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peachywise · 6 years ago

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nullify part 5

an umbrella academy fanfiction // klaus hargreeves x reader

- part v: the disrupting, devilish, and demanding deal || part i ⋆ part ii ⋆ part iii ⋆ part iv ⋆ part vi ⋆ more parts to be released

- synopsis: Finally, the truth of the Hargreeves story comes out. It's a little hard to believe, but what's even worse is what exactly they need your help for. Vanya, you're happy to deal with, but Klaus? Looks like you two are going to be spending a great deal of time together as well.

- notes: hello oh gosh okay i am sorry this hiatus was so long but i am 100% done all my exams so i am officially back at it and writing actively. expect next chapter out soon and it will be a good ol funny fluff klaus heavy chapter okay i love you all i'm sorry, adios

link on ao3

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“Do you want to put your pants back on?”

“No,” Klaus smiled, flopping down next to you on the couch and wrapping his arm tightly around your shoulders.

“Then off you go,” you smiled politely back. He gave you a sort of quirked, curious look, but you quickly shoved him off on to the floor before he could figure out your intentions. “I came here to get answers, not to get diseased.”

Klaus mock gasped, while Luther tried to suppress his half-snort laugh from behind his rather large hand. Klaus just crawled halfway across the floor to where he had dropped his pants and slipped them back on— struggling a bit because wow was that leather tight— mumbling incoherently under his breath.

“So, who’s going to be the one to tell me why exactly I’m here?” You questioned, pulling your legs up and crossing them under you, looking from Klaus, to Luther, and then at Five. All three looked at each other as if they hadn’t exactly thought this far ahead. Lovely. Five sighed as he sat on the chair across from you and leaned slightly forward, clasping his hands together as a serious look befell his face.

“I guess I’ll start at the beginning. Just hold off on any questions until the end, it might be a bit hard for you to believe.”

You couldn’t hold back your laugh as you leaned back comfortably. “We were all born to mothers who hadn’t really been pregnant and have powers because of it. You’re afraid your story will be too much for my mind to comprehend? Have a little faith in me.”

Five raised an eyebrow, and Klaus moved back to sit beside you once his pants were properly back on. “Oh, you say that now.” Klaus smiled, giddy in his fidgety excitement, “but personally, I can’t wait to see your reaction.”

“Klaus,” Luther grumbled in an almost warning gesture. Klaus ignored him.

Jesus, you didn’t have time for this.

“For fuck’s sakes, will one of you just spit it out already!”

A moment of silence followed your outcry, but then rather unceremoniously, Five stated point-blank, “we’re from the future and traveled back in time to stop the apocalypse from happening.”

And then, like the clever little slice you are, you allowed yourself a moment of silence as well. You couldn’t even hear your breath, a pin drop, a mouse scurrying across the house, yadda yadda and all those fun clichés.

“You in there?” Klaus asked. He even knocked you on the head lightly, murmuring, “I think you broke the poor thing.”

You swatted his hand away, and he reared it back into his chest, cradling it with the look of a hurt puppy. “I’m not broken,” you grumbled, sitting up a bit as you turned your attention back to Five. “I’m just wondering what you guys take me for. I’m not gullible. Yeah, maybe I believed at one-point Santa existed and was my fourth-grade teacher in disguise, but this? That sounds like a bad plot to a shitty TV show.”

Klaus moved to sit next to Five, covering the kid's ears as he did. “Shh, he was never around long enough for us to tell him the truth about Santa.” You just rolled your eyes as Five simultaneously jerked away so fast, throwing a fast punch to Klaus’s gut that had him doubled over groaning in a second flat. His attention turned back to you just as fast.

“This isn’t a joke. When I disappeared all those years ago, I found a way to travel through time but I got stuck there. What I found was nothing— no civilization, no us, no you. Everything was in ruins. It took me many years, but I found my way back to stop the apocalypse from happening.” At that, he exchanged an odd look with both Klaus and Luther. Klaus looked more sympathetic at that, his expression turning more serious in those moments. Luther meanwhile just looked uncomfortable and a little shutoff, his arms crossed so tightly against his chest that you wondered if those jacket sleeves would rip.

