“We love our little town” 

DIXON, CA (MPG) - Stephen and Jennifer Roman knew that someday they would want to buy a house but with a blended family with six children, the cost of the size they would need would be high, but they watched for one anyway while they rented. They watched home prices climb and climb but with equally rising rents, they were motivated. They also were both born and raised here and had every intention of staying.

“We love our little town,” Jennifer said. In March, Redfin, a popular real estate site online reported that Dixon home prices were up 27.6 percent compared to last year, and the median price was $543K. They also reported that homes in Dixon sold after being on the market for nine days compared with 20 days last year but that might be yesterday’s news. Local Realtors® and loan agents report homes are being sold before they even hit the market--and some sight unseen.

“It’s all very strategic and stressful for everyone with a roller coaster of emotions,” said Remark International Real Estate Agent Angela Meisenheimer who added she hasn’t had a day off in months. “There is just so much more driving around, digital appointments to confirm, talking, texting, figuring, trying to stay one step ahead, and negotiating terms like never before. Nothing is standard now, most creative terms seem to win for my clients. It’s all very crucial, and just so exhausting.” One of her clients actually bought a home sight unseen.

To avoid some of that stress, the Romans decided to meet with a loan agent who advised them to improve their credit score and offered an “instruction list” for the couple. The couple went home and decided to “buckle down.”

“Instead of getting us down, we followed their instructions,” said Jennifer. “Then, COVID hit and we just stayed home and saved money. For a family of our size to go out to dinner or go somewhere special, we could drop a couple hundred dollars but the pandemic actually helped us. Our children range from 4 to 14-years-old. Stimulus money was just the icing,” she added.

ARCK loan officer Kiffany Hoffman is sure the low interest rate catapulted the loan industry into high drive, but the pandemic forced people to look at the way their current home works for them, she said.

“A lot of my clients are being told working from home is their future. Those clients made the decision to find a home that would better fit their future work situation,” she said. Some agents say that there is a Bay Area exodus also.

Once the Romans became debt free, the couple began to look seriously at homes for sale.

“It was challenging,” Jennifer said but with the help of Susan Motley of Motley Realty, who also had rented a house to the couple, they negotiated the purchase of a spacious 2-story with large front and back yards on Amesbury.

“We love our neighborhood and we’re close to the park,” said Jennifer as several children seemed to bounce around her and Stephen in their front yard. “We’re super excited.”

Hoffman expects to see many more people like the Romans.

“We are still experiencing a high volume of refinances and home purchases due to low interest rates that are still low 3-percent, which is phenomenal,” said Hoffman. “If someone would have said during the housing downfall of mid 2000’s that home values would have reached this level in 2021 during a ‘pandemic,’ no one would have believed it. She does not expect the market to slow down anytime soon and said there are many, more buyers than homes.