Thank you to Florida Realtors and author Jim Weiker for this fabulous article! Click here for Sarah's Sunny Snippets.
For some sellers, it’s emotional: A beloved family home should only be sold to a family, and they’ll take less money to make it happen. Others worry about neighbors.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A few days after Francie Orthmeyer listed her Northeast Side home this spring, she had 26 offers on the house, the highest one for $250,000, in cash. She instead accepted an offer for $13,000 less. The reason: She did not want investors to buy her home of 31 years.
“I just did not feel good about it,” Orthmeyer said. “I thought, ‘this guy must be an investor, not someone buying it for a home.’ I didn’t want to do that with my neighbors. I like my neighbors.”
Orthmeyer instead sold her home to a young couple purchasing their first residence. “I knew they had been looking for a long time, I knew they were getting discouraged,” she said. “I’m 78. I think they need a house more than I need the money.”
Orthmeyer is one of many Columbus-area homeowners who are fighting back against real-estate investors’ growing presence in the only way they know how: by refusing to sell to them – even if it means leaving cash on the table.
It’s impossible to know exactly how many sellers have refused investor offers, but when Orthmeyer’s agent, Kathy Chiero, mentioned Orthmeyer’s decision on Facebook, her post received about 500 likes and more than 100 comments, many from other agents who said they had similar clients.
“What it tells me is that this surprising choice of this woman is inspiring in its reflection of the rare time when a homeowner chooses a buyer’s need over their wallet,” said Chiero, with Keller Williams Greater Columbus Realty...
So I hope you read the entire article because it was just inspiring! I think I've tipped my hand on what I think so I'll just spell it out. I love it! I love Sellers like this! Not everyone has the ability to be this generous but I applaud those who can, and then do. I think stories like this show how a person can change someone's life. While home-ownership is often touted for being a long term investment vehicle, and offering great tax breaks it also has other benefits that are oh so human. Studies find that homeowners are less likely to suffer from depression, are healthier and live longer, children of homeowners often achieve a higher level of education and so much more. These very real benefits for people are not things large investors take part in or consider when they purchase a home. So it's nice to see that there are people, that when they CAN sell to home owners, DO, as they pay it forward to generations after them. Thanks Sellers, for bringing some sunshine! Stay sunny, everyone!
