The sellers were so kind and let each potential buyer know that there were multiple offers and then asked me, since I was the only licensed agent in the group, what is protocol?  Naturally I tried to convince them to just sell it to me (!) but in the end, advised them as I would any of my clients.  

I told him that typically I respond to all my buyers and let them know that there are multiple offers, then give a time frame for them to return with their best and final offers.  

Did I shoot myself in the foot?  Perhaps, but I can't help but be honest.

Sellers gave us each 7 days to submit our best and final offers.

Remember how I had dropped Scot off at the airport the day we made our offer?  Well he was scheduled to be gone an entire week.  While he was out of town we were not only discussing the potential home purchase, but a new job opportunity as well.   It was an exhausting week, full of late night conversations and high levels of stress.

When he got home Friday afternoon, we got a sitter for the kids and attended a worship service.  Before submitting our final offer, I wanted to be sure this was the house for us.  I had spent a good portion of the week in prayer and my thought was that if I didn't think this was where we should be, we would withdraw from the process.

While I didn't know the family on the other side, I knew of them and didn't want to drive up the price, just for the sake of it.

Together, Scot and I spent the evening in worship and prayer, upon leaving, I knew this was where we were supposed to be.  There are very few times I've been as sure as I was this time.  Because I felt so sure heaven was on our side, I thought the whole process would be incredibly easy.  Ha!  I dreamed of a phone call coming through telling us that it was ours without the bidding war.  

It didn't happen.

Instead, I was willing to put my money where my heart was.

Something to know about Scot and I is that we are both quite conservative when it comes to big financial commitments.  Our goal is usually to secure what we want at the lowest possible expense.  After running what felt like 173 scenarios, this deal unfolded quite the contrary.

Do we just bump the price a bit?  Throw an odd number at the end?  Waive the inspection and appraisal?  Move up the closing date?  How do we structure it?

At the end of the day, we knew we couldn't live without it...so we just threw the biggest number we could possibly afford at it. 

Something neither of us would ever do, unless we knew with certainty this was where we were supposed to be.

I'm not sure where the other offer came in, but I AM sure it didn't appraise for what we paid.

We were fortunate that our loan didn't requires an appraisal, but I was clear that it would not.  (We actually had it appraised 6 mos after we moved in, and it didn't appraise for what we had paid).  Moving forward knowing that made Scot uncomfortable, but I knew time would catch up and in the end, it would even out.

Our home (with our very expensive  dream backyard) was being compared to other new build homes, all of which, had closed without backyards installed.  In time, neighbors began putting in backyards similar to ours, reselling and NOW, we appraise without a problem. 

As I was going through this process, I remember being so nervous.  The price we paid per square foot felt uncomfortable.  The jump in cost felt uncomfortable and the bidding war, definitely felt uncomfortable.  It very well could have worked out against us and I'm sure we would have found something else, but in the end, I'd pay that $30k again and again.  

Last week, I shared a 5 minute video all about multiple offers and what to do as an agent when you receive them.  In the process of sharing it, I mentioned that we ended up paying $30k more for our house in a bidding war and you guys about lost your shorts.  I'll try to keep the story of how this came to be short, but I can't make any guarantees.

Every home as a story...here's ours.

We had been looking to move for quite some time.  By we, I mean I had been looking to move for quite some time.  Scot wasn't quite on board yet.  I was licensed and active, which made it easy to look at homes, but I hadn't done any resale transactions heading into this.

Buying a new home is a process and what we were looking for definitely evolved over time.  First, we were going to stay close to home, then we were going to buy something older closer to where I grew up, then we ended up buying practically new.  

My mom knew I was in the market and made a casual comment that her friend was going to sell her house, we'll call her Jane.  Jane and her husband had downsized into this home, they made careful and thoughtful choices throughout.  Upgraded carpets and insulation, built out closets and garage storage, custom island and trim work throughout, not to mention the backyard.  They really were planning to stay for a bit of time, until they weren't.  I grew up with Jane's daughters and when my mom mentioned that to me, I happened to be on my way to my friend's new house...that happened to be in the same neighborhood.

I told my mom I was going over to Jane's house right then to see it.  She begged me not to, but I did it anyway.

