Shabana Mathew’s first home purchase was a bittersweet experience. She wanted to buy a home to share with her 5-year-old son and her parents.
Her mother saw the home, but died before Mathew closed on the house, which was priced just under $150,000. The first thing Mathew did was place her mother’s photo in the living room.
“I wanted to give the keys to her. I wanted her to open the door, but I couldn’t do that,” said Mathew, a nurse. “I miss her so much. I know her soul is with me and she will really be happy for me.”
The priority
Mathew moved from Dubai to Atlanta when she was 13 and grew up in Gwinnett County. A must for her was buying a home in Gwinnett’s Brookwood school district because she wanted her son, Aaron, to start his education in those top-ranked schools. Another priority was having a yard for her son to play.
The floor plan needed to have a main level bedroom that Mathew hoped her mom and dad would use.
“I wanted a good school, and for my parents, this was the best thing I wanted to do for them,” she said.
The search
She viewed nearly 30 homes and eventually found a ranch house that she showed her parents, brother and a close friend. Another buyer got it first, but a couple of weeks later, her agent, Danny Emmett with Keller Williams Realty, informed her that the contract had fallen through. The sellers wanted to know if she was still interested.
She said yes, but after her mom died during surgery, she wondered if she should go forward with the purchase.
“Then finally I thought, my mom saw the house, she came to her house and she liked it,” she said.
The home
She bought a three-bedroom, two-bath home built in 1976 on three-fourths of an acre with a fenced backyard and basketball goal. The Norton Estates neighborhood is in the Brookwood Elementary, Crews Middle and Brookwood High district.
The home had hardwood floors in the main living areas, crown molding, and painted cabinets and granite countertops in the kitchen. When she moved in, seeing Aaron running in the backyard, confirmed that she made the right choice.
“He was so happy. He was just running like crazy. At that time I realized that I think I did a good thing,” she said. “It was on my list that I wished for, and I got it.”
The tip
Mathew’s homebuying experience took months, from getting pre-qualified for a loan to the search, to the closing. She advises to be prepared for a lengthy process and a lot of paperwork.
“I thought it was just one paper you sign, but, oh my God, there were stacks of paper that I was signing and signing and signing,” she said. “I thought it would never be like that.”
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