“I’m scared of selling my house.” Does that sound familiar to you? It could be something you thought of or heard from friends or family.

Since Kansas City’s low inventory houses make the highest prices due to low inventory levels, many people want to sell their homes and move up, but fear that they will not find anything suitable to buy in their price range. In fact, most people say something like, “I want to sell my house, but I don’t want to be homeless.”

I was in the spring of 2016. I was working for a nonprofit in April 2016, and my husband and I were still living in our starter home in Roeland Park, which we bought in 2008. Back then we had a baby, no dog, and the promise of an exciting gateway project starting just blocks from our home.

Last year we had two big kids, a crazy dog, no gateway, and I was done sharing a bathroom. We had some equity in our house, an income better than eight years ago, and interest rates about half what they were in 2008. Moving to a bigger house should have been a breeze. But, like most people, we looked obsessed with Zillow. And what we saw had paralyzed us with fear.

“If we put our house on the market, we will receive several offers in one day,” I would tell my husband. “And then we’ll fight out there to get our house forever, but we’ll just find shitty deals or we’ll lose the good ones. And then in 30 days we’ll be homeless. “Okay, yeah, I can be dramatic at times, but in this case I just called it a realist.

Then one day I read a Shawnee Mission Post column by real estate agent Chad Taylor, entitled: “The reluctant buyer rises.” If you can relate to what I’ve written so far, I highly recommend that you read it as it hits the nail on the head. I didn’t know who Chad was, but I emailed him and said, “Okay, yep yep, that describes our situation perfectly. Can you help us??”

Chad met with us and described various strategies his team are using to help sellers and buyers like us. For example, we let buyers know that it took us 60 days to close. Most transactions take at least 30 days so this wasn’t a deal breaker for the buyers who made deals – and yes, we received several great deals! And he let us know that in the worst case scenario, he had ties to homeowners in Prairie Village who would offer short term leases. That took off a little pressure. Not much, but at least my HOMELESS scenario was off the table.

Then he introduced us to his business partner and wife Leah, who is very well connected in the neighborhoods of Northeast Johnson Country where we shop. Leah was able to bring us deals that either hadn’t hit the market or had been overpriced and overlooked. This was the key to our success. It took about two weeks, but Leah found a house that checked all of our boxes. We had seen it online but ignored it because it was more expensive than our budget. They hadn’t received any offers so we got deeper and got it.

Another key to our success was interviewing mortgage providers before listing our home. This gave us a head start and a solid plan before we started shopping. We spoke to at least four different companies and like most buyers, we simply shopped at the lowest price.

But when we met Mike Miles at Fountain Mortgage, we knew we had found the right place. Mike calmed us down and was the only loan officer who outlined various options and scenarios for our funding plan and gave us a competitive rate. For example, he showed us how to put less money in and withhold an additional $ 8,000 from our sales proceeds (yes! Furniture money!), Which would only add $ 26 to our monthly payment. We also liked that Fountain Mortgage is a locally owned company in Prairie Village rather than a large bank.

Today we couldn’t be happier with our new home. In fact, not a week goes by without me saying, “I love this house.” I never thought that selling our house and entering the crazy real estate market would have worked out so well for us.

If you’re in the same situation, my advice is to find your team of experts – both agents and mortgage providers – and go for it. You are now getting a great price for your home and the prices are historically low. There are amazing houses to be found and you can find them with the right team and a little bit of courage.

Call me or Mike Miles at Fountain Mortgage if you need a little hand-hold – or a little squeeze.

This weekly sponsored column is written by guest columnist Charity Ohlund, director of business development at Fountain Mortgage. Located in Prairie Village, Fountain Mortgage is dedicated to educating and empowering clients to make the best financial decision possible for their situation. Contact Fountain today.