I walked the house and liked 85% of it.  I was still in the phase of looking where I thought I would get 100% of what I wanted.  ;)

The finishes were just right, the lot was big, but there was enough I thought I'd want to change that I didn't push too hard on it.  I did mention it to Scot and a few weeks later he came to look at it as well. 

And then we didn't do anything.  Jane hadn't put her house on the market yet, so we didn't feel a ton of urgency and in all honesty, we were acting like spoiled brats.  We convinced ourselves that the floorplan didn't work quite like we wanted it to (it didn't, so we recently added 200 sq ft) and we wished the pool was set up just a tad differently.  By tad, I mean it was off by 1%.  

A few months passed and as we had looked at more, I remember laying in bed one night telling Scot, "You know the house we are going to regret not buying is Jane's."

He still wasn't convinced, on Jane's house or moving at all.  

We looked at more houses here and there.  We had some lousy experiences where we were currently living and finally Scot was on board.  We needed to move and we needed to move now.

We discussed it over dinner and the conversation came back to Jane's house.  He wanted to walk it again, so I texted her at 7:30 on a Saturday night and asked her if we could walk it again.  We were over there 30 minutes later.

The next day was Sunday, and he was heading out of town for work that evening.  Prior to him leaving we loaded up the kids (8, 6 and 3 at this point) and walked a few more floorplans.  We then headed to the airport to drop him off. 

As I'm dropping him off, he tells me to text Jane and tell her we want her house, we'll pay full price.

Then he gets out of the car and leaves for the week.

I sat there in stunned silence for a minute.  I wasn't sure I wanted Jane's house, but I WAS sure that I wasn't going to get in Scot's way.  I was so ready to leave where I was at.  So I texted Jane. 

She hadn't put it on the market yet, so I was sure it would be ours.  I was giddy and anxious all at the same time.

Little did I know, that within 30 minutes of each other, Jane had received 2 texts from 2 different people she knew, offering her full price.

We were now part of a multiple offer situation, without the home even being listed...

TO BE CONTINUED.

The number 1 question I receive is this, "Hey Amy, I'm just getting started in real estate, how do I land my first client?" Good news. I'm just the person to ask. I began my real estate career when I was 3 months pregnant with my 4th baby and I closed over $3.5M my first year...yes, I had a baby in there too and I haven't paid for a lead yet.

A feat few agents can claim.

So how do you land your first deal? It's simple. Go to Zillow, search for every For Sale By Owner property that is currently listed. Choose 15 of them in the area you'd like to work, then write down the address & familiarize yourself a bit with the neighborhood. What is the average days on market for that area? What does the house comp out at? Have those number in your head.

Now, here's where it gets hard. Remember, I said it was simple, not easy.

Go knock on the door & give them an offer they can't refuse. Offer to list for a flat rate of $3,000 or whatever is competitive in your market & tell them every bit of value you are going to bring to them. Professional cleaners, photos, open houses, etc. Make it so good, they can't tell you no...even though 80% of them will. Your goal is to convert 5 of those into listings. If you have to go back in 10 days to get to your 5, go back.

This is what I call your season of 'interning' in real estate. If you're just getting started and do not have any experience to bring to the table, you must be willing to intern for a season. Once you have 5 listings, your goal is to leverage those into your next 10. Post each listing to your social media profiles, hold an open house on every single one, meet buyers that are looking in the area and neighbors that are thinking about selling. These are your next deals, so offer each person you meet value, then serve them, no strings attached.

Your pipeline will begin to take shape and as such, you're now able to command a 3% commission because you have a track record to refer to. Use this formula anytime you hit a slump to get yourself back in the game. Imperfect action is always what makes things happen. You must behave yourself into success.

I've got a goal to help 100 moms reach $100k in real estate next year, do you want to be one of them?  Sign up here to get weekly training to help you reach that goal.  

Good luck! Be sure to come follow along in my adventures in real estate @amygregory on Instagram.

Our spring and early summer was so cool this year, that we didn’t ‘officially’ open the pool until Memorial Day…and even then it was a little touch and go.  We are typically well into 100 degrees by that point and this year, well the high was a cool 78.  We proceeded with our typical Memorial Day plans, grilling poolside.