“And this apocalypse, when is it supposed to happen exactly?” you asked, deciding to play into whatever they were pulling. You should have known they were all insane. You’d expected it of Klaus, but man, were all of them this disillusioned? “Let me guess. Big meteors are supposed to rain down and destroy us like they did the dinosaurs? Oh! Better yet, all these fossilized dinosaurs are going to come back to life and eat us all!”

“Someone has an active imagination,” Klaus commented, a gleeful look crossing his face, but Five’s own cynical impatience cut both of you down. “No,” he sneered, standing up in what you assumed was his way of seeming more intimidating or serious. It was just hard to take it that way when he didn’t even reach five feet. “But if you stop talking long enough for me to tell you the story, maybe you would simultaneously stop proving your idiocy and get the answers you want.”

Well, then.

“Carry on.”

“So, you’re telling me all of you traveled back to the past— my present—three months ago after your sister almost ended the world?”

“Technically she did, we just popped right on out before we all rather disastrously perished,” Klaus interjected, speaking for the first time since Five finished relaying his tall tale of all that had happened. Luther simply groaned, tightening his crossed arms even more.

Five ignored them both completely. “In layman’s terms, yes, that’s what happened.”

Now, you were no doubt impressed by his ability to tell stories. It was convincing, you’d give him that, but you just weren’t positive it was true. If you sat there and told him you believed him, for one, you’d look like an utter idiot if they turned out they were lying. It would have had to have been an intricate joke on their part, but you’d be damned if it was going to be played on you. No. You needed to make sure that what he said was real. And there was only one plausible way to do it.

“I have questions. If you even pause in answering them, I’ll kick your ass for lying to me. Got it?”

Five nodded. Klaus just looked amused and leaned forward like he was ready to watch an entertaining game.

“If they aren’t going to be convinced, why are we even bothering telling them? This is a waste of time and energy.” Diego’s voice sounded behind you, causing you to jump a bit and exclaim softly, “Jesus Christ.” When the fuck did he get there? You hadn’t even heard him.

Twisting around and resting your arms on the back of the too-plush, white leather couch, you questioned, “are you sure all you can do is throw knives? Maybe you’re a cat shifter or something, you’re so sneaky. Here, let me test to see if you have nine lives— pass me one of your knives,” you smirked snidely, an impish imitation of the scowl he offered you back. Diego clearly wasn’t amused. “Listen to me, you—”

“Both of you, shut up,” Five snapped, his patience clearly wearing thinner by the second. It looked like the Fisher-Price poster boy might explode. A pity, but hey, you could live with it. “Why must you ruin the fun? I wanted to see the show,” Klaus sighed, resting his hand on the side of his face. You threw a pillow at him, and he caught it with a wink in your direction.

Standing up from your seat, noting with jealously how your butt hadn’t fallen asleep like it did on your thrift store found shit couch, you crossed your arms and stared down at the boy. Back to business.

“Whose apartment is this?”

“Allison’s. It’s a second one she barely uses, so it’s likely we’ll go relatively undetected,” Luther replied.

Made sense. “What year did you guys come from?”

“2019,” Five replied in a bored manner.

Now that had you squinting your eyes a bit. It was 2015 now, so allegedly you could ask anything about the future.

“Did Jon Snow really die in the season five finale of Game of Thrones?”

Five tilted his head slightly in confusion, and Diego just looked annoyed as he threw his hands up and begun pacing. Klaus snorted. But surprisingly, Luther was the one to answer the question, shifting uncomfortably as his eyes darted to the ceiling, “uhm, no. He’s alive.”

His siblings gave him a questioning look, but you didn’t care which one of them actually knew. You were just thinking thank fuck he was alive. Well. Thank fuck if the Hargreeves were telling the truth and were from the future. Now you were really hoping they were.

“Who won the presidential election?”

