For home buyers there are always "rules" to the approach. Because you read something on Zillow doesn't mean it was good advice for you, or even that it applies to you.
The order of things to be done is often debated among agents and between agents and clients.
Getting a loan approval from a qualified lender. In my mind this rarely involves you visiting your bank. I work with lenders I know will take care of you. If they meet with you and say something along the lines of "I can get you into something now and then you can refinance in year" often means you're better off waiting a year, and it presents the opportunity to have a conversation together with the lender. Because you can get a loan today doesn't mean you should.
The consultation. You wouldn't meet an attorney and proceed into court before going through the case file, would you? Approach your real estate transaction the same. We need to sit down and get on the same page.
We pride ourselves on making your home buying experience as painless as possible so Once you're qualified to buy and we've done the consultation we've agreed to several things:
1 - price range. You identified a top price and I will show you nothing over that price - if I believe there is enough room for negotiation we'll talk about it. Remember the price of the house and the value of the house don't always coorelate
2 - style and location. I won't direct you into or out of a particular neighborhood. If we don't identify areas you either really are interested in or definitely ARE NOT interested in we might end up with a home on our list in an area you won't even drive through.
3 - Are your children coming? This is more for your preparation than mine, but now and then there are special instructions on a listing and it's easier to know before hand if children will be coming along.
4 - Here is the 5 house rule. (This rule is suspended for relocation visits) We won't schedule an entire day to see 15 houses...After three features start blending together and by the time you see 5 you're likely to even have backyards and kitchens crossed and combined to present the perfect house. I don't believe it is in your best interest to see more than 5 at once, and frankly if we have seen 5 and you haven't found what you want we should review the criteria because we're obviously visiting the wrong houses.
Prepare for the day out.
The day before I will send you a list of the properties we'll see, and the order we'll see them. Take a look at the weather and choose comfortable clothes suitable for the weather of the day.
We'll schedule 30-45 minutes per home and that includes drive time. Faster is better - we don't need to kick around inside a home you have already ruled out.
Finally I'll ask for a decision. When we walk outside of each home we will talk about whether or not it's a home you'd consider making an offer on. If not we'll talk about why so we ensure we don't look at anything else with those same problems - saves your time and mine.
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