When I begin working with you as a buyer, I sit down with you, in person, and get to know you. We determine your wants and needs in purchasing a home. This will include employment, commute locations, school districts, budget for housing, current and future family size, and what your short and long term goals are. I provide referrals for a lender if necessary and discuss the house hunting method, writing offers, what happens during escrow, and what my role is in the closing process. We discuss inspections, disclosures, and items like title insurance, closing costs etc. I then set up a search in the MLS system and turn on an auto notification and then we get in my car and start looking at homes as they come up on the market.
I am very experienced at writing strong offers that have a high probability of getting accepted in a competitive market. I have a good reputation with the local agents and know a lot of tricks and tips to get your offer accepted and have you close your escrow on time with the least amount of stress possible. I’m always available during the process and after the sale to guide you through the process of buying a home and moving into it. Please check out the buyer testimonials on my website!
FAQ for Buyers
How do I choose a good lender?
Your offer being accepted and your experience during your transaction depends heavily on your lender. Get a referral from your agent and also explore previous lenders you’ve worked with or a referral from a co-worker, friend or family member. It should be a lender that agents in the community will recognize and has a good reputation for closing deals and being honest, diligent and a good communicator. Sometimes having one bank and one mortgage broker is a good way to shop the best value. Lenders can make or break your offer and will often be the difference between a smooth transaction and a very difficult and stressful one for you and everybody else involved.
What is the best way to look for homes?
This is a complicated question and worth exploring. While there is a ton of information and listings on the internet on sites like Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, Redfin, etc., nothing beats the local knowledge and connections that agents have with what is on the market. So, getting in your agent’s car, and going to view properties is still important! That beats you driving around to open houses and then calling your agent to ask questions. The multiple listing service (MLS) is still extremely powerful, accurate, and complete for searching what is on the market, pending and recently sold. Your agent can set up automatic notification searches for you also. You can as well on Zillow, Trulia, etc. An agent can also network with agents in their office and company, along with other agents in the area about what’s coming on the market soon or a transaction that might be failing and coming back on soon.
How do I get my offer accepted in a competitive bidding situation?
Listen to the advice of your agent! A good buyer’s agent knows what it takes besides price to get your offer accepted. Here are some items:
- Be pre-approved by your lender with a full pre-approval including income verification, credit scores, and source of funds verification. Your agent and lender can guide you here.
- Write your strongest offer for price the first time! Go to your top price because you may not get a chance to receive a counter offer.
- Waive the appraisal contingency. If the property appraises lower than your offer, you have to be prepared to add that difference in cash from your savings. The seller doesn’t want “an appraisal problem” especially if there are multiple offers.
- Keep other contingency periods short! 10 days for inspections and 15 days for loan approval. Make sure to read all reports that seller has provided through their listing agent.
- Purchase the property “as-is” without the seller doing any repairs or crediting you any money for repairs. You will still have 10 days for your own inspections, if needed, and you will have an opportunity to cancel or renegotiate if surprises come up in your additional inspections.
- Always allow the seller a rent back period, if they need it at no charge. This item can be tricky and a good agent can guide you on many fine points of rent backs.
- Don’t ask the seller to pay for small items like home warranties or to include appliances unless the seller has offered to do so.
- Ask your agent to personally present the offer for you with the seller and listing agent, whenever it’s possible. This can be a deciding factor, many times.
