Andy Boyer

Month: June 2021

  • Tips for Buying Your Next Seattle Home

    So, let me share some intel you may not know – trying to buy a house in Seattle is terrible right now. I’ve heard about some people losing 7, 8, 9 bids in a row. That’s brutal.

    We were not the unfortunate. We went scared into the home-selling process, and got a bid well over asking and about as high as any reasonable person would be willing to pay. So we were happy with what we got, but then we immediately had to take the money we were overpaid, and use it to overpay for another house.

    Our first attempt was an absolute dream home. Truly immaculate in every sense of the word. We would have been able to move in, and not touch a thing for 15 years. The problem – just competing for it was sending us out of our budget. We were able to generate a little more capital by selling naming rights to the baby and peddle MyPillows door to door for 12 years, but end the end we still lost to someone with less financial restrictions. If only we’d have bought Bitcoin in 2010!!!!

    But, having been on the winning side when we had the supply to sell, and now being on the losing end when we were the people with the demand, we had a pretty good sense on what to do next. So here’s our advice:

    1. I know it sounds obvious, but know your budget. It’s easy to get carried away because, “it’s only xx more dollars after all. If we can spend x, why not 1.25x?”
    2. If you set that cap, then you can go look at the homes at about 75% of your cap and find the best one of that bunch.
    3. At that price point, provided you find something that hits all your parameters, now you are dealing with the fatter wallet than the other people. You can just throw down a Max bid at your Max budget, and you are going to be competitive.
    4. But the other thing you can do is release an obscene amount of earnest money. Long term it really doesn’t matter. The money is leaving your account on Day 2 or Day 21 anyway. But making that gesture shows the buyer you are serious.
    5. And then of course is the financing. Being completely underwritten is as good as having a briefcase full of cash, and in some ways, preferable to sellers who don’t want to have to worry about a call from the FBI in a year and answer questions about where the money came from.
    6. There are some other gimmicks as well. Some people want a long rent-back. Those who want it REALLY want it, so you might as well do it. Also, you can offer little things like paying for moving or giving them access to a storage shed. At some point, convenience becomes a factor to the seller and the few extra dollars you spend to make their life easier can pay off.

    Do you have any stories or suggestions?

  • Hopes Vs Goals

    I’ve been listening to a few more podcasts lately, and reading a few more thoughtful articles about how our mindsets may have changed since February 2020, and how they will change again as we re-enter “the new back to normal.”

    Two words that I’m seeing a lot are, “hoping” and “goal-setting.”

    Of course, “hoping” is when I do the same thing over and over and consider the idea that something better may happen. I can do the same routine at the gym and hope this week I lose weight. Or I can perform the same tasks at work and hope that I get a raise and promotion. Until recently, I hadn’t really considered how much simply maintaining my status quo makes me rely on hope.

    Goal-setting, however, is a powerful thought exercise. If my goal is to lose 20 pounds, I need mini-goals to get there. A goal on how and when I eat, how and how much I exercise, if I walk to the grocery store instead of drive, etc… All these achievable little goals bubble up into a macro-goal that is attained as a result.

    Now there’s nothing inherently wrong with hope when it circumstances that you have no control over. I hoped a vaccine would be discovered, that I’d be able to attend Sounders games again, and most recently, that I wouldn’t be attacked by a swarm of 1,000,000 cicadas. These hopes came true, and I am grateful.

    But I’m not going to simply hope for those pounds to fall off. That’s going to have to happen by hitting some goals.