More Tales From The Trenches

In my earliest forays into home-buying hell, the sneers, jeers, groans and grimaces I elicited from real estate agents were legion.

I was a single woman with a part-time job who’d rented 10 places in 10 years in Southern California and had developed an allergy to things urban and a disdain for things suburban. That didn’t leave a lot to choose from.

What I wanted was a small house on a large lot in a quiet, private setting. However, I was constrained by a hummingbird-sized nest egg.

After spending what I felt was the better part of my life not being shown anything I either could afford or found appealing, I met Carol Farris of the Century 21 Rolling Oaks office in Thousand Oaks.

She had other clients with bigger bank accounts and less arcane tastes than mine, but she treated me with so much compassion, patience, respect and earnest goodwill that I began to believe that homeownership might just be a happening thing before I was too old to wield a rake or plant a petunia.

Her excitement and her belief that we would find something were contagious. One day she called: “I’ve found it. It’s perfect. It has just what you’re looking for.”

Months earlier, I had seen the same house--in an older section of Agoura historically known as Cornell--on a chilly day with an agent whose chillier personality made me uncomfortable. On a spring day with a cheerful, genial agent, I saw the same originally unpromising place with eyes open to its potential perfection:

It had lots of land, a sycamore grove out front and several hundred-year-old oaks in the back whose enormous canopy guaranteed privacy and bird song.

There was room aplenty for one home-hungry girl’s dowry kept in storage for years: patio set, picnic table, glider, wrought iron settee, doghouse, barbecue, birdbath, fountain and 250 potted trees, shrubs, flowering plants, bulbs, cactuses and the myriad accouterments of a home gardener’s trade.

I began to write a check for the deposit before my agent put the key in the front door. With maternal firmness she insisted that I at least look at the house--an airy two-bedroom, two-bath mobile home with windows that framed views of mountains, sky and sun-dappled greenery.

The hitch was that the house was being sold “as is.” After a building inspector found only minor repairs (about $1,000 worth) needed to be made, I accepted the “as is” risk and never looked back.

The house had been vacant and on the market for a long time, and the out-of-town sellers were looking to bail out. Though their price was listed as “firm,” I offered $4,500 less and they accepted without countering, then agreed to a record-breaking escrow period--in time to get me onto the property to plant my summer garden.

Here are some first-timer tips:

* Agent as soul mate. Find a real estate agent who accepts and understands your idiosyncratic tastes the way a mother loves and knows her child.

* Bargain shop. Look into homes that have been on the market for a while or that belong to out-of-area owners, as the sellers may be more flexible or desperate.

* Do not be afraid of “as is.” It doesn’t always connote that a seller’s trying to unload the Amityville Horror. And you can always purchase a homeowner’s insurance policy to protect yourself.

* Do not be intimidated by a “price firm.” As my big brother likes to say, “Kiddo, everything in life is negotiable.”

* Know yourself. Modify your home-property criteria if you must, but never compromise or abandon what is most important to your future contentment.

GLORIA IRIS GLASSER

Cornell

‘I Wrote the Seller a Letter’

My wife and I wanted to live on the Westside. Our dream area was Pacific Palisades: neighborhood, community feeling, ocean breeze.

We hired a broker who knew the area. We figured we had to work hard to afford the house, so there was no time to look ourselves.

One Saturday, she took us to a house that she felt we should see. We didn’t even want to go. My wife was seven months pregnant, cranky, achy and really tired of walking through other people’s clutter.

Bingo!

Yeah, it was a little small (about 1,500 square feet), yeah, a little over our price limit, but the street was amazing and we got emotionally involved right away.

They always say that you know it when you see it. The house was clean, had all the character you could imagine and the ocean breeze was awesome that day.

Our broker knew the listing broker. The seller’s wife had died and he wanted to move on after 26 years in the house, but he wanted nice people to move in. Cranky pregnant wife became a sweet, family-oriented hausfrau immediately.

We needed to move quickly in a seller’s market. The next day was an open house, so we submitted our offer that night. At the open house, we walked around all day and strategically talked among ourselves to discourage others: “Boy, this kitchen is sure small.” “Do they really consider this a three bedroom?”

After negotiating the price, I wrote the seller a letter telling him how much we loved the house. He wanted to meet us.

I can’t put on paper how great this man is. He would let us in the house when we brought friends by. He wanted certain furniture to stay with the house. He walked me through the house and showed me all the little things that would take hours for me to figure out myself.

