How to buy a house and out smart the competition

In my search for property in Mountain View I found an amazing Real Estate Agent who helped me find the perfect house . He would tell you I was the double edged client because I knew exactly what I wanted and where I wanted the house. Good that I knew what I wanted; bad because I was so specific!

What was I looking for that was so specific? I wanted to be in a neighborhood in Mountain View that is known as Shoreline West. I fell in love with the old school neighborhood feel and the eclectic house stock. You have old bungalows, new houses, apartment buildings. The thing that interested me most were all the homes that had income property behind the main house. They either had a granny unit, another house or in many cases a duplex or a tri-plex. I really liked the idea of having income property in a residential neighborhood. I decided I wanted a house with another house behind it or a duplex/tri plex. Shoreline West is a very small neighborhood. You have Shoreline and Escuela as the north and south boundaries. El Camino and Villa as the east and west boundaries. Not a big area to begin with and I was making it even smaller with my with specific needs.

I had originally wanted to be in the Old Mountain View area a block or two away from Castro Street. What I quickly found out was that was in my price range I might as well stay in my "Charming Cottage" in Palo Alto as I would not be getting much more house in Mountain View. Plus we decided that you can be too close to Castro Street. I did not want the nightmare of people parking in front of my house or the occasional peeing in my yard after a long night of drinking at the bars! Shoreline West was still within a 15 minute walk and felt like a completely different world.

It was nice to know exactly what you want; but it is hell trying to find it when you only have such a limited geographical area. I had originally started out my search looking for a 4 bedroom/ 2 bath house that I thought would allow my son and I to have both an office and a bedroom. I then liked the idea that we both could have private space and yet still be very close with both houses on the same lot. Plus with two houses there is the option of renting part of it or all of the property. You get more rental income from two smaller houses than one bigger house. (In this economy I am so happy I made this decision!)

I was now on the hunt for the right property. I missed out on a cute little house with a tri-plex behind it on Mountain Ave; it sold before I knew what I wanted:-) I got in a crazy bidding war on a house on Chiquita Ave that my son was not crazy about as the granny unit was more of a prison cell than a warm living area. I bid anyway and lost the bidding war. I was in tears. How could I have lost with a bid over a $130,000.00 above asking price???? This was 2007 not 1999!!!!

I was driving by the property a couple of weeks later to see if maybe something had happened to the deal and the house was back on the market. I then noticed that across the street someone had put up a Real Estate sign with the words "Coming Soon." I called my agent and said get me in there now!!!! Being the super agent he is he did.

The owners were living in the back house and the front house was rented to a nice couple with two small girls. The owners could not show the front house without a 24 hour notice but they were willing to show me the back house that afternoon. I looked at the back house and made an appointment to see the front house the next day.

So far I liked what I saw. Two very private houses with gorgeous old growth trees on a quarter acre! Plus two storage sheds and a massive driveway area. Oh, did I mention the front house had a white picket fence!!!!

My agent then came up with a brilliant strategy that evening. I should treat the property like a investment property even though I planned on living in it. When you buy a duplex or an apartment building you bid on the property BEFORE you see it. The offer on a investment property always reads contingent upon inspection.

I put in an offer that evening without even seeing the front house. (The front house was a classic 2 bedroom/ one bath bungalow; how different could it be from all the others built in the 1950's I have seen in my lifetime?) I could still back out of the offer if I did not like what I saw once I got into the front house.

However, if it did meet my needs I just saved myself the agony of getting in yet another bidding war over this house. There were about 5 other interested parties in the house across the street that would have bid on this house if they got the chance. I knew what my competition was; I had just wrestled with them a few weeks ago.

My agent's brilliant strategy got me the property I wanted and saved me at least a $150,000!

The only thing left to do was to sell a house in Palo Alto? How hard could that be....