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Young family are enjoying their first home Posted on 7/13/2009 9:31:38 PM  HAPPY HOMEBUYERS: Nearly everyone who has lived any length of time can attest to the fact that the best things in life really are worth waiting for. There are many people however, both young and old, who often lose sight of this fact—particularly in our instant gratification-oriented society. “You can have it now! Why wait? Act now or you may lose out!”—Madison Avenue pitchmen and society in general seems to scream at the poor, bombarded American consumer. Not everyone, however, (particularly the smart and introspective people) are buying it. Take Duane and Sharon Molnar, and their daughter, Karissa, for example.
“We really wanted to buy a home six years ago,” the young family said recently,
“but the market was crazy and everything was very overpriced.
“We decided to wait until the housing market stabilized before we committed to
buying a home. We just didn’t want to buy a house and then find ourselves owned by our own home, with payments so high that we couldn’t afford to take a vacation, fix the car or have any money for savings,” explained Sharon.
“Five or six years ago,” Duane said, “a lot of our friends and some family were
trying to convince us to go ahead and buy at that time, before the market went up any further and we completely missed the boat. However, we still felt that the home prices were just too high—we didn’t want to be pressured into buying an overpriced home and then regretting it, so we decided to wait until housing came down to a reasonable level.”
“So we waited,” said Sharon, “for five years!” Finally, as the market changed and prices came down to an acceptable level, Sharon and Duane felt the time was optimum to buy and decided to act.
Born at AV Hospital and raised in the Antelope Valley, Sharon attended AV High
School. She is employed as a secretary with AV Plumbing and is studying Office
Technology at AV College, where she will complete her final semester this fall.
Duane was born at Harbor General Hospital in Los Angeles and was raised
mostly in the San Fernando Valley, where he attended Grant High School in Van
Nuys. His family moved to the AV in 1987. He has been employed with Vons Grocery
Co. in Quartz Hill in deli/dairy for 20 years. Their daughter, Karissa, 12, is a student at Amargosa Creek Middle School.
Once they decided to get serious about a home purchase, Sharon and Duane
didn’t waste any time—they stopped in at the RE/MAX All-Pro office in Lancaster
and asked to see some listings.
“In the past, when we were looking at houses, we had a Realtor from the San
Fernando Valley—who didn’t know anything about the AV housing market. We
felt that we needed a local, knowledgeable Realtor who really knew the area and what homes were available.
“They ushered us into an office,” said Sharon and Duane, “and a couple of moments later, John Sonleitner, who would become our real estate agent, walked in. After talking with him for a few minutes, we immediately realized he was our kind d of guy!”
When Sharon and Duane had stopped at the RE/MAX All-Pro office they were
pressed for time, they said, but John immediately came up with four listings
for them to consider.
“This was the second home he showed us,” said the Molnars. “Even though it was
a bank-owned home, the previous owners had kept it in perfect condition, the price was right and we just really liked it. We decided that day that this was the home we wanted.”
Even though there were multiple offers on the home—it had just fallen out
of escrow—Sharon said to Duane, “Let’s make an offer. They probably won’t accept
it—but we can always hope.
“John Sonleitner immediately went to work for us and he did an excellent
job—getting John as your Realtor is like unleashing a positive tornado on your
behalf!—and we can’t thank him enough for all the work he did in helping us to
purchase of our new home. Also, Janelle Roberts at MMC Mortgage typed up the
most perfect preapproval letter and our offer—and, in just two days, we received
a verbal acceptance from the bank!”
Located in a quiet but convenient west Lancaster neighborhood, Sharon,
Duane and Karissa’s new home is a contemporary Cape Cod, cottage-style, twostory
that’s more than 1,800 square feet in size. Both the exterior and interior of the house are in excellent condition and the home offers four bedrooms (all of which are located upstairs) and two and one-half baths. Its features include a strikingly beautiful hardwood staircase and banister, and hardwood flooring in the entry and living room. There’s a formal living room, dining room and a family room with a fireplace, and a laundry room with an entrance to the spacious, two and onehalf-car garage.
Situated on a 6,800-plus-square-foot lot, one of the home’s most delightful
features is its’ beautiful, secluded back yard, which is surrounded by fencing and by tall, flowering shrubbery and mature trees. Ideally, the back yard has green lawn covering half of it and concrete paving covers the rest. The concrete extends around one side of the house, and lawn around the other. An added bonus that came with the house was—not one—but two spacious, outdoor storage sheds, both of which are in excellent condition, and a classy, carpeted ‘doggy door’ that leads into and out of the family room. “The former
owners of the home took great pride in the care and upkeep of their property,”
said Duane and Sharon, “and it shows.”
Additional positive features of the Molnar’s very attractive and comfortable
family home include a quiet and friendly, west Lancaster neighborhood, and a
convenient location near Duane’s work, Karissa’s school and Antelope Valley
College.
“We couldn’t be happier with our new home,” said Sharon and Duane, “and we
were able to purchase it at a very reasonable price—the five-year wait was really worth it!”
Saturday, June 27, 2009/Antelope Valley Press, Real Estate
By DEAN MACDONALD Real Estate Editor
MOLLY HAUXWELL/Valley Press Photo
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