The driveway to the property was long, winding past an elegant gate decorated with brick monumentation (and a couple of Georgia Bulldogs on top of each masonry column) and through a well-manicured lawn before culminating in a stately brick ranch with an attached garage. The lot included several parking options next to the house and along the driveway. A barn adorned with the property and was adorned with blooming pink azalea bushes. I immediately saw that this was a fine and spacious home with 3 beds, 2 baths, a fireplace, barn, metal roof and 27 luscious Georgia acres. The property was located in picturesque Buena Vista, GA, less than an hour outside of Columbus. All of this was available for only $335,000.
I represented the buyer in this deal. My client, an executive with a family-owned business, lived in California and had not even been to Georgia in person to look at properties. He simply conveyed to me his desired criteria for his home and I got to work on finding it. My client had already secured financing and signed my Exclusive Buyer Brokerage agreement without issue. I established a rapport with my client’s mortgage broker and found them to be extremely professional, helpful and eager to get our client into his new home.
As is frequently the case, the sellers were initially reluctant to accept an offer with a VA loan. Nonetheless, we found ourselves in a competitive bid situation, eventually outbid other would-be buyers by $16,000. My client and I were elated to get an accepted offer on what became his dream property.
My next priority as the buyer’s realtor was to get all of the involved actors organized around the upcoming closing. First up was the dreaded and often intimidating VA appraisal process. I was confident that we had placed a solid offer on a worthy property, but the many stories I have heard through the years about VA appraisers blowing up real estate deals, especially in rural areas with slower real estate markets, gave me pause. Yes, the house sat on 26 acres and was adorned with a metal roof, but would those objectively positive features be enough to meet the scrutiny of a potentially power-hungry appraiser eager to throw their weight into my client’s transaction?
The appraiser’s initial report on the property was an extensive list of issues, big and small, that had to be corrected before the lender would be able to fund the purchase. Working with the seller’s agent, we identified contractors who could do the work to make the property meet the agreed-upon purchase price. The process and wait were at times excruciating, but this transaction ultimately ended successfully for my client, who has now made Georgia his home. I learned through this experience that the VA appraiser works to protect purchasers with VA loans, even when that protection comes in the form of tough love and strict standards.
