The First Photo at the New House
Some of you might have seen on my Instagram—we bought a house! I mentioned it in a previous post when we were still in escrow, but now that it’s officially ours (we just moved in!), I can dive into the nitty-gritty details of our home-buying adventure.
In our case, everything happened really fast and it was quite a rush. The house we liked was super competitive, so making an offer was a bit of a strategic game. I was on edge until our offer was accepted. We were almost at the finish line when I came just three minutes close to losing our entire down payment to scammers. Yep, I nearly became a victim of mortgage fraud.
Things got real, but let me first walk you through how we managed to outbid eight other offers (one was even willing to pay $50k more!).
Our New House! It’s So Cute!
House Hunting
Zack and I often talked about owning a home, but things got real after we got engaged. Suddenly, we were talking to a real estate agent, getting daily MLS emails, browsing Zillow for hours, and actually checking out houses in person. Initially, we weren’t impressed with any of the homes we saw, and I started doubting our chances. Then, during my usual Zillow search, I spotted the cutest little black-and-white house on a nice street for a great price. We drove by immediately and noticed a young couple doing a walkthrough.
That night, I checked Zillow again and saw the dreaded “offer pending” status. I was crushed. I just had this feeling that it was our house and feared someone else would get it. But the next morning, our realtor found out the pending offer fell through!
Our Super Aggressive Offer
Here’s a bit of background about our real estate “team.” Both my mom and her partner, my stepmom Hedy, are retired realtors. Hedy has a trusted realtor, Patricia Smith, who helped us with our search.
After the previous offer fell through, Patricia called us right away (it was a Friday) to inform us they wouldn’t accept new offers until Tuesday, and there were already five offers in. My mom, Hedy, and Patricia brainstormed to craft an unbeatable offer.
The house is fantastic but was a flip. Usually, that means it looks great, but things underneath might not be up to par. We had three inspection reports and saw major issues with the plumbing and electrical systems. This was probably why the house was priced attractively and why the previous offer didn’t stick. As first-time homebuyers, this was nerve-wracking, but our team assured us it wasn’t a huge deal—and clearly, there was plenty of interest, so our realtor crafted a killer deal.
We only offered $5k above the asking price but put down a substantial earnest deposit—around 10% of the home’s price, much higher than the usual 1-2%. The real kicker? We waived all inspection contingencies, which meant we wouldn’t back out over inspection issues. It was a bold move, but since we knew the issues from the reports and planned to fix them ourselves, it gave us a big advantage. Sellers want serious buyers who won’t back out last minute.
By Tuesday, there were now eight offers on the house! We were on pins and needles, but then we got the call that they accepted our offer. The next day, Patricia went to meet with the seller’s agents, and while she was there, the agent with the backup offer stormed in, offering $50k above the asking price! It was too late, but it definitely reassured us about our decision. Located in an up-and-coming neighborhood with lots of houses on sale, our find—a 3-bedroom, 2-bath house with a huge backyard and separate garage on a 10k square-foot lot—was truly a gem. We scored big time.
Escrow
We spent three weeks in escrow, which involved a lot of document signing with our lenders. It was busy work sorting out the financials and working with our realtor on some seller credits, even though we had waived the inspection contingency.
During this time, we had plumbers, painters, and electricians over to give us quotes. It got stressful seeing all those numbers, but we found excellent people at great prices, setting us up for success once escrow closed.
And then, just three days before closing, we nearly lost our entire deposit to fraud. It was terrifying.
The Mortgage Fraud Saga
Escrow was set to close the day we were leaving for Miami, so I knew we’d need to transfer our entire down payment a few days before leaving. I awaited instructions when, three days before departure, I received an email from our lenders (with my realtor cc’ed) about heading to the bank for the transfer.
The email instructed me to let them know when I was ready for the wire transfer information. My realtor responded, urging me to get to the bank ASAP. I called the bank, who told me I’d need to come in for such a large amount. It was past the wire cutoff time, so they suggested online banking for part and the rest in-person the next day. My realtor emailed back, saying, “Yes Erica, go ahead and send what you can online or do it all at the bank.”
Choosing to go to the bank (thank goodness for that decision), I rushed over, trusting my realtor’s email.
I should mention, all emails appeared to be from my realtor and lenders, with official signatures.
At the bank, we were just minutes from transferring the money when the banker needed manager approval. The bank manager came over, expressing concern about sending money to an individual instead of a business and recommended calling the lenders for confirmation.
The call went like this:
Me: Hey Andrea, I’m at the bank. Just confirming we should send the payment to “David Skelly”?
Andrea: Sorry, what? We planned to contact you about payments tomorrow.
Me: *sweating* Wait, this isn’t you guys?
Andrea: No! Do NOT send that wire transfer!
I told my realtor:
Me: Patricia, we got scammed! Those emails today weren’t from the lenders!
Patricia: Erica, I haven’t emailed you at all today!
She immediately warned against sending any money. Thankfully, the bank manager stopped the wire transfer. I left the bank and called both the realtor and lenders, who were also shocked. Though they’d heard about mortgage scams, they’d never seen such an attempt.
Later, I had another scare seeing a wire transfer initiation on my bank’s app, fearing it got sent by mistake. I was at the bank at dawn to confirm nothing was sent (after a night of tears). Finally, everything checked out. That day, I returned to the bank with donuts and the correct wire transfer info. The bank saved me big time.
The lesson here is clear: I was warned about mortgage fraud and told never to trust emailed routing information. In hindsight, there were many red flags, but scammers are crafty and make it all so believable. I hope my story helps others avoid the same trap.
Lastly, we are officially homeowners! We’ve moved in, fixed the plumbing and electrical issues, and the fun part begins. I can’t wait to make this place our own and share all our exciting plans with you guys!