market is so crazy right now, it just felt like it was constantly changing. I didn't realize how many moving parts there are to buying a house. I thought it was — you talk to the bank, then talk to a realtor, then you find a house and that’s it. But just getting from Point A to Point B takes about 15 steps and then about 45 between Point B and C. It’s good to have a team on your side that really knows what they’re doing and wants to help you.”
What advice do you have for someone who’s thinking about buying/selling a home?
Christina: “Watch the market. Don’t be afraid to reach out and find a good solid team. Brandon was there for us when things were going very wrong at one point. Just knowing that he was working on it on his side took a lot of stress off of me. It is a very stressful process. You go into it thinking, ‘I can do this, I’ve got this.’ Then sometimes something happens. We had to change our lender at the very last minute. For the house that we ended up purchasing, the bank’s appraisal was $28,000 too low. And our second appraisal appraised over what we offered. We had to go to a completely different lender at the very last moment. It was Brandon’s suggestion of who to get in contact with. He made sure this process worked. We’re sitting in our house and we absolutely love it.
I remember Brandon called me when Christi was still at work and I could not stop screaming for a couple of minutes, I was so excited. I called her at work and she was excited. The minute we got the keys and walked into the house it was like starting our whole life.”
Would you hire MWREP again? If yes, why? If no, why not?
Christi: “We would, but we don’t want to go through this process again, we’re pretty happy.”
Christina: “We love you guys, but we don’t want to sell our house anytime soon. We’re good, we like it here. In 50 years, if you guys are still rocking along, and we decide this place needs a new family living in it, we’ll give you a call. But otherwise, we love it here.”
Christi: “We’re good.”
Do you have anything else you’d like to add?
Christina: “Thank you to Brandon. All of you guys, really. Brandon went above and beyond to take care of us. He sent us a sweet card after we moved in. It was just so thoughtful. He’s just amazing.”
Christi: “He’s on our Christmas card list.”
Christina: “Yeah, we’re going to send him a Christmas card.”
Thank you, Christi and Christina, it was such a pleasure working with you!
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