by Erika Hoffman<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019re going to make an offer on a house you\u2019ve never seen?\u201d asked my husband incredulously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want to move into an apartment with a second child arriving in the fall.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYour dad and I\u2019ve never bought a home without viewing it a few times.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My expectant daughter, her husband, and their two-year-old needed to relocate from Boston, Massachusetts to Ann Arbor, Michigan in the summer of 2020, the summer of the pandemic, and real estate agents in Michigan weren\u2019t allowed to show houses. Her husband stayed behind to pack their belongings and finish his fellowship while she and their son sheltered-in-place with us in North Carolina, for three months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the phone, her husband talked about financing, mortgages, interest, and several houses they\u2019d seen pictures of. \u201cWhy is the owner leaving?\u201d my husband queried and shook his head. \u201cAlways ask that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After perusing several houses via pictures sent on Zillow or watching videos produced on agents\u2019 wobbly cell phones, we started to get an idea of houses in a city where we\u2019d never been. In fact, I\u2019d ridden through Michigan only once, as a kid on a road trip from the East Coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThose prices sound mighty high,\u201d my husband remarked to my daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou want to buy a house with the idea of flipping it in a couple of years? Huh? That doesn\u2019t sound good to me!\u201d I offered my opinion. \u201cYou two aren\u2019t handymen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBy then, we\u2019ll have a better idea of where we want to live and the schools,\u201d my daughter offered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou can move later,\u201d I suggested. \u201cYou\u2019ll be miserable in some house you plan on renting out in the future to others. You need a home for your family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis place is near downtown, with sidewalks,\u201d my daughter pointed at the pictures on Zillow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLook at that price tag!\u201d I exclaimed. \u201cToo much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnn Arbor\u2019s expensive. We\u2019d have to share a driveway with a neighbor,\u201d my daughter responded nonchalantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo way, Honey! You\u2019ll have small children. The neighbors could have big trucks. Much too dangerous.\u201d I knew I shouldn\u2019t be giving unsolicited advice, but this wasn\u2019t a little purchase to return if you have buyer\u2019s remorse. During 43 years of marriage, my husband and I have lived in three homes, and we deliberated on each for months and sometimes years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe got to buy before mid-July. It\u2019s May now. Moe begins his program and needs a place to live,\u201d stated Heather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each night, she\u2019d study houses on the internet, and sometimes wouldn\u2019t consult us. Then, one day she thought they\u2019d found one, but it was more expensive than others they\u2019d looked at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShow me the pictures,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She took me to the website and pointed at the sloped yard. \u201cNot much room for kids to play. A drawback,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMichigan is cold. They\u2019ve two seasons: winter and orange cone season.\u201d She didn\u2019t laugh, but I continued, \u201cYou want to concentrate on the inside, not the outdoors.\u201d I felt surprised at myself because the yard of a home has always been important to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first picture she showed me\u2013 a fireplace with a huge stone wall the length of the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNice,\u201d I muttered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The next picture of the bay window in the living room elicited a remark from me, \u201cI love bay windows!\u201d Next, I saw a roomy dining room and a bright kitchen with sliding doors to a deck with black railing. The following photo was of a large laundry room and a small studio where the owner taught piano lessons. Upstairs were four bedrooms, decent sizes, and two small bathrooms. Then, I saw a huge basement with old carpet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat do you think?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter what I think. It matters what you and your husband think.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat wall-to-wall carpet in the bedrooms and basement I don\u2019t like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou can tear that up; replace it, in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe bathrooms are so tiny,\u201d she whined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s how they were in older homes. My parents\u2019 home. Your dad\u2019s parents\u2019 home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure the house has much curb appeal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou can change that,\u201d I volunteered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The agent made a cell video with the elderly widow selling her house as she led him around, narrating and pointing out things in each room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAdorable,\u201d I said. \u201cShe\u2019s proud of her house. You can tell she took good care of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My husband came in the study and perched over her shoulder; he studied the pictures and then said, \u201cBuying from the original owner is good, better than from someone trying to flip it after a few minor renovations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019d be pretty near to our neighbors here. Mom, you said you wouldn\u2019t move to a house unless you checked out the neighbors first,\u201d my daughter reminded me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure they\u2019re nice folks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My husband spoke with our son-in-law who\u2019s not lived in a house because he\u2019s from a country where most folks live in urban apartments, so negotiations and house ownership are things he\u2019s never dealt with. Yet, he caught on quickly to the idea of making an offer and being willing to walk away if it doesn\u2019t suit the seller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI can\u2019t imagine buying a house one has never set foot in,\u201d said my husband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI like to smell a house. I like to touch a house. I can\u2019t imagine buying one over the internet, either. But\u2026\u201d I added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf you make an offer, you might own a house. You ready?\u201d advised my husband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moe made the offer. It was back and forth a little, and they got the house. Moe came down, picked up our daughter and grandson and off to Michigan they went.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Four months later in November, we drove up, when their daughter was born. We\u2019d seen the ultrasound picture, but that didn\u2019t prepare us for the real deal. She\u2019s a beautiful, bright, perfect wonder!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I learned you can buy a home, sight unseen, over the internet, and it too can turn out to be beautiful, bright, and perfect \u2026 wonder. Miracles abound! Live and learn!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Erika Hoffman \u201cYou\u2019re going to make an offer on a house you\u2019ve never seen?\u201d asked my husband incredulously. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to move into an apartment with a second […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":21567,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_gspb_post_css":"","rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","footnotes":""},"essay_type":[46],"essay-category":[94,96],"class_list":["post-19826","essay","type-essay","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","essay_type-features","essay-category-home","essay-category-real-estate"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay\/19826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/essay"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay\/19826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"essay_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay_type?post=19826"},{"taxonomy":"essay-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay-category?post=19826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}