You’ve received full, underwritten approval – or at least preapproval – from your mortgage lender. Congrats, that’s a big step.
Now that you know the amount of your potential loan and have an idea of what down payment you can afford, it’s time to plug in figures in home-search engines such as Property Tracker ® for the price you can afford. Let the search for your new home begin!
When first meeting with a buyer, a real estate broker will want to know much more than the number of desired bedrooms, bathrooms and square footage. A broker wishes to better understand the motivation behind the decision to buy, as well as whether a buyer has a specific style of home in mind and if there are certain neighborhoods and local features (parks, bike trails, water) they want to live near.
If the buyer currently owns a home, a broker will also want to know what buyers like and dislike about that home and neighborhood. The more information the better. (Of course many brokers help with both the sale of one home and the search for another.)
A good exercise for buyers is to perform a “Wants vs. Needs” comparison – or a ranking of home features by number – and share that info with their broker. Needs are must-haves and should take priority. Real estate pros can put more weight on certain aspects of the search to rank the list of viable homes.
Every home buyer dabbles – or even obsesses (you know who you are!) – with online searches, and while those searches generally render quality information there are other aspects that only a real estate professional can provide.
Members of the Northwest MLS can add your home-buying criteria to further sharpen a search. If, for example, a husband works on the main Microsoft campus in Redmond and his wife is a rock star at Amazon in South Lake Union and neither person wants to live beyond a 30-minute commute, then real estate professionals can perform overlay searches to provide robust results.
Armed with dozens of results, do your best to select a handful of homes to see with your broker – or, if you prefer, at an open house. In all cases, buyers should take copious notes and pictures at each home – and evaluate each experience in writing.
Ask yourself basic questions: What are the positives and negatives of the home? Does the location – either street appearance or view from the living room or kitchen – meet your expectations?
With a record of your visit, you can make a better comparison against other properties and decide which home you wish to see a second time – or even which is the one for you!
Many times, it takes looking at your desired home many times – and comparing against another and a new “another” – before you finally decide. According to data released in 2018 from the National Association of Realtors, buyers spend about 10 weeks and view about 10 properties before making their big decision, so have a nice-sized notebook or mobile device to capture your thoughts.
Having your notes and photos to help decide – and often times sharing with your friends and family – can make the difference.
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