Your Journey Home – Finding Your Dream Home
OK, so you have decided on a Realtor, and you have found a
Lender that you like. It is important to
get a pre-approval letter from the lender.
Your pre-approval letter will spell out the terms and the price of a
property that you can afford. This is
very important information for your realtor.
Buyers should ask a lender 2 things…
what price they qualified to purchase, and what sales amount you can
afford at a payment that you are comfortable with. The difference between these two numbers is
really where you need to focus your price point.
But back to your search, start looking at that sales figure
that is within your comfort level first.
If you cannot find the house you want at that amount, then have your
Realtor increase the search by an agreed upon amount. It’s all about choices.
So now that you have a price range, the next thing to think
about is your wants and needs. Make a
list of the things that you HAVE TO HAVE in a house, then make a 2nd
list and add on the things that you want – this list can be numbered with the
most important want to the least important.
The HAVE TO HAVE list includes location, number of beds/baths, garage
configuration etc. Give both lists to
your realtor, who then will be able to set up search criteria. Now some of the HAVE TO HAVE items may not be
searchable. An example, you have a dog
and you have to have a fence … fences may or may not be a searchable item, and
maybe the house you are looking at has a fence, but that fence (all sides)
could belong to neighbors. So it’s
important to talk to the realtor and ask them what items they will be searching
for. It’s best to cast a “wide net”,
keeping searches down to basic’s …. You can look at photos and read
descriptions to fine tune the search.
With the advent of the internet many buyers are coming in
with a list of houses that they have found. Realtors very much try and honor
those showing requests, but it is not unusual for these properties to be
already under contract and no longer available to show, so don’t be
disappointed.
So you have your list of requirements, and now your realtor
is sending you listings of houses to look at.
It’s time to get into a car and go looking. Make sure that you have plenty of time to
look at what’s available. I wouldn’t
suggest that you make a marathon day of house hunting; even the most organized
person can get properties and amenities confused, so limit your house hunting
trip to 6-8 houses at a time. It is also
ok for buyers to “stalk” neighborhoods. If you really like a neighborhood, and your
realtor isn’t showing you homes there find out what it is with your list of
HAVE TO HAVE’S that is keeping you out of a neighborhood. If you need to pop up the price, and it’s
within that range between your comfort level and what the lender has told you
your max loan amount is – then that’s one of the choices. It may be that the neighborhood you love only
has one car garages, and you are telling the realtor that you have to have a 2
car garage; again it’s the choices that have to be made.
It’s also very important that your realtor is listening to
you – many buyers become dissatisfied because they feel a realtor is not
showing them the houses that meet their needs. If this is the case, ask the
realtor why they are not showing them properties that meet their needs, it may
be a miscommunication. It may be that the needs do not meet with the reality of
purchase price or location that is desired.
House Hunting should be fun …. You will see some properties
that on paper sound just wonderful, but in reality are not, and there is always
that sleeper, the photos don’t show well, the description is so-so, but you
walk in and it’s perfect. So remember
choices are good, embrace the adventure, and have faith in the realtor you have
chosen.
Next … writing an offer and getting it accepted
