This is a story of perseverance. One of drive, literally, and uncompromising effort to find the perfect “getaway”, but have the ability to call it home. “It must have a pool!” still rings in my ears. It does not matter how many homes or different areas of the city need to be seen, their goal was to find the perfect retreat, and they did.

I met this wonderful couple by chance a couple Saturdays ago. They inquired about a listing and never responded to me to confirm the showing I had set up for them. As I was showing homes to a different couple, I got a text from them confirming the appointment I had made. Unfortunately, I was in Buckhead and the showing was in Johns Creek, and I was already twenty minutes late. When I finished with the first couple, I drove as fast as I could out to Johns Creek and finally arrived at the home. The neighborhood was beautiful as expected. It was a 1970’s build with modern updates, including a recently constructed in-ground pool. “It’s nice, but my pot rack won’t fit above the island.” This, obviously, was not the only reason we decided to move on, but it stuck out in my mind. When purchasing a home, you must feel the comfort of a home in all of its aspects. This just wasn’t the perfect one.

The next home we viewed was in Duluth. It happened to be the standard big box neighborhood you would expect in this part of Atlanta. Beautiful homes, very neat landscaping and excellent schools. Everything they wanted, right? WRONG! It was too cookie cutter and the house seemed oversized. The pool was great and the yard was fantastic, but it just didn’t feel right. It also didn’t come with blinds – what a bummer. Back to the drawing board on this one.

After going back and forth between emails and texts for a few days, we came to the conclusion that our search needed to expand further north of the city. They wanted more land for their dogs, as well as an open concept living/entertaining area. We settled on a newly listed home within a gorgeous neighborhood in Canton. This neighborhood had it all. Big homes, small homes, and everything in-between. It was perfect for them. As I drove into the neighborhood, I could feel the good energy. The home sat in a cul-de-sac, deep within the neighborhood. It was heavily wooded, secluded and had the feel of a private estate. This ranch style home was four-sided brick and included a three car garage, massive basement and amazing pool in the backyard. They instantly fell in love and decided to make a strong offer. I got off the phone with the listing agent, who delivered some good news, there we no offers in yet. The home had just been listed the day before and there had already been 7 showings. I ran home to put the offer together and submit it as quickly as possible. Now we wait… but not for long. Hoping for some great news, we got some bad. Four other offers came in right behind ours and we lost out to my father’s best friend, CASH. It was a full price offer, no contingencies or costs to the seller – #donedeal, #nocounter, #startingfromscratch.

We felt defeated for about 5 minutes until that faithful ding came in, a new email! A listing had just come available in Cumming and they jumped at the opportunity. Newer construction, open concept, beautiful neighborhood and a spacious yard. Even better was the magical oasis of a pool area that had been meticulously maintained. It was purchased as a foreclosure during the downturn in 2010, but was brought back to life by the current owners. The pool was even salt water – fantastic! Everything is sounding perfect until my client lets me know that we have a problem; he can’t take off work anymore to look at houses and this one will not last until the weekend. “Cary, we’re going to make a blind offer.” I usually do not recommend this to my clients, but they knew what they wanted and felt as though it was the perfect home. We submit an extremely strong offer and countered 2 times. We were under contract the same day we made the offer and we still had not even seen the home! The next day, we made sure to take some time to drive up to Cumming and visit this home for the first time. It was love at first site. My clients instantly loved the home and felt as though they had made the best decision in purchasing their dream home.