Meet Andi
We met Andi through mutual friends and are so grateful we did!
Four-legged Family Priorities
Andi was living in Chapel Hill, but she wanted Southeastern escape.
Andi was looking for an investment property in Wilmington, a city she loved to visit. Her main concern was that she wasn’t just a simple lady anymore. Andi’s responsibilities now included 3 adorable dogs, 2 of which had special needs. She needed to find a place where they could run and play, and not have to worry about them.
This also meant that Andi couldn’t travel to most home tours. We went to homes for her and made video tours instead. Andi loved it, she called us her Seeing Eye Realtors and enjoyed each new episode.
The Odds Were in Our Favor
This doesn’t happen that often, but in this case Zillow was our friend…
The listing agent accidentally added the home to Zillow 2 days before it was supposed to officially come on the market. Which meant that we were able to see the property first! It was a lovely old triplex down by the North Fourth (Nofo) area of Wilmington.
We were able to get the home under contract and the real work began.
Why SWELL Triple-checks For You
The home had some extreme settling issues that needed to be fixed and fast!
The first company said it would cost at least $40,000 to stabilize the property and they might be able to level the floors.
The second company said $28,000 to lift the whole house and completely redo the foundation in steel.
The last company quoted us just $15,000 to fix the home, which was the highest rated company of all of them!
Turns out, it pays to get bids...
This home also had some interesting easements which made it difficult to locate Andi’s new fence. Andi needed a fence to prevent her pups from accidentally escaping. Andi hired a surveyor to come out and find the property lines and easement lines. We took the survey and helped Andi come up with a fencing layout that worked with the property and for her dogs, all while she was in Chapel Hill.
Lacking Lenders
It is so important to have a local lender partner that knows the market…and can’t hide from you!
We had unnecessarily stressful dealings with Andi's lender the whole way through. They were NC based but didn’t have an office in Wilmington. Andi’s loan officer was hard to get ahold of and we even had to postpone the closing by a week because of lender/appraiser issues. This is why it’s critical to have someone in the area to partner with and not some lender that’s hundreds or thousands of miles away.
A SWELL Journey for Andi
For the love of her puppies and the Carolina coast, Andi overcame every obstacle and prevailed in buying an escape home!
Through the whole process, we became friends with Andi. She’s an awesome lady we were happy to help her demo a few walls, cut down a few trees, and let contractors into the home while she was in Chapel Hill.
Today Andi has a 2 unit investment property in a place she loves as well as an escape pad in the back for her and her dogs. I don’t think it gets much better than that!
