Buying a Home

How I can work with you:

Buying a home can be an overwhelming but exciting process!  It's important that you choose a realtor whom you can trust and who will represent you and your best interests.  In other words, it's good to shop and around and find a buyer broker that "fits" with you and your personality.  We might be working together for some time!  

When you hire me to help you in a purchase of your home, investment property or second residence I will be working for you.  The seller, however, pays my commission.  

Through the process, whether you need a lot of hand-holding or you've been through this several times, I will be there to guide, negotiate, advise, and make sure you have all the information necessary to make it to a closing successfully and smoothly.

Tips and Tricks:

• Be sure to get pre-qualified.  This means, if a loan is needed, begin the steps with a lender to become pre-qualified for that loan.  It usually only takes a couple of days and the bank will give you a pre-approval letter indicating that you have qualified to loan up to a certain amount (for example: $350,000).  This gives you a much stronger position as a buyer when you are ready to make an offer.

• Be ready to look at lots of properties!  The best way to make an informed decision on purchasing a property is to do your homework and this means touring more than one property.  Once you have many tours under your belt you'll have properties to compare and will be better able to see the perfect one for you!

• Have your list of "Must haves' vs "Wish list".  It is always helpful for me to know what you are looking for, but alas, we can't always find a property that fits 100% of our needs and wants.  It's good to know those things you just "have" to have (2 bathrooms, mountain views, lots of light), for example vs those things you would like, but could live without (hot tub, three car garage, riverfront).  
• Plan ahead for your tours.  Be sure you give your realtor time to set up your tours.  Often sellers are still living in their homes and in order to set up a tour we need to schedule that appointment at least 24 hours in advance.  Bring a pen for notes.  And figure you can sufficiently see about 6 properties in day, depending on location.  After about 6 they can all blend together and you get overwhelmed with the amount of information be given to you.  It can be a tiring event.
• Be prepared.  Please bring water, snacks, water for you dog if we plan to be out on a tour that includes 4-8 homes or so.  We usually need a full hour to tour one property, and then there's the time in between traveling to each property.  Bringing your pets is ok with me, but remember to plan for the safety and comfort especially in the warmer months.