How to make the most of your home-touring appointments
You know the drill. You jump in the agent’s car and away you go on a whirlwind safari through a dozen homes in one afternoon. At the end of it all you shake the agent’s hand, jump out of the car that has imprisoned you for the last several hours, and tell them you’ll see them next time.
Allow me to suggest that this is not the most effective use of your time with your agent. Your Realtor may be able to surprise you with the absolute perfect home for you after simply gathering your required numbers of bedrooms and bathrooms. But more often than not, they’ll need continued guidance to get you to the final destination which is your future home.
Let’s take a look at some tips that may help to make your home-buying search faster and smoother for everyone involved:
1) As you tour the homes, point out specific likes and dislikes, such as “I love the openness of this floor plan. I could watch my kids from the kitchen.” Or “This is far too small for a master bathroom. The idea is that we’d both like to able to be in here at the same time, ya know?” Help your Realtor to see the house through your eyes so that they know how to choose future homes to show you. Don’t assume that your Realtor automatically knows how you feel about what you’re looking at. If you act surprised about an unusual feature, be clear if it’s a good surprise or bad. They have clients who shock them all the time by loving something that the agent thinks is awful. Help your agent understand what turns you off and what makes you feel at home.
2) If possible, rank the homes as you go. This will clarify for you, and for the agent, which properties you would actually consider purchasing and helps everyone to focus only on those, instead of homes you’ve already nixed. It’s easy to say, “Well, I really liked the downstairs rec room of that third house better than this den,” when you’ve already eliminated the third house based on the neighborhood. It’s important to narrow your gaze to only the homes that really exist, not the ideal combination of favorite parts from six different homes…..unless you want to build, that is…..but that’s a whole other topic.
3) Communicate to your agent any items on your “Wish List” that change after you’ve been through a few homes. Perhaps you thought you absolutely needed a formal dining room, but now you reckon that it’s not nearly as important to you as ample living space and just having some place in which to eat. Let them know if you’re seeing something in these homes that you’ve decided you would love to have or that you cannot stand. These are important tidbits of information to help your Realtor complete his or her “police sketch” of your particular ideal home.
4) Remember that, unless your pockets are bottomless, you may not be able to find a home that has every feature you’d like to have, in the perfect neighborhood, in excellent condition. Try your best to be realistic about the homes you could potentially buy and to be flexible about that Olympic-sized indoor pool or 14-car garage. J
5) Enjoy the ride! It doesn’t have to be a chore to find your new place. If you and your agent are communicating well, you should be getting closer and closer to the finish line with each house you see. And as you approach your future home, the building anticipation and excitement can be fun! Realtors live for the moment when you cross the threshold, sigh, and say “This is it.”
Jessica Spears is a buyer's agent specializing in first-time home buyers. To reach Jessica, call her at 886-1999, or email her at jessica@thegoldkeyexperts.com