Diego was the one to reply this time, a deeper bitterness attached to his tone than the one directed at you earlier. “Donald Trump,”

Never mind. You hoped they were filthy, humorless liars.

Your face must have displayed your severe disappointment and revolt, as Klaus speedily added, “I would offer words of comfort, but even I can’t find the silver lining in it,” giving a small shudder as he said it.

“Well if you’re done with twenty questions, can I finally get to the part to where you come in, or would you rather waste my time for a while longer?”

You felt a twitch at the corner of your eye at Five’s abrasiveness, but you offered a sweet smile over it. “As a matter of fact, I would rather waste your time longer. Thanks.”

Was he getting red in the face? Ooo, delightful.

Diego apparently didn’t see the joy in it. He stomped over to you in his little combat boots and all, getting directly in your face. “You can nullify powers, and we have a sister who’s having trouble controlling hers, and no longer wants to try. Either you help, or get out and forget about all this."

You held your breath for a moment, eyeing him down in what you were sure was some unspoken fight for dominance. At least he was blunt about something both Klaus and Five had been leading up to. You could respect that. However, the situation on the other hand? It was a little confusing. If Vanya did actually have powers— and after having read her book, you were surprised in the least to hear of them— and was the cause for the end of the world, what could be done to really control them? You could stop it from happening maybe, granted you had no idea how much pressure your force field could take in stopping her from using them, but wasn’t that just a momentary fix?

“She nearly put an end to the whole world, or rather, she did, but you all just escaped it. What exactly do you need me for? You expect her to do it again or something? Where even is she?”

Luther suddenly pulled Diego back, taking his place in front of you as a voice for the collective of them. “She’s in one of the rooms with Allison now, but all you need to understand is we’ve been here for three months. For the first month, Vanya couldn’t even look at us. She wouldn’t speak. She was in a catatonic state. In the second month, we tried to understand the extent of her powers to figure out how to prevent another apocalypse from happening, but every time she tried to use them, she couldn’t control them. Now she won’t even try, but they’re still there. She’s a ticking time bomb.”

A small unsettled flare lit in your stomach. “She’s also your sister. Don’t talk about her like she’s just a problem to fix. From the story Five told, you guys locking her up and essentially ignoring her for her whole life was the catalyst for this whole thing. Yeah, I get it. She almost ended the world, and what she did to Allison was fucked up. I’m not condoning that. But if you’re actually going to help her now, then do it for her. Actually, be there for her. Don’t pin me— a stranger— on her to take the problem off your fucking hands.”

You had been in enough foster and group homes to understand the loneliness that often came with them. But it was one thing to be ignored, and another to be acknowledged as simply not good enough. Vanya’s book had been very telling, about all their lives and not just hers. Each Hargreeves sibling had been fucked over by their mad father, and undoubtedly you felt empathy and sympathy for each of their situations and not just hers. Though your life had its own tragedies at the hand of your powers and other’s opinion of them, you had still spent most of the time you could avoiding every being detected by Reginald at all, fearing being included in his little makeshift family. You had known the love of a father before. They clearly hadn’t. Growing up, the Academy thing left a sour taste in your mouth. It wasn’t until you had read Vanya’s book that you finally understood why.

Luther blinked at you in surprise, and you noted a bob in his throat as he swallowed a little nervously. He looked a bit cross like he might actually dare to argue back, but Klaus cut him off before he could, moving to stand beside him.

His wide eyes seemed to reflect a serious outlook, his face a little pale. “We all made mistakes, we know that,” he started off with, and you were once again shocked by the sincerity he seemed to be able to display. Your breathing was a bit ragged after getting so aggravated in your little monologue, and Klaus grabbed your hands and led you back to the couch as if calming an upset child. Ass face. Sitting across from you on to ottoman, he continued, “we all sat there pinning blame on one another when really, it was dear old dad who ruined us all. I want to help. We all want to help.” he squeezed your hands, before finally releasing them. “But we need you as well. Vanya needs to feel like she’s in a controlled environment. If she practices around you and things get out of hand, hopefully, you can turn it off before things go boom again.”

