In my recent efforts to up my endurance and strength on my mountain bike, I started going back to the Gym, Cal Fit in Carmichael, to subject myself to the merciless class known as X-bike. Doesn’t the name just say it all?
Here’s what happened. My dad died a year ago and before he did, he kept telling me how much he wanted me to take his little green mountain bike from Target and do some riding. I hadn’t rode a bike in 20 years and had no intention of starting, so I humored Dad and changed the channel.
For whatever reason, I found in my time of grieving the loss of my dad, that darn bike kept coming up in my mind. So, eventually, I loaded it in my son’s truck and took it home. My first ride was a bit wobbly. I mean, it had been years! But I guess that thing they say about never forgetting how to ride a bike is true, and eventually, I began to soar. Feeling the wind in my hair and the sun on my face was just about as close to heaven as I think I had ever gotten. Now I’m not discounting wine and chocolate or breath taking sunsets or anything like that, I’m just saying that when I was on the bike, something happened. I felt lighter, happy and free. I was hooked.
After seeing my joy for riding, and hearing my constant complaining about wanting to go on longer rides, my husband eventually sucumbed to my nagging and got himself a bike. A new bike. Wait a minute! My bike, by this time, was falling apart, plus it was a boy’s bike, and well, I’m not a boy. So I ceremoniously handed down my dad’s bike to my oldest daughter who was grateful as heck to have Grandpa’s old, green bike.
And I got myself a hot pink bike and a purple helmet.
So what does this have to do with buying a house in Sacramento, you might be asking yourself.
I’m getting to that.
So my hubby and I hit the bike trail and lo and behold, in spite of my constant riding, my husband kicked my butt. I huffed and puffed up the hills to Folsom, while he waited, glowing with testostrone, as I battled to catch up with him.
me and my pink bike
That’s when I decided to hit the gym and subject myself to the training that only x-bike, with its hills and sprints, could provide.
This morning, I started thinking about some of my buyers. Great people, first timers, FHA. While we’ve written five offers, so far, nothing has come through. And, it’s not like this is rocket science. Here’s a house, here’s a buyer; let’s dance. Unfortuanately, not all sellers want to dance with an FHA buyer. These buyers are getting stronger—more resolute in their determination that the right house WILL come along. There will be a home with a seller who wants to play ball.
In the meantime, through all of this, looking, writing offers, getting rejected….or worse and more often, not hearing anything at all. Not even the ringing phone in my office telling me we were rejected. In all of this, they are building their buying muscle. These kids started out like me, huffing and puffing on the bike trail—not knowing the difference between a contingency and a kitchen sink–but now, they know the rules (and I use that term loosely). They know the process and they know to have faith. The are like the Lance Armstrongs of Sacramento home-buyers. We keep looking at houses and writing offers.
Anyone who wants to buy a house in Sacramento right now, needs to exercise their buying mucle. Find an agent who be relentless in the search and like a bull dog in negotiating your offer. Do not give up. It WILL happen, but you’ve got to flex and stretch and strengthen that muscle.
You’ll have to excuse me now, I have a mountain to climb.
Ta ta for now,
Tamara
