Our Little Family
I mentioned in a previous post that the home buying experience had been an emotional roller coaster of a ride. We started our search in 2010, but began seriously looking in the last year or so. We even placed several offers on homes, only to be outbid on each one. But as MS reminded me, it just meant that a better place was out there for us.
In the end, we probably looked at several hundred properties online and visited over 50 open houses before finding "the one." And it was my girlfriend, JT, who gave me the best piece of advice that made all the difference in the world in getting our offer accepted. She told me that we should write a letter of introduction and add it to our offer through our real estate agent. She mentioned that it helped her sister-in-law and another girlfriend in purchasing their home.
If I were selling my home - one that I loved and raised my family in for many, many years - I'd want to know that the home was going to a good family, if possible. Sure - you want to get as much return as you can for the property, but if it's between two good offers, I'd choose the person or family who wrote me a nice letter of introduction.
So we wrote a brief letter of introduction and included the above photo to our offer. Here's what we wrote:
Thank you for considering our offer to purchase this property. We are a young family looking for our “forever home” to raise our son, Chase, who recently turned one.
[We] love to cook and spend time with family. Chase is a budding musician who loves to read books and play with his toy cars. We’re hoping that as he gets older, he’ll enjoy cooking with us as well. We can already envision him rolling out cookies on the kitchen countertops and baking them in the oven.
We wish you well during this holiday season and upcoming new year.
Our real estate agent told us that it was our letter that made the difference in getting our offer accepted, and I am so grateful for JT who shared this piece of advice with me and hope that it may help someone else in their home buying process. And if it's meant to be, as MS continued to remind me through it all, it will.
As we continue to unpack and settle into our forever home, we've been able to set up a reading and music nook for Chase, eat at our small dining table as a family, share meals with our relatives who have come to visit... and we look forward to when Chase is a little older to bake those cookies!
Happy home!