At this point, I didn’t care if things needed to be fixed from the inspection report. Everything seemed immaterial after I got to know Mr. Anderson.

Here’s my advice for others:

* Use a broker if you work full time.

* Communicate and understand your limits, both in location and price.

* Stay open-minded.

* Move fast in a fast market. Be pre-qualified and ready to buy.

* Make sure your wife loves it.

* Get to know your seller and, if you feel the chemistry, go with it.

* Experience the experience. Stay involved from beginning to end; it’s probably the biggest, most important purchase of your life.

JEFF and WENDY BROUDY

Pacific Palisades

Fast Action Buys Well-Loved Rental

We had been renting a two-bedroom, one-bath house for 10 years when one day our landlord called to say she was going to sell the house.

We hated the thought of moving, as we love the house and the neighborhood. I told her we wanted to buy the house. But I was very specific that I didn’t have any money in the bank and that I would have to investigate what I could come up with.

She gave us some time but was most anxious, so off I jumped into the fastest learning experience of my life.

Through a friend in the real estate business, I came up with a mortgage guy. I explained to him that I could not go much higher for a mortgage than the $850 a month we were already paying in rent.

I easily qualified for an FHA loan and, as the landlord was going to ask only $115,000 (about $30,000 less than the average home in our neighborhood), we were close on the monthly payment.

Then came the down-payment issue. By cashing in two weeks of my “banked” vacation time at the office, plus a small 401(k), plus the last month’s rent and security deposit from when we moved in 10 years before (these things are important to remember), we were close to a down payment.

By this time, my landlord was getting anxious and it was also getting to be the first of the month, so I negotiated with her and told her that I could sign papers that day if she would allow me to use that month’s rent check as the official down payment while I waited for the money from my office.

Amazingly, after only half an hour, she called back and agreed. We opened escrow on April 2, 1997, and the house was ours on May 6, 1997.

We ended up with a mortgage of $967 a month that includes our property taxes and insurance. We have a 7% adjustable rate mortgage, which can’t go up more than 1% a year and not more than 5% over the life of the loan.

Not too bad for a first time out, with no money in the bank, if I do say so myself.

KAREN HENDERSON

Encino

‘Good Partnership’ Eased the Purchase

Buying my first home was easier than renting an apartment, thanks to my agent, Rick Llanos of Coldwell Banker in Hancock Park.

I was introduced to him by a mutual friend who thought we had compatible taste. It was, indeed, a good partnership. He took care of even the most minute details, all the while educating me about the whys and wherefores of real estate.

There was no stress and he enjoyed the process as much as I did. We became friends through this shared experience of closing the deal.

And I never even missed a day of work!

Since I moved in on July 1, 1997, Rick has been invaluable in his continued assistance. He knows the best roofer, the best plasterer, plumber, even where to get the best deal on soil to build my anti-El Nino berm wall.

My advice to the first-time buyer? Shop around for an agent to represent you even before you start shopping around for a home.

Find someone who will enjoy the excitement of getting you into your first house and will go the extra distance not just because of the commission but because of the simple satisfaction that comes with liking one’s job.

NELSON ASPEN

Los Angeles

One Screen Door Just Slammed Shut

After 18 years of apartment living, I purchased my first house in October 1997. The house is in a new development in Santa Clarita. I wanted to have the security of the warranties that go along with a new home.

Although there are several things I would do differently, the biggest is that I would have asked specific questions about the community’s covenants, conditions and regulations.

Because it is a planned community, as many of the new developments are, there are specific rules and guidelines that we homeowners must follow.

I put on a very simple front screen door soon after I moved in. In December, I received a letter from our architectural review committee (made up of three of the builder’s employees) stating that my screen door was in violation of the codes and must be removed.

I am in the middle of what could turn out to be a long legal battle over something that I believe anyone who has owned a home would find very hard to believe. Imagine living in the Santa Clarita Valley and not having the option of having a front screen door.

The builder has spent more time addressing my screen door than it has with the numerous problems that I continue to have with the new house.

In retrospect, I would have asked specific questions as they relate to the codes and gotten what I needed in writing.

Although the codes do not mention that screen doors cannot be put up, the committee refers to a “catch-all” section in the document.

Anyone thinking about moving into a planned community where there are codes and covenants should make sure to get specifics in writing for any special project or addition.

I would not want anyone to have to go through what I have had to deal with over a simple, professional-looking screen door.

STUART JAFFEE

Santa Clarita