Expecting Twins, Past Clients Come Back for A Bigger Home

In 2013, Lizzy arrived in New Orleans from Virginia to attend graduate school at Tulane, and Jhon joined her, quitting his job and finding a new one here. A couple of years later, they were hooked on the city -- and wanted to buy their first home. They had a specific price range, a desired location, and didn’t want to deal with a fixer-upper. After I showed them many houses, they were excited to finally land on the perfect condo in the Irish Channel. This past spring, they called to say they were expecting twins -- and they’d found a bigger, newly constructed home in Gentilly that they wanted to make an offer on.

What They Thought Would Be Easy Got a Bit More Complicated

Jhon laughs now as he notes, “I thought it’d be an easy layup, but it wasn’t.” There were some difficulties with the condo’s HOA, and Lizzy and Jhon weren’t sure how to go about selling the condo and buying the new home at the same time. We needed to make the offer on the new house contingent on the sale of the old one – meaning that if we weren’t able to sell the old house in time, they would be able to back out of the purchase.

To get the best price for their condo, I brought in an interior designer to rearrange and stage it, a handyman to do maintenance work, and a photographer to create beautiful listing photos. The condo went under contract quickly with an all-cash, over-list price offer -- but then the buyer dropped out due to family reasons. So, what seemed easy at first had become a bit more complicated.

Luckily, we secured a strong backup offer, which was key. And while there were a few issues with the new house, I negotiated with the builder, and took care of every last detail. And got it all done before the twins were due to arrive ;-)

A New House for The Next Phase of Their Lives

With a big yard for their dogs, space for a nursery, and extra bedrooms for visiting relatives, their new house on Paris Ave. also offers a driveway and a two-car garage – which Jhon notes will be a welcome addition for unloading babies and groceries. The icing on the cake? Their new home is within walking distance of Lake Ponchartrain.

What My Clients Had to Say

I’m honored that Jhon and Lizzy decided to work with me again, and that Jhon had this to say about me:

"We used Tracey when she was with Wirth-Moore Realty seven years ago, when it came to buying our first home. Now that we are expecting and ready to move into a bigger home, we immediately thought about Tracey again for selling and buying our next home. After seeing her great success with Rêve Realtors over the years, we emailed her thinking we might (understandably) be forwarded to another realtor in her company to help us. What we got was the same Tracey from seven years ago - personable, straightforward, and informative. We knew she’d be hands-on and attentive, and she has been amazing to work with again. Even now, I still text her for vendor recommendations, and they’re always really good people. And as a gift, she even gave us paintings for the nursery that her partner Blainey Kern created!”

And Lizzy had this to say:

“I had a lot of questions, but Tracey made me feel like nothing was too silly to ask. She explained everything. She’s super down to earth and very straightforward, and that can be hard to find.”

Photo credit: 1216 Studio