Lauren

My girlfriend Lauren called me. She found a house that was simply perfect for her. Perfect! The house in question was in the right neighborhood, great schools, the right number of bedrooms and bathrooms. It had all the upgrades she ever wanted. In fact, it was the house directly behind her home, not to mention the exact floorplan of her home. 

And, when could she buy it?  

This is why I'm the world's worst sales person. I had to break the news to Lauren. There is little inventory. Most sellers will not allow for buyer contingencies, which means the buyer has to sell their home first--which is something Lauren and Mr. Lauren would need to do. She is most likely going to be in a bidding war with three other buyers--if the house is really still active on MLS. So, she would have to sell her house with no take-backs, and then hope she was the winning offer on the new house. What if she wasn't? What then? Not that it would stop me from helping her, but I wanted to make sure she knew the realities of the situation. 

Plus, this fabulous home she was looking at is the exact same floorplan as her house. 

"But this one is upgraded..." she said. 

Lauren is right. The house she is looking at is upgraded. In fact, it is way too upgraded for the neighborhood. But she too can have that same level of upgrades by taking out a loan on her home for far less than she is going to spend on buying a new  property. By the way, for grins, I ran comps. This house is still active on the market because it is $100,000 overpriced for the neighborhood. However, I doubt that will stop some buyer who is more desperate than Lauren. When I showed the comps to Lauren, she agreed the price was steep. However, she admitted she was planning on offering a "low ball" (in this case, somewhat reasonable) offer.  

I'd love to help Lauren out. She'd be a great client. I love her and her family. I want them to be happy where they live and do what is right for her and her folks. But this move doesn't make sense. Even she conceded that it would be a better strategy to just fix up her home at this rate than mess with potentially being homeless.