Home search: Quick thinking wins the race

Real Estate

Bidding wars are the stuff of legends in Vancouver’s housing market.

These are high-stakes battles pitting several buyers against each other, with sellers laughing all the way to the bank.

But it’s not always the case that buyers end up paying more than the original asking price.

Kei Yamakawa made the same offer for a Yaletown condo as the buyer who came before her, but she got the place.

Both submitted tenders below the listing price of $439,000, and hers was taken because her realtor, Jay Mcinnes, was on the ball.

Yamakawa related that although the other buyer’s offer had already been accepted by the seller, Mcinnes did not give up, eventually learning from the listing agent that the buyer was asking for more time to complete the purchase in order to secure a mortgage.

By keeping in close contact with the other agent, Mcinnes also found out that the seller was willing to look at another offer. With a window of opportunity open, he moved fast, prepared the paperwork, and got his client to sign the documents.

“It was really quick from there,” Yamakawa said in a phone interview with the Georgia Straight.

She said that they matched the other buyer’s bid, which was lower than the asking price, and “That was it.”

It was her first home purchase, she said, and she moved into her Yaletown condo in November 2017.

“Honestly, after I saw it, I knew it would be mine,” Yamakawa said, laughing. “It’s true. I told Jay about it, and he said everyone says the same thing, that you know that if you like it.”

Yamakawa’s condo matched her wish list: in-suite laundry, underground parking, and downtown Vancouver location.

“I wanted to live as close as possible to downtown because my work is in downtown, and I didn’t like to commute to work,” she said. “Luckily, I found one in downtown and only two blocks away from my work.”