This American Fighter Just Secured The Title of Homeowner!

It started with a pizza and ended with… uh, pizza???

Rewind to this past February and you’ll find me sitting on a bar stool on a Thursday night at one of my favorite downtown spots, Hotshots Sports Bar & Grill. In true fashion, I’m on my laptop toggling back & forth between reading business articles and browsing the week’s newest real estate listings. One of the Hotshot’s girls had just delivered my favorite pizza when I felt somebody playing with my ears from behind… it was Matt Pulliam, a local car enthusiast and MMA fighting fan. Matt has trained and fought in various local and regional mixed martial arts matches in the past and apparently has excellent taste for casual clothing as he shares my affinity for American Fighter t-shirts, lol.

Train and prepare for your day

We began discussing the current real estate climate while annihilating that pizza. Matt had already taken several important steps to get a jump on the process and was ready to get started. He had just met with a loan officer at his bank earlier in the week to get an idea of his borrowing parameters and his pre-approval letter would be ready the following Monday. Over the next weeks he would continue to shop lenders in order to compare loan products as we began our search for his target property. Matt began identifying potential houses that he’d found on various websites but it didn’t take long to realize that LiveLocalListings.com offers cooler features and a clearer view of the local market without the hassle and disappointment of sold & expired ads that typically linger on other platforms.

Keep one eye on your target and the other on opportunity

Although Matt qualified to borrow a respectable amount, he conveyed to me that he preferred to buy into the market well below his borrowing cap and not get caught up in any hype or emotion that would deflect from his goal. Over the next 3 months we toured several handfuls of properties that fit his criteria on paper, typically gleaning one potential contender from each batch. Matt exercised great restraint in the face of some really tempting properties at the top end of his buying spectrum. Eventually we whittled the list down to the final 4 which included a “diamond in the rough” that we had decided to keep an eye on. All indicators suggested this one could be an awesome buy if all of the dynamics happened to align within Matt’s purchasing timeline. We were gearing up to take a swing at another house when out of the blue Matt spotted the price drop flag and in one click of a mouse this home had emerged as the new challenger!

Be prepared to strike…

Matt had taken all the steps that allowed him to be prepared to act quickly and pounce on this deal before the price drop exposed it to a whole new crop of potential buyers. Ultimately he decided to secure his financing through USA Mortgage, which offered him the best loan option compared to the other quotes he received. Brandon Wooley jumped in the ring as Matt’s loan officer and together they tag-teamed the loan process from start to finish.

…and a team player

I mentioned in a previous post about spotting signs of termite activity (in the form of mud tubes on the foundation) during a walk through of the property. Although my construction and real estate investment experience allows me to spot issues that many Realtors might miss, I remind my clients that I’m not a home inspector or licensed contractor and I strongly suggest obtaining professional inspections during the buying process. Matt took that advice and tagged in Tim Lappe of TWL Inspections who took a couple swings at the property with a pest inspection that ultimately confirmed my suspicion of termite activity at the home and ended up saving Matt over $1,000.

How a $75 termite inspection saved Matt over $1000

Ding! Ding! Ding! Oh, the sweet sound of victory!

Matt delivered the roundhouse knockout after a series of right jabs with an ink pen to a seemingly endless stack of documents pinned down by Metro Title closer Joy Baldwin thereby conquering the American Dream and closing the deal. At the end of closing day everything came full circle and we enjoyed a free celebratory pizza provided by our friends at Hotshots Sports Bar & Grill… thanks guys!