Leaning back, you sank down into the cushions and covered your face with your hand, the light not helping your now growing headache. You took a deep breath in and then out. “Okay. Okay, I’ll help,” you relented, dropping your hand to peer at Klaus’s hopeful little smile. You quickly shifted your gaze back to Five, who had been silent during the entire exchange, simply watching with a contemplative eye. “So, what’s the plan then? I just come over sometimes and stand guard or something while she does her thing?”

Five picked up a coffee mug of the table and took a sip, putting it back down as he muttered, “you ask a lot of questions. But no. We want to be as safe as possible, so the plan would be for you to move in here in case anything was to happen.”

You were quiet for a moment. Maybe a little too quiet, since Five looked a little surprised by your lack of response, which was odd, since you weren’t sure what he was expecting your reaction to be.

“You should stick to brooding. Humour is not your strong suit. Seriously, what’s the plan?”

“I’m not joking. That is the plan.”

Hmm.

Getting up from the couch, you picked up your tote bag, and then the broken clock which had still been sitting on the floor. You slipped it into the bag. Pulling down your sunglasses, you turned towards the group and gave a lazy salute, stating, “Well, it’s been real guys. I’ll be sure to send you a Christmas card.”

Klaus shot up so suddenly you almost got whiplash, and ran to the door to pin himself in front of it like a scraggly leather clad barrier. “Whoa, whoa, hold on a second,” he pleading with a frantic little laugh, “be reasonable.”

“Reasonable?” You huffed at the shithead, no trace of such amusement in your voice. “You want me to just drop my whole life to live with a bunch of batshit insane grown up super babies and be at your every beck and call? Hell no. I have two jobs. I have an apartment I need to pay for!”

Klaus muttered back awkwardly, “technically you’re also a batshit insane grown up super baby,” but before you could reach back into your bag for the clock to chuck at his head, Five’s hand gripped your wrist in a tight grasp.

“Will you calm down? If you don’t want to move in here, then Vanya can move into your apartment with you,” Five snapped, releasing his grasp as Klaus started to move back towards you like an inquisitive animal unsure if the being in front of it was a predator or not.

You scrunched your brows together. “Seriously? I told you guys she needs her family. Having her live with me isn’t going to do much good. Look, I am fine coming over once and a while to help out, I really am, but I can’t just drop my whole life. You guys aren’t going to be here forever, and what happens when you guys leave? I have to go back to something.”

Five took a step back, contemplating this as you spoke. Diego took the quiet opportunity to intervene with his own point of view, adding, “they’re right. This whole plan was bound to fail anyway. We can think of something else.”

You were about to agree with him, but before you could, Klaus interjected with a very loud, “wait, I have an idea!”

Luther stated, “well that’s a first,” and you decided your clock’s next target was going to be his big rude head instead.

“Vanya will live with you, but all of us can still visit you and stay with her when you’re at work or what not.” Maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad idea, you thought. But still, she should be around them more so than around you. Part of fixing this whole situation was fixing their family relationship too. Klaus seemed to almost read your mind, albeit, a little misconstrued, as he added, “better yet, I’ll move in too! It’ll be fun, we can all paint each other’s nails and braid each other’s hair—

“Fuck no.”

Klaus frowned, grabbing your shoulders and giving your tense self a little shake. “Oh, come on. I thought we were getting along?”

You deadpanned, “I’m a terrific actor.”

Granted, his plan did have some merit, but you loved having your own space. Your apartment wasn’t even that big anyway. You had your room, a pull-out bed in your crappy makeshift spare room, and then that uncomfortable couch. You wouldn’t subject anyone to that no matter what.

“We’ll pay you if you agree,” Five interrupted your thoughts, and suddenly, you wondered why you had ever thought it had been a bad idea at all.

“Well in that case, hello roomie,” you smiled at Klaus, as his mouth popped open in slight shock. Ignoring him, you dropped your bag on the floor and turned back to the rest of the family.

