Savvy Home Buyer Series: A Growing Family Needs More Space

“The entire process was simple and straight-forward. There were no surprises with Savvy + Co. and our agent, Les Harrell, with both selling our home and buying our new family home. It was seamless.” ~ Bryan Arkwright

What does providing exceptional customer service really mean? To a Savvy + Co. Real Estate agent it means making the process of buying or selling a home easy, enjoyable and positive. It means providing new homebuyer education courses, working with the most caring and knowledgeable agents in the industry and continuing to go above and beyond for each and every client no matter the market conditions.

It means forming meaningful and trusting relationships when working with clients who eventually become family or even family that became clients!

Bryan and Mary-Forbes Arkwright were looking for a bigger home to accommodate their growing family and turned to Savvy + Co. agent, and father-in-law, Les Harrell. With three boys under the age of seven, the Arkwright family was quickly outgrowing their home in Olde Providence. With help from Les, and after seven months of looking, they were able to find the perfect home with plenty of room for them and their children in the Mountainbrook area. White picket fence included!

Time to make a move

Bryan and Mary-Forbes Arkwright loved their home in Olde Providence but knew that with the addition of their third son that they would eventually outgrow their home.

“We knew that time was definitely coming and we wanted plenty of time to find the perfect house for our family,” says Bryan. “We were interested in a home with five bedrooms that was located in a good school district and within close proximity to grocery stores restaurants.”

Timing is everything

Bryan and Mary-Forbes wanted to stay around the SouthPark area, and while they weren’t in an immediate rush to find a home, they wanted to be proactive. They reached out to Savvy + Co. agent, and Mary-Forbes’ father, Les Harrell to start the process.

“We looked for about seven months at homes with character and space, but it wasn’t until we walked into this house that we all knew,” says Les. “Tears came almost immediately as it was perfect in every way.”

Their home features six-bedrooms, a perfect homework lounge for the boys when they are older, two dens, architectural flourishes, a 600 SF covered patio and even has a white picket fence.

Bryan and Mary-Forbes were the first showing for their now home and put in an offer immediately.

The Arkwright’s New Home

The challenges

Buying a home can be stressful enough, but adding selling a home can take it to another level.

“Buying and selling are stressful because buyers have to qualify for the new home while also carrying the payments from their current home,” says Les. “The process is also stressful to agents because you have to earn trust not only to help the buyer find their next home but to also sell their home.”

Dedicated to his clients, and a consummate perfectionist, Les stayed up at night worrying about the sell and buy process for the Arkwright family.

“Their previous home was a luxury listing, and they were purchasing a larger home closer to Uptown, which can be double whammies,” says Les. “I stayed awake thinking about them paying over listing price, buying before their house was ready to sell, buying a large forever home at a young age, buying closer to Uptown, which is premium priced, and on and on. It was definitely stressful, but we were well prepared.”

Les and the Arkwrights didn’t have to worry about the sale of their home… it sold before it was even listed on MLS for over the asking price.

Behind the scenes

The Arkwrights made an offer with an expiration date. There was another offer that was made on the house, but Les encouraged the Arkwrights to go over asking price and had a plan in place to have their offer accepted.

“We followed up with the seller with notes about their family, how much this home means to them, as well as the story about how everyone teared up at the showing. And it worked!”

Why the agent/buyer relationship is critical

Family is important, but if you are going to use a family member or a friend to help buy your dream home, make sure they will go above and beyond for you.

Les used four certified inspectors instead of one general inspector to inspect the home. By having experts for the WDI, HVAC, roof, and structural inspections, this reduced the due diligence time needed on the house and allowed repairs to be discussed and negotiated in real-time.

It was during the WDI inspection that the inspector said the crawl space located under the dining room was not accessible. Les volunteered to crawl under the house and find the obstruction, which he did. Bag by bag of dirt was hauled out over the course of seven days, but they were able to get a full inspection.

“Les always goes the extra mile and is great about truly putting himself in the buyer’s shoes… even if that includes crawling under the house!” – Bryan Arkwright