Back in June, a young man posted a question on Trulia Voices. The question no longer appears, though the answers to his question do. I had him remove the question once he became my client, because if you find a great house that you want to buy, you don’t want to highlight it on social media sites for other buyers to see and possibly make an offer on.

This post has SO many messages, it’s hard to stick to one subject…that being the young man did get the house (and a new puppy).

1) Trulia Voices is a great place for home buyers and sellers to ask questions anonymously, and get the opinions of area (and out of area) real estate professionals.

2) If an agent is NOT willing to do a short sale, that should be a disclosure up front to potential buyers who have not yet chosen a home to buy. Truliaboy found the home himself…it was a short sale. His question, which was removed, indicated that his agent ignored 3 of his requests to see the house and make an offer on it.

3) St. Joseph played a huge role in the Truliaboy story. While my answer to his question (“…If you have the time and the energy to get what you want…don’t give up!…”) prompted him to “look me up”, it was actually my connection with St. Joseph that caused him to hire me. You never know 🙂

I usually do not post the real estate stories of my current clients, but he and I have been talking about posting his story since it started. He’s a fabulous young man who found a house he wanted to buy. He had two previous agents who did not think he could buy the home of his dreams, at the price he could afford to pay. As you can see from the few answers that were posted before I had him remove the question, some agreed. For those who suggested that he could not possibly get the house for less than current market value…he got the house for 15% less than current market value (his lender’s appraised value). The sold price was 17% less than summer of 2004 pricing and 32% under the face amount of what the bank lent to the previous owner, at market peak.

Most importantly…he got the house of his dreams…and a new puppy. I give a special thanks to Trulia Voices for making this forum available to buyers who have questions that need an answer. Truliaboy asked me to include his special thanks to St. Joseph.