Mary Kate & I have been best friends since High School.

So when she and her partner, Jeremy, decided to get the ball rolling on purchasing a home, I was more than excited to help.

In the midst of the global Coronavirus pandemic, these two decided to embark on the home buying journey in one of the most competitive real estate markets - Oakland, California.

They weren’t asking for much: A move-in-ready single-family home with 2 bedrooms and a decent backyard for their future dog.

Like most first-time homebuyers, they fell in love with the charming ones. You know the type - updated large kitchen, natural light, beautiful staging, professional photography.

Well, for each home they fell in love with, there were around 30 other hopeful buyers equally as smitten.

I lost count of how many times we came in second place after submitting an offer. I say this proudly because I know we worked hard as a team to submit strong/compelling offers. However, time and time again we lost because we simply weren’t willing to overpay by $50k - $100k like some of the other buyers were.

On one of the last properties we offered on, we came in second place YET AGAIN. But this time was different.

I had a solid relationship with the listing agent who shared that he knew of a different home that might work for them. It was an off-market property in a sought-after Oakland neighborhood and for a much lower price!

The catch? It was a fixer-upper.

Mary Kate & Jeremy weren’t looking at fixers but decided to tour it anyway. As we walked through the home we imagined the home reaching its potential. It was already chock full of charm. Just needed a bit of work.

We hammered out the pros and cons. They ultimately decided it would be a smart financial decision, the only way they would be able to purchase a home in this neighborhood, and the yard was much larger than many of the others we had toured. Besides, there wasn’t anything majorly wrong with the property, it just needed a facelift.

We submitted an offer while the property was still off-market and BAM - Mary Kate & Jeremy finally had an accepted offer and were on their way to being Oakland homeowners!

They completely remodeled the kitchen (including plumbing and electrical), added french doors that lead out onto their beautiful new deck, refreshed the bathroom, and painted the entire interior.

Now the home looks amazing. It’s even better than the homes they submitted offers for! Mary Kate & Jeremy now live in a neighborhood they thought they couldn’t afford, have built up ~$200,000 in equity within 6 months, & more importantly..