THE NEW
GOLD RUSH
be in a housing market where they
appreciate me and my lowball
cash offers.”
Boardman and his business partner recently made cash offers for 14
homes sold at short sale, a common
method that deeply underwater
borrowers employ to offload their
homes. They lost every bid.
Based on that experience, Boardman figures it’s next to impossible
for an ordinary family to wade into
the action and successfully purchase a low- to mid-priced home
without paying a premium, or getting awfully lucky.
“I feel for them,” Boardman said.
“It is a frightening experience. They
are not afforded the time to really
think the process through, and they
are competing against so many investors and other buyers.”
For the Gilbertsons — the young
couple that has spent a year looking for a home — the dizzying
search finally paid off.
The seller of a modest brick
home in the older neighborhood
of Arcadia recently accepted their
$160,000 offer, made within two
days of its listing. The offer was
$5,000 above the asking price.
To help give the Gilbertsons an
edge, their realtor, Maureen Waters, suggested they write “a sweet
HUFFINGTON
07.21.13
little love story” of a letter explaining how this is the home where
they hope to raise a family.
“It’s ferocious out there,” Waters
said. “I have to contact the seller’s
agent immediately” when a property is listed, she said.
On May 10, the couple cleared
the last hurdle that might have
derailed them, as an appraisal
came in matching their agreedupon price.
“We were so excited,” Megan
Gilbertson said. “We immediately called our families and texted
our friends.”
Then, they went to celebrate
over drinks, relieved that they like
the house now as much as they
did when they first viewed it.
“It used to be the case that you
could sleep on these big decisions,” Megan said. “You
can’t do that anymore.”
Ben Hallman is a senior financial
writer at The Huffington Post.
Retail analyst
Matthew Ong
on what the
new housing
market will do
to the social
fabric of
communities.
Tap here
for the full
interview
on HuffPost
Live.