When we last checked in with Sarah and Steve Dimaria, they had just sold their “unsellable” Etobicoke home. After working with Ana Santos and Sara Branco, they found success in a competitive market, selling their home for well-above asking price over the summer.
After their property was sold, came the new challenge–buying a new home.
If you’re at all familiar with the current state of the real estate market, you’ll know that buying a home these days is easier said than done. Incredible supply shortages are giving buyers fewer and fewer opportunities to find their dream home.
But Ana was up for the challenge.
Let’s take a closer look at how Sarah and Steve’s buying experience went.
A Different Experience
Right from the start, they knew their experience buying was going to be different than selling. Just based on what they knew about the market, Sarah and Steve were prepared for the worst.
“Before we even got started, Ana and Sara were very honest with us, and told us what to expect and that it was normal and that we would get through it,” said Steve. “Luckily for us, when we sold our home, Ana had negotiated a really long closing.”
“At first, we were relaxed, but we started to get concerned, thinking that we might need to find a rental. We were looking locally in Etobicoke, Mississauga, and eventually went as far as Pickering. We looked at so many houses,” said Steve.
“We had to completely expand our search because we were just not seeing anything at all,” said Sarah. “I thought this was supposed to be the fun part, you know? Looking at houses, being choosy, but it was not fun.”
Want to read more about Sarah and Steve’s experience selling their Etobicoke home? Read our post about it right here.
A Silver Lining
Although the process of finding a new house was not the fun and exciting experience they expected, Sarah and Steve did appreciate the aplomb shown by Ana.
“For me especially, I was going into these houses with rose-tinted glasses,” said Sarah. Although she was increasingly trying to find a house that would work, Ana was steadfast in her advocacy.
“There were a lot of times when we would look at a house and Ana would take us aside and let us know that there was dodgy work,” said Sarah. “She didn’t want to just find us a house, she wanted to find us the perfect house.”
“We were chasing that perfect house and in some ways, we were trying to force it to happen, but Ana would put her foot down and straight-up say, ‘I’m not selling you this house.’’
A Relationship Built on Honesty
“To give some context to this, since we had worked with Ana so extensively, we had become close,” said Steve. Having Ana refuse to sell them a house came more from the advice of a trusted friend with industry experience rather than a buttoned-up real estate sales professional.
“She was never overstepping, she was always looking out for us,” said Steve. “In many cases, she was pointing stuff out to us that we never would have seen ourselves.”
“It just reinforced our thinking of, ‘what the hell would we do without her!’” laughed Sarah.
“At any point, Ana could have let us buy any of these houses, collected the commissions, and waved goodbye,” said Steve. “But no, she cares. She always said she’d find us something better.”
The Countdown Was On
At this point, Sarah and Steve were feeling discouraged. They knew they only had a few more weeks before they needed to be out of their sold house and they had begun thinking about their backup plan to get a short-term rental in the meantime.
Out of sheer desperation, Sarah reached out to Ana and showed her a home that was no longer on the market, but that they had been interested in the year before. So Ana reached out to the current homeowners to see if they would allow Sarah and Steve to view the home as an off-market listing.
They said yes.
“We thought that this is the home we’re going to buy. It’s our home,” said Steve. “The seller’s agent told us that if we got close to what they had originally listed it for, they would sell it to us.
“So there was no monkeying around,” said Sarah.
At the same time, they decided to look at one other house in the same area, just for fun.
Read this next: See how Ana and Sara helped Jeff and Carolyn find their dream home in our blog about their experiences here.
An Unexpected Result
So that Sunday, Sarah and Steve drove down to see the house they fully intended to buy.
“We hated it,” said Steve. “Absolutely hated it. Ana was pointing so many things out.”
“This is what I love about Ana,” said Sarah. “She’s very respectful, and if she has something to say about it, she will do it in a way that is not to dissuade you from buying it, but just to highlight it.”
By the time they left the house, they were back to square one–feeling angry, concerned, not happy.
Until they visited the next house.
“When we drove up to it, we were kind of like, ‘Oh, wow, that’s lovely,’” said Steve. “But it was really not at all like the houses we were looking at. It was a corner lot, I didn’t want a corner lot, I thought, whatever, let’s just look at it and get it over with.”
“While we were in the car, Ana turned to me and said, ‘you know I really love this house,’” said Sarah.
Entering the house felt like a breath of fresh air. It was the reaction they were looking for.
“There were a couple of times when I’d see Sarah and Ana exchange glances,” said Steve. “By the time we got upstairs, Sarah and I were sharing the same glances.”
What Happened Next
After exchanging some fiery inside jokes, Sarah, Steve, and Ana had a strategy session in the driveway.
“Ana was amazing,” said Sarah. “Within two seconds of leaving the house Ana had already figured out who had seen the house before us, who was planning to see it in the afternoon, she knew how serious we needed to be. She came to us with a plan, shot off in her car, and called us with a game plan.”
A couple of hours after that, the sellers had accepted their offer.
“At that point, we were actually two days away from procuring a rental,” said Steve.
“Ana was constantly thinking about every element of the sale,” said Steve. “We realize now how extremely busy she is, but she was always looking out for us. We were always made to feel that we were her only clients.”
With persistence, honesty, and a little gentle nudging, Sarah and Steve not only sold their unsellable home, but they also found their perfect home in the nick of time, and they found a friend for life in Ana.
Are you ready to begin your own buying journey with Ana and Sara? Contact us today to get the conversation started. Reach out here.