12/24/2023
AN UNEXPECTED CHRISTMAS GIFT…
Being a 24 year residential real estate agent isn’t always about the SLAM DUNK of selling a home for more than full price in days, or helping a buyer make a successful purchase. Sometimes it’s about helping people get out of a detrimental living situation and helping them get into a living situation that truly improves their lives.
A few months ago I had the profound pleasure of helping a kind and highly educated retired couple, that I was referred to by distant relatives of theirs, who were past clients of mine. He was a Navy Veteran who became disabled later in life, walks with a walker and desperately needed one story living. Their charming, older, two story home was in a very desirable community within my service area, that I knew would sell. Understand that this process took more than a year because the home was literally FILLED with a lifetime of memories and possessions, inside a home that had 10’s of thousands of dollars in deferred maintenance issues, but they were up for the task!
One of the coolest things about what became a domino effect of real estate sales and purchases, was that a disabled Navy Veteran, represented by an Air Force Veteran Buyer agent, purchased my Navy Veteran’s 2 story home, and went on to purchase a ranch home, very close to my personal home, that was owned by a Marine Veteran! The level of cooperation between buyers, sellers, and all agents in this series of Veteran loaded sales and purchases WAS SECOND TO NONE, and was simply a miracle that they all settled!!! This brings me to my final point!
The home that my folks ended up purchasing was a beautiful 1950’s, all stone ranch home, in Lower Alsace Twp., Berks County, with total real estate taxes of $8800 per year. As soon as I saw that, I knew they were out of line and clearly, none of the previous owners sought to challenge those taxes, but in order for my retired couple to afford this home, those taxes needed to come down! So after doing a little comparable research, it was clear that the rancher should have taxes in the $6-$7000 range. I immediately requested the home’s Listing agent to have his Sellers apply for a Tax Assessment Challenge, which they agreed to do. I provided the Listing agent, from Philadelphia, with the comps to send in with the challenge application. The hearing took place some time this past September, and on a wing and a prayer we settled on the new ranch house the second week of October. Up until yesterday, neither my Buyers nor the previous Sellers had received any notification of the outcome of the tax challenge hearing.
At 2:30 yesterday afternoon, on a wing and a prayer, I decided to call the Berks County Tax Assessment office and was advised that my Buyers’ taxes were successfully lowered by $2000 to $6800!!! In essence, their monthly mortgage will be lowered, effective immediately, by $167.00 per month. I notified their loan officer and he is helping them make the adjustment. For my retired couple on a fixed income, this was a HUGE WIN and and UNEXPECTED CHRISTMAS GIFT!!!