“Well, let me meet Vanya. We should probably check to see if my force field can even keep her powers at bay in the first place. Or if she’s even comfortable moving in with me.” Lowering your sunglasses back down, you looked them all in the eyes and said, “I, of course, will be paid for my services no matter the outcome.”

Klaus uttered a small, but very audible, awe of, “they’re magnificent, aren’t they?”

#tua #tua fanfic #tua fanfiction #the umbrella academy #the umbrella academy fanfic #the umbrella academy fanfiction #klaus hargreeves #diego hargreeves #five hargreeves #luther hargreeves #klaus hargreeves x reader #klaus hargreeves reader insert #klaus hargreeves fanfic #klaus hargreeves fanfiction #klaus hargreeves imagine

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matlidas-blog · 5 years ago

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( madelaine petsch ／ she/her ／ twenty three . ) welcome to los angeles, matilda “tilly” hughes. the glitterati has been watching you. rumour has it you made your first mark in the industry seven years ago & that your net worth currently stands at 10m. it seems as though you’re enjoying being a reality television personality / musician since relocating from orange county, ca. some might say you’d be a good fit for the glitterati due to your hollywood ranking being a solid #2, & it helps that fans speak so highly of your gregarious & magnetic ways. unfortunately, our sources cite that those closest to you aren’t particularly impressed with your impetuous & argumentative tendencies.

hi, all ! i’m kinda nervous about joining this group bc of all your lovely muses & amazing concept but never the less let’s hope i don’t flop ! wow, sm hope ! SDKFHSHF ... ANYWAY ! i’m bean ( she + her / twenty / livin’ in england ) :+) ! you can call me beanie, b, beans, whatever your heart desires really & this is my Chaotic™ daughter, tilly ! she’s a mash-up of some characters that i’ve played previously, so hopefully you all love her as much as i do. ANYWAYS, i’m also really really bad at intros & whatnot ( she says as she writes a literal novel SFKHDHF. ) but if you want to plot, or ... whatever y’all wanna do. 🤠 then feel free to im me ? add me on discord ? ( old bean#9559 ) and uhhh, yeah ! this sux, goodnight. pls love me :+)

p.s : i’m so sorry that this whole post radiates a chaotic energy that i did not expect ! oh well !

one. ˛ ◜ 🥀 ◞ BASIC STATISTICS.

full name : matilda quinn hughes-becker. professionally known as : matilda / tilly hughes. nicknames : tils ( general ), lil’ red ( family orientated ) – just don’t call her matilda, unless you’re her mother or you want to annoy her. :-) age : twenty-three. birthdate : october twenty-fourth. zodiac : scorpio. claim to fame : sort of like the kardashians / real housewives, the hughes’ family has built an empire over the years and tilly was born into the lifestyle ( comparable to kendall & kylie, if i’m honest ) and hasn’t really had to do anything but breathe to see money in the bank. reality tv star ( her family has their own show, following the day-to-day lives of ex-musician turned producer, gerald hughes, his beautician housewife, julia becker & their five children ) and recording artist / musician are both notches on her belt, but she has various social media followings, of course ( youtube for music, bts & promotional videos, instagram & snapchat for the same, but also personal use ). general occupation : reality television personality / musician. net-worth to date : ten million. years active : seven. birthplace & hometown : orange county, california, united states. current residence : los angeles, california. career claims : to be added, not applicable atm. orientation : bisexual, biromantic.

two. ˛ ◜ 🥀 ◞ PHYSICALS.

faceclaim : madelaine petsch. hair colour & style ( general ) : strawberry blonde / red, all natural, usually worn curled / wavy in it’s natural form. height : 5′6. piercings : standard lobes ( x3 in left, 2 in right ), both nipples & scattered studs in her left ear ( including tragus, conch & cartilage ). tattoos : all most definitely from curt montgomery, coverage is at this level. surgeries made public : rhinoplasty ( 2015 ), dissolvable lip fillers ( 2017– ). other physical notes : has a mole on her stomach, a few freckles on her face and slightly noticeable scar just above her right eyebrow, although she tries to hide that as much as possible.

three. ˛ ◜ 🥀 ◞ KEY POINTS.

