We purchased our first home off-market

My partner, Dominic, and I had a very clear vision of where we wanted to purchase our first home. After living in Oakland for over a decade, I was ready for a change. My heart still lives in Oakland, but we had recently taken up cycling and had gone on several rides in a small town called Martinez.

After our rides, we’d walk around downtown, grab coffees from our fav local coffee shop: States, and pick up fresh fruit from the wonderful Farmer’s Market.

We fell in love with the old-school charm of Martinez and knew we wanted to call it home.

The problem was that residents of Martinez rarely ever leave. That means there aren’t many options on the market. The turnover is SO SLOW. We decided to think outside of the box..

I enlisted one of my real estate partners - Chicago Title, to help me collect the names and addresses of homeowners in the area. We wrote up a personal letter describing who we are, why we wanted to purchase in Martinez and asked for help tracking down any homeowners in the neighborhood who may be looking to sell.

We sent this to 450 homes the day we took off for a trip to Portland. Yes, stuffing the envelopes was a lot of work. But within a few days from dropping these off at the post office, we received a call! On the other line was a woman who was looking to sell her home but wanted to avoid the headache of putting it on the market. We shared that we were out of town and would love to tour when we got back. She offered to give us a video tour which worked out well and piqued our interest even more.

The day we got back from Portland we went straight to the house. It was such a surreal experience. The home was fairly updated, although not exactly to our tastes, but we looked past those things and saw the potential.

We wrote an offer a couple of days later and it was accepted! We conducted inspections, of course. There were items that needed to be repaired but nothing we couldn’t handle.

After working with so many buyers to help them get the keys to their home it was a totally different feeling to be purchasing our own home.

After a long exhausting day of moving, we grabbed our camping chairs & a box of pizza to celebrate!

Dominic and I plan to keep this home in the long term. If our family grows and we decide to purchase a larger home, we’ll try to keep this home as an investment property by renting the property out.

Since getting the keys, we’ve completed little projects like updating the curb appeal, painting, gardening, and we set up an awesome outdoor patio setup. Mostly, we enjoy walks around our neighborhood and the fact that we have some of the best neighbors around.

Sometimes purchasing a home takes guts, determination, and creativity. We are beyond grateful for the home we have together and are so excited to help others in their home journeys!