Buying a home is a huge deal! It’s what many of us aspire to do one day. Although the entire process can be long and arduous, it’s usually worth it in the end. You’d assume that your biggest worries would be your funds or the properties available. But sometimes, it’s the realtor who’s the issue. Especially if they’re trying to play everyone for more cash.
Redditor u/Mysterious_Peas delighted the r/pettyrevenge subreddit with a story about how she put a greedy California realtor, representing the seller, in his place. The man kept delaying the OP’s purchase of a house for no good reason until she finally snapped. Read on for the full story, as well as the internet’s reactions.
Bored Panda got in touch with the author of the viral story, u/Mysterious_Peas, and she was happy to share her thoughts with us. We also reached out to personal finance expert Sam Dogen, who has lived in San Francisco, California for over two decades. He shed some light on the upsides of living there, as well as what people considering purchasing property in the state should be aware of. Dogen is the host of the well-known 'Financial Samurai' blog, as well as the author of the bestseller 'How To Engineer Your Layoff.' Scroll down for both of our interviews!
You can run into some completely unexpected challenges when trying to buy a home
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One woman went viral after she shared how the realtor, on the seller's side, kept dragging out the buying process on purpose
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Image credits: Christin Hume / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
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Image credits: Gajus-Images / Envato Elements (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Mysterious_Peas
Investing in property in California may be a good decision if you think long-term
Personal finance expert Dogen, the founder of the massively popular 'Financial Samurai' project, said that he's been living in San Francisco ever since June 2001. "It's been great. West Coast living is superior to East Coast living, where I resided for over 10 years in Virginia and New York City. The weather is better where you can stay active outdoors year-round, there's better work/life balance, and there are tremendous career opportunities in California," he told Bored Panda via email.
"For example, artificial intelligence will be the revolutionary technology over the next 10+ years. All the big AI companies have headquarters in San Francisco. So if you want to work in AI and get rich off AI, living in San Francisco over the next 10+ years is the place to be," the author of 'How To Engineer Your Layoff' suggested.
However, Dogen explains that even if you're unable to find an AI-related job in California, you can still benefit from owning real estate in San Francisco. "When I came to San Francisco in 2001, it was right after the dot-com bust. However, I knew that Web 2.0 was in the works and companies like Google and Facebook would go public. Given I worked in investment banking and didn't have the skills to work at these tech companies, I decided to buy as much San Francisco real estate as possible to benefit from the potential increase in wealth," he shared with us.
"Firms like Anthropic are raising a series D at a $15 billion valuation after only being around since 2021. OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, has raised billions of dollars in funding at a $80 billion valuation after being founded in 2015. As a result, a tremendous amount of new wealth will be created in California," Dogen told Bored Panda.
According to the expert, property in the state is "already relatively expensive" due to the weather, as well as its proximity to Asia, and all the career and wealth-building opportunities.
"However, California real estate is still cheap compared to many other parts of the world, which don't have as good weather or career opportunities," he said that, in his opinion, this real estate will continue to get even more expensive over the decades.
"You should know that the property tax rate in California is 1.24%. There is also a mansion tax of 4% in Los Angeles for properties that sell for over $5 million. If you want to get down to the nitty-gritty, here are some warning signs to look for before buying a property in California," Dogen was kind enough to share with us.
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Shopping around for a good realtor is a must if you're buying a home
We were curious to get the OP's take on why the realtor kept delaying the deal. "I think he was a schmuck, honestly. He was an older guy, and we were two lesbians. I think he couldn’t IMAGINE that we could afford the house and was just being a tool," the author of the viral post, redditor u/Mysterious_Peas, said.
"He lost his mind when we backed out. Blew up our realtor’s phone, begging us to reconsider. The next highest offer was well below ours," she revealed.
The redditor shared some practical advice for first-time home buyers, too. She suggested that people "shop around" for a good realtor.
"This was the third house we purchased. The first one—heaven help me—was a hot mess. The second one—a vast improvement. The third—even better. Why? We learned to hire highly qualified realtors," u/Mysterious_Peas explained.
Bored Panda also wanted to find out what moving from the East Coast to California was like. According to the author of the story, it was "amazing!"
"I loved Asheville, I can’t say enough great about it, but SoCal is fabulous. We were fortunate to have a lot of equity in our home and thus no problem buying a home in SoCal," she shared with us.
"The weather here is great, though the Santa Ana winds remind me of growing up in Colorado Springs. Dang! I’ve lived all over: Colorado, Pennsylvania, Texas, North Carolina, and I think I’m staying here."
Currently, home prices have reached record heights, but sales are very low in the US
The real estate market is in an odd spot in the United States at the time of writing. Sales have been falling due to rising interest rates and low inventory. Meanwhile, the prices of the homes themselves are soaring.
CNN reports that the median home sale price was $389,800 in 2023. This was the highest on record, around 1% more than in 2022. In the meantime, US home sales dropped to 4.09 million, down 19% from 2022 and a further 18% down from 2022 to 2021. This is the lowest ever level of sales since all the way back in 1995.
This is potentially a pretty good situation for anyone who’s locked in at a lower mortgage rate or potentially already in the middle of the property sale process.
However, far from everyone is loving what’s happening. The current situation is leaving many new homebuyers in a very frustrating position. Many people feel like they’re priced out in this seller’s market. It’s a real headache for families who want a place to call their own.
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Many new would-be homeowners feel frustrated with (lack of) their options
It’s hard to feel optimistic if you’ve been saving and investing for years and years, but prices are only rising, and competition is incredibly fierce for quality homes. It’s like running a marathon in the fog with an uncertain finish line and unknown competitors.
Meanwhile, even if you have some decent funds available, someone might outbid you by paying far more than the asking price. Not everyone has enough cash to get in a bidding war over a place to live.
“The demand for housing—and homeownership, in particular—has remained high despite higher rates. Prospective homebuyers have been shut out of the market by a lack of inventory. If there had been more listings on the market in 2023, we would have had more home sales,” Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright Multiple Listing Service, explained.
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One major red flag for any realtor is if they're bad at communication
A good realtor has a duty to either the buyer or the seller to get them the best deal available. However, they still have to abide by a code of ethics, especially when there’s so much money involved.
For example, it’s slightly morally dubious to drag out the entire sale on purpose. Now, this doesn’t mean that realtors should take the first offer the moment it comes in. They can and should still look at all the other offers and counteroffers on the table.
However, they’ve definitely crossed the line if they’re pushing the buyers away. Case in point, redditor u/Mysterious_Peas shared how she simply decided to purchase a different property after she was exhausted from all the delays.
Good realtors naturally have to be great at communication. They have to like engaging with people, and they have to be skilled at it. The real estate industry is incredibly competitive, so your reputation and your results matter a ton.
If you make a bad first impression (and then keep making those same mistakes time and time again), you might soon find that nobody wants to do business with you. In this line of work, you have to communicate well and respond to queries quickly. If you’re not available, unfortunately, you might lose clients and deals.
The author inspired many internet users to share their own real-estate stories
