Last winter our son and his new wife bought a home in a nearby community. The housing bubble has caused steep drops in property prices, and they got a beautiful home at a very good price. While homeowners continued to be distressed about falling value of their homes, young first-time buyers benefitted.
Our second son has been a renter for seventeen years, and this prompted me to look online for a condo he could afford. I may sound like a pushy mother, but he needed a nudge.
My husband and I began the hunt and were surprised at some of the deals on foreclosed or short sale condos. Even before the bubble burst, condos were overbuilt in the metro and prices were soft. Around Christmas I found one online that we all liked.
After the holidays we contacted the realtor and started viewings. Our search narrowed to one particular unit and we were disappointed when it didn't work out. It's a longer story, but to be brief a similar apartment in the same building became available (it had an offer pending that the bank didn't accept). The realtor called and asked if we were still interested and we proceeded.
I fell in love with the beautiful kitchen and the huge walk in closet. It is the size of a small bedroom. The building is older but was redone in 2005. Everything looks new.
It was a short sale and the deal took five months but at the beginning we prayed and put it in God's hands. Let it proceed if it is your will, we said. It did proceed and yesterday we helped our son move in. He is now the proud owner of a beautiful apartment in a nice neighborhood next to a nature center. He is two miles from his brother and has cut twenty miles off his commute to work.
That is no small blessing when gas is almost $4 a gallon. The condo also has a heated garage.
The selling price was just 20% of what it sold for six years ago. A blessing.
God is good.
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