i. truly thinks she’s that bitch, the regina george of her own time... or so she likes to believe. she’s grown up in the spotlight ( or at least with the cameras rolling and following her around for her every movie ) so she’s a) used to it, b) likes to use it all to her advantage if need be and c) knows too much sometimes. she’s literally only ever known this life, so if she was to be knocked down a few notches, then so be it !

ii. her father ( gerald hughes, ex-singer of the 80′s/90′s ) is the one that got her into the music scene, she didn’t have to really work for anything to get where she is. she’s claimed to of “worked hard” but in the world of ghost-writers, good press teams and a famous father ? who needs hard work ? sure, she’s talented, and good at what she does, but in some ways, she takes after her mother in the sense of relying on looks and her name to get her to the top. but, she works hard in that category.

iii. she’s an open book, has never lied about anything regarding her past-scandals, relationships etc. but there’s always room for that ( wink wonk ;+) ) but in the long run, she’s pretty much chilled out. she’s not an asshole, but she can be defensive, argumentative & literally start beef online if she feels she’s being publicly shamed ( basically any youtuber ever SDKHFSHK. ) however, when she cares about people ... she fuckin’ cares. like ? she’ll deadass be a ride or die, but don’t expect her to let it go if you cross her. #spilltheteasis ! skdhfds.

four. ˛ ◜ 🥀 ◞ W. CONNECTIONS.

i. ride or die : can be a single friend, or perhaps a group ( max. 4, maybe ? ) that have rode through all the hardships with tilly, including scandals, etc. and have stuck with her unlike others that came & went like the common cold.

ii. exes : boyfriends, girlfriends ... something that ended good or bad, mutually agreed on the split or ... it was messy ! whatever works, she’s a messy gal so ... literally anything will work, i promise.

iii. family friends : maybe their families grew up together, worked together at some point or run in the same circle ( closer than others, for better or for worse ) ? it can be positive, negative, indifferent. maybe their families / parents are friends but they’ve never really met ? who knows !

iv. unlikely friends : two people who are nothing the same, or textbook definitions of not getting along but have some sort of mutual thing that connect them together ! not necessarily joined at the hip, maybe not even that close but can call on one another if they’d ever need it.

v. hook-ups, friends w benefits, rebounds : it’s a messy world & they’re just living in it. you get it... it’s simple ! i just want tilly to be the messy bitch she deserves to be SDKFHDS. but ! gotta love drama, angst ... don’t we all :^)

a full bio & a more extensive list of wanted connections will come when i’m not Stressed™ over my degree & that’s the motherfuckin’ tea ! lmao. but uhhh y’all please love her ? she’s a bit chaotic and whack – and completely not outlined properly in this post – but i ... promise that i’m – slightly – better than this. *raven vc* yep, that’s me !

#i'll act like this is trash for a valid reason but ...#i'm just a dumb bitch who's stressed over exams. SKDFHDS.#serves me right huh.#but ANYWAY. love me and tilly ( maybe )#mainly me .. thank u.#glittintro #˛ ◜ 🥀 ◞ 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. › 𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐬 .

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rebeccahpedersen · 7 years ago

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The Tao Of The 2017 Buyer

TorontoRealtyBlog

The spring of 2017 was the hottest market I have ever seen. It was probably the hottest market that any Realtor, regardless of his or her experience in this city, has ever seen.

I told a lot of stories back in the spring on TRB, many of which conveyed exactly how hot the market was.

But one story was left untold, because it just concluded. And ironically, it took place after the market changed, as our journey began in June.

Allow me to regale you with the Tao of the 2017 Buyer…

Back in 2014, I wrote an epic four-part blog series which I entitled, “The Tao of the 2014 Buyer.”

Ah yes, 2014 – back when I wrote four blogs per week, rather than the three that I cut it back to in 2015 when I started my Thursday “Pick5” feature. Four blogs. Wow. I actually just got anxiety thinking about that…

A four-part series wasn’t how I set out to tell that story, but as I began the framework for a post that I thought might result in a “To Be Continued,” I soon realized that in order to properly convey the story, I needed to let the post write itself.