I tend to be a creature of habit and pull from my tried and true favorites, but this year, instead of the same ol’ same ol’ I made all new recipes.  Four of them to be exact and they were all off the charts and immediately added to my stack of tried and true.  I snapped pics of most of them, and thought I’d link them up for you here today.

Spinach Cucumber Strawberry Salad -- This salad was so good and so easy!  Not a ton of chopping which made prep so easy!

Monkey Bread -- Scot found this recipe and it's a great weekend breakfast in the summer.  We love it on lazy mornings and the best part is my older kids can make it on their own.  #winning

Ranch Grilled Chicken -- With the weather so warm, I really try to avoid turning on my oven.  I hunted around a bit for some easy marinades...really it was mostly in an effort to not got to the store, and I found some gems.  We made the ranch one and I've got plans for the others as well.

​Creamed Corn -- I love a good side dish but love an EASY good side dish even more.  This was incredible on it's own, or to dip tortilla chips in. YUM.

Rolo Cookie Bar -- I've made the executive decision to make cookie bars more often, mostly because they are equally delicious but much less time consuming.  This Rolo Cookie Bar whipped up in a snap and was devoured just as quick.  This photo was before I added the cookie dough to the top.  

Try them and let me know if you love them as much as me, just tag @amygregory.

With the weekend upon us, it's time for Open Houses!  Do you guys love walking houses as much as me?  Good.  These links are for those of you that love walking houses as much as I do or are in the beginning stages of looking for a home.  Use the links below to see the list of weekend open houses going on across the Valley.  If you haven't used these links before, I break each list into different cities, then they are sorted by price, so you can find what you're looking for fairly quickly. Once you find a property you want to walk, click on the 'open house' tab at the top right to see the date & time of the open house...and be sure to let me know if you find a gem!

MESA  ||  GILBERT

Secret's out.  I'm a nerd and cannot ever have enough books.  I span a lot of genres and have found reading to be the best way I learn.  It allows me the opportunity to really think on things, go back to things and re-assess like nothing else.  It also is one of my favorite ways to relax!  Whether it's historical fiction, memoir, self-help or yes, even a good romance novel...I'm a book worm.  Here's 5 I'm reading this summer.

Free to Focus.  This is Michael Hyatt's newest book and it's timing couldn't be better.  The goal in my pursuits is not to do more, in fact, it's just the opposite.  I'm not a fan of the word hustle and I don't subscribe to busyness for the sake of busyness.  Free to Focus is all about managing what you spend your time on, so that you're spending time on the things that are actually moving the needle in your life and business.  It's a good one for any self-starting business owner.

Where the Crawdads Sing.  My sister-in-law got this for me for my birthday and I keep seeing it pop up in different spots.  Can't wait to read this on the plane next week.

Turtles All the Way Down.  My sister got this for me for my birthday, yes you read that right.  Proof that I am in fact a nerd.  This is by the same author that wrote Fault in our Stars, I'm just a few pages in and can't wait to watch this mystery unfold. 

Open.  This is the biography of tennis great Andre Agassi.  I got this for my dad a few years ago and before I gave it to him, I took the liberty of reading the first 50 pages...and now I really want to finish it.  My dad loved watching tennis growing up, so Andre Agassi was a staple in our house.  When the book came out, I heard about it on a couple of podcasts and knew I needed to get it for my dad.  He said it was really good and given that I read the first 50 pages, I'm sure it is.  I love reading biographies of people that the world has identified as 'successful.'  I've found that most of the times behind that 'success' is a normal person who has overcome incredible failures, struggles and defeats. 

A few others I haven't committed to, but that are on my list. Can't Hurt Me.  The Road Less Stupid.  Anxious for Nothing.  The Hideaway.  Code Girls.  It's Not Supposed to be This Way.

Obviously need to narrow this list down a bit, but probably won't.

With the weekend upon us, it's time for Open Houses!  Do you guys love walking houses as much as me?  Good.  These links are for those of you that love walking houses as much as I do or are in the beginning stages of looking for a home.  Use the links below to see the list of weekend open houses going on across the Valley.  If you haven't used these links before, I break each list into different cities, then they are sorted by price, so you can find what you're looking for fairly quickly. Once you find a property you want to walk, click on the 'open house' tab at the top right to see the date & time of the open house...and be sure to let me know if you find a gem!

