Like many Americans over the past couple of years, Roxanne Johnson realized that she needed to maneuver only after she was forced to spend most of her time at home.
In late 2020, she was working in marketing for a movie and tv production company out of her two-bedroom condo in Winnetka, Calif., a various neighborhood within the San Fernando Valley, about 25 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. The neighbors were rowdy. Dogs barked. Worse, her constructing was deteriorating, and her apartment had begun to feel uncomfortably small.
“I used to be just sitting on the couch, principally not moving, as I Zoomed my life away,” she said. “I needed change.”
A self-described “real estate nerd,” Ms. Johnson already had several apps on her phone tracking the housing market. Before the pandemic, she had loved visiting open houses together with her mother and grandfather, who would come for lengthy visits from Ohio, where Ms. Johnson, an only child, grew up in blisteringly cold winters.
When her family visited, Ms. Johnson often wound up sleeping on the sofa. She wanted a spot with more room, and first-floor access for her grandfather, who’s now 95.
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“I actually desired to spend more time with them,” she said. “But I needed more bedrooms.”
She also yearned for a yard of her own and a room that would function a gym, with space for her weights, yoga mats and foam rollers.
As more Angelenos fled town for the suburbs, Ms. Johnson knew that purchasing a three-bedroom home anywhere nearby was going to be difficult. “I didn’t have the cash to get right into a bidding war,” she said.
She considered homes in Arizona, Nevada and even Ohio, but decided that moving to date from work and friends could be more isolating. “I didn’t wish to be lonely,” she said.
So she narrowed her search to San Bernardino County and, ultimately, to town of Upland, about 40 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. With a budget of about $525,000, Ms. Johnson homed in on the world’s recent developments, where prices were generally cheaper than those of existing homes.
“She had definitely done some homework and discovered what she wanted,” said Ms. Johnson’s real estate agent, Amanda Fallon, of Re/Max Partners.
Before she could buy anything, though, she needed to sell her condo to get the cash for a down payment. Ms. Fallon referred her to a different Re/Max agent, and Ms. Johnson began the daunting task of selling and buying concurrently — which didn’t help her probabilities of finding the precise place.
“On the time, it was so competitive here, most builders weren’t accommodating buyers who had a house to sell,” Ms. Fallon said.
Amongst her options:
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