How This Couple Won Out In Los Angeles' Competitive Home Buying Market

The following article originally appeared on Unison.com. 

Bobby and Samantha are living the American Dream.* They got married six years ago, had their first child two years ago, and recently had their second child. They are a happy, growing family with a bright future. There was only one thing missing. They wanted to buy a home — a goal that meant a lot to both of them. But the prices in their neighborhood in L.A. were high, and they were facing competition from other buyers and house-flippers. After partnering with Unison, they were able to double their down payment and get the type of home they had always wanted. They got enough room to raise their two young children while living in one of the top school districts in the area. They view it as a home they can live in for the next 15 years or more.

The Difficult Search for a Home

The couple spent a few years looking for the right home. They knew what they wanted, and a few times they thought they had found it — only to lose the home to another buyer in a contentious bidding war. They kept getting beat out by house-flippers and contractors who had plenty of cash on hand.

“They’d come in with cash offers,” Bobby said. “We put many offers on many different homes. The prices just kept going higher, and higher, and higher and the quality of homes became lower and lower. The newer homes that would come on the market, they’d ask double the amount for because they’d remodeled it or rebuilt it.”

In response, Bobby and Samantha broadened their search, while also talking to their loan officer about how to finance their upcoming home purchase.

A Smart Way to Finance the Home

Bobby and Samantha had a few conversations with their loan officer, and once he understood their situation he recommended the Unison HomeBuyer program. They learned that Unison could contribute up to half of their down payment in return for a share of the future change in the home’s price at the time it is sold.

The couple did their research about the program and discussed it thoroughly. Since Bobby works in the home financing field, he was particularly well-suited to evaluate the benefits of the Unison HomeBuyer program.

“Initially, we were very skeptical about it. It seemed too good to be true, especially since I’m in the lending industry myself,” Bobby said. “I had never heard of anything like this, but every angle that we looked at it from, and every way that I dissected the program and compared it to borrowing money, or taking out a credit line or personal line, it just totally made sense.”

After talking it over, they decided to use the Unison HomeBuyer program to double their down payment, a decision which helped them purchase the home they really wanted.

The Home They’ve Always Wanted

With their much larger down payment in hand, Bobby and Samantha had additional buying power, and the timing couldn’t have been better. After expanding their search, they came across a home that they really loved. It was spacious, modern, and would give their family the kind of foundation they were looking for over the next decade.

They made an offer — and it was accepted! They are now living in their new home, and they couldn’t be happier.

“It has four bedrooms, three bathrooms and enough space for us to grow. It gives us the space that we needed. Even with our newborn, we still have enough room to expand our family,” Bobby said.

It was also recently remodeled, so the couple doesn’t need to worry about doing any work on the home. “A major plus for us was that everything was already redone in the last several years, so there is really not one thing that we need to update or repair. It was as turnkey as it gets.”

Not only that, but the home is in an excellent school district, which was very important as the couple considered their children’s’ future. “We came to learn that our home is located in one of the top school districts in L.A. County,” Bobby said.

Working with Unison to purchase their new home was a breeze, according to Bobby. “The staff, anytime we had a question it was always answered. Everything was made very understandable and it made sense. It was a slam dunk for us. As soon as our loan funded, without any question, you guys were ready to go. The closing process was amazing. It was almost too good to be true.”

We’re very happy that this wonderful family has a beautiful new home that they love.

*Names have been changed for privacy reasons.