I remember that spring, 2014 market very well.

It was a continuation of a 2013 fall market that just seemed to come out of nowhere, culminating with a whopping 11.3% year-over-year increase in average home price in the month of November. Yes, 11.3%. Remember when that was significant?

When the spring of 2014 began, we all knew it would be busy.

The average home price of $520,398 in December continued to rise and rise throughout 2014, hitting $585,204 – a 12.4% increase in a mere 5 months; an annual rate of close to 30%.

I was working with a lot of buyers in that market, and every buyer who purchased between January and June continued to follow new listings, and send me emails with, “Did you see the sale price of such-and-such house? Wow, am I ever glad we bought!”

One of my buyer couples from that spring (actually from the fall of 2013, if you read the series) had just about the worst luck I had ever seen, in all my time in the business.

While we often say there is no “luck” involved in buying real estate, that’s not entirely true.

I’ve sold houses to buyers on the night of a storm, or an election, or a holiday, that would have, could have, should have sold for more. That’s lucky, for certain.

I’ve won in multiple offers because the buyer picked a price that ended in say, “512,” because they got married on May 12th – enabling them to beat the second-highest offer which ended in “000.” That sounds skillful, but it’s luck.

Luck is ever-present in real estate, especially on the buy-side.

But my clients from the 2014 “Tao” blog series had no luck, and as a result, they lose EIGHT offers, before finally securing a property on their 9th try – a journey that began on October 1st, 2013, and ended on May 5th, 2014.

They bid $781,200 on a house, and lost to a bid of $785,100.

They bid $800,000 on a house, and lost to a bid of $805,000.

They bid on eight houses, with an average loss margin of 3.0%, and taking away the two blowouts, their loss margin was a mere 1.45% on six lost properties.

Well, if this doesn’t entice you to read a four part blog series, then I don’t know what will!

I’ll make it easy on you, here are the four parts:

The Tao of The 2014 Buyer – Part I

The Tao of The 2014 Buyer – Part II

The Tao of The 2014 Buyer – Part III

The Tao of The 2014 Buyer – Part IV

–

My clients paid $776,00 for a house that’s probably worth $1.1M today, and like so many people before them, they likely thought, “This amount of money is just absurd for what we’re getting,” only to watch the market continue to grow, month after month, year after year.

A question I’m asked by a majority of buyers at the onset of the search is, “How many properties would you say your average buyer sees before they buy one?”

That’s a good question, but unfortunately, the answer is of zero help to the buyer.

“Eleven point four,” I might tell them, whether that’s in any way accurate.

The problem with putting a number to that question is, if the number is high, the buyer might feel like he or she should pass on the perfect property, right there in front of them, in order to simply “see more of what’s out there.” If the number is low, the buyer might feel rushed into making a decision, when he or she isn’t really ready.

Every buyer is different, pardon the obvious.

Every buyer comes into the search with a different amount of knowledge, about real estate, but also about personal finance, mortgage regulations, Toronto’s geography and demographics, and a host of other variables affecting the search.

The second question I get with regularity, specifically in the midst of hot market cycles, is, “How many offers do your buyers lose before they win one?”

Great question.

And perhaps this time, the answer I provide could shed some light on their search.

I don’t know the answer, but if we’re talking freehold buyers, in 2016 through 2017, I’d say probably 2.5.

Now, because I know that you’re very curious to know the answer, I’ve just taken about 45 minutes while writing this, to log all the offers I made in the spring, and find out the real answer to this question.

I think this will be tremendously helpful for active buyers, even though the market has changed.

Of all the freehold properties I sold to buyers in the spring, 2017 real estate market, and not including buyers who made offers but didn’t eventually buy (there were a few), here is the number of offers that my successful buyers made:

1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 4 4 9

That’s an average of 2.53 offers per buyer.

And since I had guessed 2.5, I feel like I just wasted an hour of my life.