MESA  ||  GILBERT

If there is anything for sure it is this: I am a creature of habit.  I thrive on a routine and my heart skips a bit over organized structure.  Sure, I like to be spontaneous every once in a while...so long as I've planned for it. For better or worse, my household is run on routine and when summer comes around, structure isn't too far behind.

Structured summer is a bit of an oxymoron and I don't want to give the impression that every moment is accounted for and planned because it most certainly is not, BUT there is an overall routine we run on a daily basis that helps to keep us all sane.  Before we get to the routine, I must tell you a few ground rules that might make me a bit unpopular.  They are this:

1. I don't feel the obligation to entertain my kids all summer long.  
2. I am a-okay if they find themselves bored and I do not take that boredom on as my problem to solve.

With that out of the way, let's get started.  Part of the exhaustion of summer comes from constantly being asked what the rules are: can I stay up late tonight?  Do I have chores today? Can friends come over to play?  I've found if I set up some clear guidelines on the front end, it eliminates a lot of back and forth along with the ensuing frustration, throughout the summer.  We tend to start with the very most important thing first:

1. Bedtimes.  Before summer hit, I sat my kids down and had a quick heart-to-heart with them that was to serve as a clear reminder to them.  We discuss what summer looks like for them: no school.  And what summer looks like for mom & dad: everything still the same.  Then we remind them that bedtimes will continue throughout the week as normal, while they may extend on the weekends depending on plans.  They always moan and groan and while I sometimes feel like a party pooper, I remind myself I'm not a party pooper, I'm a mom.  A mom who knows that well-rested kids are happier, more reasonable kids.

2. Morning Routines.  Each morning we have the same routine.  Some are early risers, so they get it done early, while others prefer to sleep late.  I don't concern myself too much with a consistent wake up call, just the routine that follows.  It involves a list of about 5-7 things they each need to accomplish before any screens can be used or friends can be called.  Some days the lists are more intense, others fairly relaxed, but a typical list for my oldest might include the following:

Unload dishwasher
Clean Bathroom
Practice guitar, 20 minutes (Olivia practices piano instead)
100 free throws (Olivia works on her gymnastics instead, 10 round offs, 10 back bends, etc)
Swim 20 laps
Read scriptures, 20 minutes
Make bed + clean room
Play with Luke, 30 minutes

3. Lunch Time.  In the past, with the ease of summer days, I've actually forgotten to feed my kids lunch.  Time has passed unaccounted for and suddenly it is 2pm and we've either snacked our way right past lunch or each person has made their own lunch...creating 5 different messes to clean up in the process.  I'm not perfect at this, but I try to gather us all for lunch.  It's a good mid-point in the day to re-group and allows for us all to make lunch together and then clean it up together.

4. Quiet Time.  Yes, I still try to create a form of quiet time each day even though all my kids are 'older' and I'm pretty sure they love it.  This usually happens in the afternoons.  Where we live it actually gets too hot in the afternoon to do much of anything, swimming included.  This has naturally become our 'quiet time.'  If they want to watch a movie or play video games, this is when that happens.  It's an hour where we can all tuck ourselves away and do our own quiet thing.  I've found it helpful to every single one of us.

5. Evening Routine.  While it might appear that our entire day is accounted for, it most certainly is not.  Each evening we re-group and do a 15 minute clean up.  My house tends to take a beating most summer days and while we do morning chores, by the time evening rolls around, you can't tell one bit.  And so before dinner, we do a 20 minute clean up.  With 4 of us, that amounts to an hour's worth of work.  We're usually still in swim suits from the day, so we turn up the music and I promise them they can head back to the pool when they're done.  We vacuum floors, load dishes, take out the trash and put away all the things. We accomplish so much in these 15 minutes which allows me to enjoy the end of the day, knowing that once bedtime hits, I don't have a tornado to clean up by myself. 

