A year ago, my partner and I were the “nightmare” clients. Or at least, that’s how we felt.
We wanted to buy a home in San Antonio, but our financial picture wasn’t perfect. We had some dinged credit from college, our savings were thin, and we didn’t know the first thing about mortgages.
We reached out to a few agents we found online. The first one stopped replying after he pulled our credit. The second one told us to “call her back when we had 20% saved.”
It was humiliating. We felt like because we weren’t ready to buy that second, we weren’t worth anyone’s time.
Then we met Nicolas.
We were hesitant to even take the meeting. We expected another rejection. Instead, Nicolas sat down with us, looked at our messy situation, and said something I’ll never forget:
“You aren’t ready to buy today. But if you follow this plan, you will be ready in 9 months.”
He didn’t just say “no.” He said “not yet,” and then he showed us how to get to “yes.”
The Roadmap
Nicolas connected us with a lender who didn’t judge us. Together, they gave us “homework”:
- Pay down these two specific credit cards.
- Don’t open any new accounts.
- Save exactly $X amount per month.
The Difference
Here is the part that blew us away: Nicolas didn’t disappear.
For those 9 months, we were “leads” that wouldn’t make him a dime. Most agents would have moved on to the easy money. But Nicolas checked in on us. He sent us market updates so we could learn neighborhoods. He answered our random texts about interest rates.
He treated us like VIP clients before we were even approved for a loan.
Crossing the Finish Line
Last month, we got the call. Our credit score had jumped 60 points. We had the savings. We were pre-approved.
Because Nicolas had been educating us for months, we knew exactly what we wanted. We found a beautiful home in the North East area, and the buying process was smooth because we had done the hard work upfront.
Don’t Wait to Reach Out
If you are reading this and thinking, “I can’t talk to a Realtor yet, my credit is bad,” or “I need to save more money first,” you are doing it backward.
You need a plan before you have the money.
Don’t look for an agent who just wants a commission check today. Look for a partner who cares about your future. For us, that was Nicolas Dib.
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