Oh, the things we do in the pursuit of integrity…

You’ll notice that at the bottom of the list, is the number “9.”

At the risk of spoiling the conclusion to this blog series, let me clarify that, yes, this is the story I want to tell today.

The tale, story, journey, or Tao of the 2017 real estate buyer, but also the excitement, heartache, anguish, anxiety, frustration, and experience of two very normal people, well-informed, well-qualified financially, and extremely intelligent, who, as was the case with my couple in 2014, simply had, dare I say, bad luck.

This is, as you would assume from the list of offers above, not the typical real estate experience. But it’s a learning experience for those of you reading it, since we had not one, but many odd situations and events through the course of our search.

All of these events make for those learning moments that so many would-be buyers seek while reading Toronto Realty Blog.

You just hope that they don’t all happen to you…

Jake and Amanda emailed me in March of 2017 to say that they were getting married, and needed more space, and like many buyers in their position, they found that browsing what was available on Realtor.ca wasn’t providing enough information.

I had sold Jake the condo way back in 2010, and while small, it had brought him through a series of transitions in life that one in their 20’s and 30’s would experience while living in downtown Toronto. When I think back to where I was in life when I bought my first condo, and where I was when I left five years later, I can’t believe how many miles I put on the odometer of life.

Jake’s condo was small, and I could imagine how two people living there would be tight. Imagine my surprise when we finally met up and they told me they’d been living there together, in 540 square feet, for several years!

That is certainly getting the most out of your investment!

What’s more, is they absolutely loved the place, and Amanda beamed as she told me what life in the condo had been like.

We got together in April when their search went from browsing online to checking out open houses in person, and they told me that they were looking to spend around $850,000, but were completely open to location, style, and size.

Everybody says they’re completely open; flexible, willing to compromise, make concessions, etc.

In practice, however, I find most buyers have no idea what “concessions” really are, and when you’ve got Cadillac-tastes on a Pontiac-budget, in this market, it makes it very difficult to get in tune with reality. Many of these buyers, unfortunately, get left behind.

But once I started searching with Jake & Amanda, I realized they really were open to just about everything. Our search would eventually take us from Scarlett Woods to Scarborough, and just about everywhere in between.

That flexibility ultimately enabled them to look for value in a market where there often wasn’t any, and draw a firm line in the sand with each and every property. Rarely, if ever, did they get emotionally involved with a house.

After our initial meeting in April, Jake & Amanda hammered out their “must have” list as follows:

Must Haves:

2+ Bed; 1.5+ Bath

Turn key (limited renos if any (cosmetic only); finished basement)

Walkable neighbourhood; near transit

Parking

In/Around Toronto (40 minute max commute to, say, Eaton Centre)

They set their ceiling at $800,000 even, and our search began.

When meeting with clients who have broad search criteria – whether it’s geographic in nature, or rather they’re open to various housing styles, I find it’s best to see a property, any property, and do a thorough walkthrough, pointing out the pros and cons.

The first property we saw together was a small rowhouse on Norwood Terrace, just west of the bridge on Main Street, south of Danforth.

While walking up to the house, we encountered a middle-aged man doing crossfit on the sidewalk, completely in a zone. He was skipping, doing burpies, and I believe he did a few overhead dumbell snatches as well. If that isn’t “a sign” that this is your future neighbourhood, then I don’t know what is.

I immediately saw how organized Jake & Amanda were, as Jake came equipped with pages of notes, transit routes, and important questions to ask.

Listed at $668,000, I told them I thought the house would push $800,000, and for a 2-bed, 2-bath, with no parking, they just didn’t “connect” with the house.

It ended up selling for $765,000, and they had no reaction whatsoever. They had already moved on to other options.

This would become a pattern in a very rational, unemotional search, the likes of which are extremely rare in this business.

The following week, I took them to Danforth Village to check out a few houses that I really liked, and we would end up putting our first offer on paper…

(TO BE CONTINUED…)

The post The Tao Of The 2017 Buyer appeared first on Toronto Real Estate Property Sales & Investments | Toronto Realty Blog by David Fleming.

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