From Dream to Doorstep: How Home Equity Can Unlock Your Lake House Fantasy
The Dilemma: Affording Your Dream Home
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you've discovered your dream home, but you're not sure how to make it a reality? That's exactly what happened to Brenda and Stuart when they decided to upgrade to a lake house. They faced a common dilemma: how could they afford their dream home without first selling their current house?
As a realtor, I've guided countless clients through this process, which I call "Dream to Doorstep." Whether you're buying, selling, or doing both, my focus is on personalizing and simplifying your real estate experience.
Leveraging Home Equity: A Game-Changing Strategy
Brenda and Stuart had been searching for the perfect house for a long time. Initially, they planned to finance the new house and then sell the old one. However, they kept losing out to cash buyers or those with conventional financing, especially since many of the houses they liked needed renovation.
That's when our Dream to Doorstep process helped them realize they had a powerful tool at their disposal: the equity in their current home.
After losing a couple of homes, I convinced them that using their home equity would put them in a much stronger position on the buy side. Not only would it make their offer more competitive, but it would also eliminate the challenges of timing the closing of their old house with the purchase of their new one.
From Fixer-Upper to Dream Home
We found a beautiful house close to the lake that had everything they wanted - but it needed a lot of work. It hadn't been lived in for several years and featured some "lovely" 80s styling.
Needless to say, there was a lot of work to be done.
By tapping into their home equity, Brenda and Stuart were able to:
Make a cash offer on the new house
Cover the costs of extensive renovations
Move into their new dream home at their own pace
Once they were settled, they called me to list their old house. It sold in a day! When the sale closed, they paid off the debt on their old house and put the rest of the money in their pockets.
The Power of Home Equity in a Seller's Market
By using their home equity, Brenda and Stuart eliminated the stress related to coordinating timing and the frustration of missing out on deals because someone with better financing beat them out.
Dream to Doorstep is designed specifically to personalize your real estate experience and make it as simple as possible. Brenda and Stuart's story is a great example of how using the equity in your home can simplify your real estate experience, especially in a seller's market where it's difficult to find that dream home but relatively easy to sell your current house.
Remember, if you have the ability to use equity in your home, it can make your life and real estate experience a lot simpler while you're out there looking to buy a house. Don't let financing hold you back from your dream home - explore your options and see how your current home's equity can work for you!