Rinse and repeat and our summer days tend to fly right on by.  Another one of my favorite ways to treat a summer day right is to get up before all the kids.  I know it sounds crazy, but I promise it's a game changer.  I'm usually home from the gym before any of them are awake and that hour at the gym and hour at home while everyone is still waking up are quite possibly my two favorite hours.  It allows me time to putter through the house uninterrupted and energized from my morning workout.

If you try these and love them, be sure to share about it and tag me @amygregory. 

We're out of school in these parts and life is happening poolside!  For this week's 5 Things (yeah, I know it's been a minute but...life!) I thought I'd keep it all summer related!  Prior to school getting out my husband and I sat our kids down for a heart-to-heart moment that was along the lines of: while it IS summer for you, it is NOT summer for us.  Meaning, we both still have jobs to do and things to accomplish.  We set some ground rules on chores, bedtime and overall daily structure.  Today is day 1 and so far so good.  Talk to me on day 39 and I'm sure my story will have shifted a bit.

We're working on getting our outdoor grilling area set up and running smoothly.  Compound Concrete recently re-did our countertop out there and we are over the moon about it.  It's even better than I thought it would be and I had high expectations.  I love that I can literally hose it off.  I've got a rug, some planters and lights I'm swapping out...hopefully in time for Memorial Day.  Tune in on IG stories for all of the behind-the-scenes, but here are 5 Things I'm loving for summer!

1. Last summer we did an overhaul on our POOL TOWELS.  It might sound silly, but if I was going to start replacing pool towels, I wanted good ones.  We really use and abuse these, as in they hang dry in the sun all summer long and get washed once a week.  I found my favorites at PBTeen.  Fun patterns, good price point and the quality I needed.  Love this one, and this one have this, and this.  One day I'll go crazy and buy this one and this one...but not until my kids stop leaving them at someone's house.  So maybe never. 

2. It was my birthday this week and Scot surprised me with a bathing suit I had mentioned liking...6 weeks ago.  Bonus points for him, major bonus points for me, because I was right, it was a dang good suit!  Here's a whole bunch of other suits I think are awesome.  I have this one in navy and love it too!

3. As part of our summer heart-to-heart we spent some serious time outlining summer goals and expectations.  If I'm not careful I can let the whole summer slip by with my kids without making any progress on anything.  We've got some summer jobs lined up so they can earn money for some of their activity which including me setting up email accounts for my two oldest so I can Venmo them!  I love the idea of Venmo for my kids, it's an easy way for me to pay them and an easy way for them to save.  I don't know about you but if their is cash in their pockets it gets spent asap.

4. Max has the cutest little nose that is constantly getting sunburned!  We're working on getting him in the habit of putting sunscreen on his face each morning.  He's had so many burns on that nose, that I'm feeling a little nervous for 25-year-old Max.  While we're getting him in the habit, I think I'll just get all my kids going.  Any face sunscreen you love?  I bought him SunBum (mostly because I thought he'd like the packaging and be more willing to use it) but wasn't all that impressed with their product specifically for faces. I've liked their other stuff in the past, so bummed about that.  haha...bummed.  Let me know if you have a product you love!

5.  Speaking of protecting against the sun.  Stocked Luke up on full body swimsuits because he of all my kids has THE most sensitive skin.  He was outside without a shirt for 30 minutes the other morning and that night he was pink.  oops.  We had him in this this morning and we all about died at the cuteness.  Picked up this and this too.

With the weekend upon us, you know what that means, Open Houses!

These links are for those of you that love walking houses as much as I do or are in the beginning stages of looking for a home.  Use the links below to see the list of weekend open houses going on across the Valley.  If you haven't used these links before, I break each list into different cities, then they are sorted by price, so you can find what you're looking for fairly quickly. Once you find a property you want to walk, click on the 'open house' tab at the top right to see the date & time of the open house...and be sure to let me know if you find a gem!

MESA  ||  GILBERT

I've long loved a good bruschetta, preferably over a table surrounded by girlfriends with a side of Diet Coke, but more often than not these days, it is consumed in my barefoot on a lazy Sunday afternoon.  My favorite bruschetta of all time was from a restaurant called Sauce.  It's a fast casual place that we frequent often and I always have to order their Caprese Bruschetta...sometimes I'll share it, most often times I won't.

I loved it so much that one day I determined to make a copy cat.  They serve theirs on a big slice of french bread, which they slice for easy consumption, naturally I fashioned mine the same way.  It became a staple lunch for me and my friends as we visited while our then-toddlers played.  When one of those friends was asked to cater a wedding, we determined that we must make a mini version of this bruschetta and our favorite party trick was born...because anything mini is extra delicious!

These are hands-down my biggest crowd pleaser and the best part is, they are SO easy!  

Here's what you'll need:

MINI BRUSCHETTA

baguette, sliced & lightly toasted
basil pesto, my favorite is from Costco
sliced cherry tomatos, I like to use kitchen shears for a quick slice
mozzarella balls
balsamic glaze - my favorite is from Trader Joe's

Once you toast your baguettes, spread each piece with a smear of basil pesto, then place on your serving tray.  Top with the tomatoes & mozzarella, then drizzle with balsamic glaze.  

Make more than you think, everyone always loves them!

Buying a house has got to simultaneously be one of the most exciting things annnd one of the most stressful!  I can still vividly remember when we closed on our first house.  We'd been married about a year and I was all in and what I thought fully versed in the process.  Scot meanwhile, was overly practical.  Is that a surprise to anyone?  In my defense, I was fully immersed in the industry so I thought I knew all the ins and outs.  In hindsight, I'm incredibly grateful for Scot's pragmatism.  We bought in the hay day of 2005...when all you had to do to qualify for a loan was be alive and breathing.  Truly.  

Thankfully, Scot ensured we didn't get in over our heads, which required some considerable restraint when a bank is wanting to give you more money than you need.  While we were both working full-time at the time, we knew kids would be on the horizon and little did we know at the time, that I'd continue working throughout all our child-bearing years.  Back then, we both thought I'd hang up my work wardrobe and exclusively stay home with the kids.  So when we went to talk to the lender, we ran numbers solely on Scot's income and based our purchase on that.  In all honesty, we still operate our finances this way and it's probably one of the better decisions we've ever made.

So before YOU get to buying, here are a few questions to ask yourself:

1. If your employment were to change, would you be able to cover the cost of your mortgage for 6 months? If the answer is no, you might want to hold tight.  I say might because there are conditions where this doesn't apply.  If you're a physician just finishing residency for example. you probably won't have a lot of reserves, but once you get working, you can probably accumulate them quickly.  In that case, I'd recommend you purchase at a price that will allow you to accumulate those reserves.  I realize that in addition to saving up for a down payment, adding this cushion might feel overwhelming, but the peace of mind it brings you is immeasurable.  If you're under 30, you didn't adult through the Great Recession of 2008 and let me tell you, you'd be shocked how quickly it can all turn and that cushy job can be gone in an instant.  If both Scot and I were out of work tomorrow, we could feasibly pay our mortgage for over a year.  That probably didn't matter when it was just me and him, but when you've got 4 kids in the mix, it's a game changer.

2. Is the mortgage amount more than 1/3 of your take home pay?  If the answer is yes, you're over buying.  We personally have always shot for this number to be about 1/4 of our take home pay.  Again, there are some exceptions to this, so you've got to crunch the numbers in relation to the trajectory of your career.  If you're 30 and still have a ton of growth in your employment and you've found what could be your 'forever home,' you might stretch this number a bit, but I wouldn't suggest much.  We've always run this number solely on Scot's career so that I can hang up my work wardrobe at any time without consequences on our mortgage.

3. Do you like the location, lot and layout of the home? You can change out floors, countertops and even cabinets if you want, but if you've got a wonky floor plan, a lot that backs up to a busy road, or a location that requires a far commute, consider carefully.  If the location, lot and layout are questionable to you, they will also be questionable on resale.  Do not compromise on these unchangeable aspects of a home, instead, be patient and save a little more in the meantime.  Something that works will come soon enough and if you've planned accordingly, you'll be in the perfect position to snatch it up when it hits the market.

If you're actively looking for properties, you can search them on my personal website here, this is updated in real time with the MLS, giving you the most accurate info there is!

If you've got more questions about buying or selling a home, schedule a call and I'd love to talk through them with you.