null
Getty
In this “Real Estate Agents Answer” series, I often ask agents to share advice they’ve learned while working with their clients. This time, however, I decided to get a little more personal. I asked real estate agents to share the biggest lessons they learned while searching for their own homes. Here’s what they had to say:
Start looking early:
“My fiancée and I had been passively looking while saving for a couple years, and had put together a rough list of needs and wants for our house. A few months before we seriously needed to make a move, a house came on the market that checked almost every one of our boxes. It was a combination of features, location, and price that we frankly never expected to be possible. We sprang into action, went aggressive with our offer, and got the house.
Because we got our loan approval together early, and started our search even before we thought we were ready, we were able to accomplish what we originally thought would be impossible. Nearly half a year later, and there hasn’t been a single new listing that comes anywhere close to what we got.”
Matt Bruns, Branch Manager, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Select Properties in St. Louis, MO.
Consider using a rating system:
“The biggest lesson that I learned in the home search process from our Realtor was to identify our top three or four needs and wants in a house before looking. When looking at homes, we were able to rate each property on a scale of 1-10, based on what we decided was important.
This rating scale allowed us to score the homes we saw, and by process of elimination, select the best home for us to put an offer in on. We are thrilled to say that we have been in our home for a year now and we love it!”
Claire Zastrow, Chief Operating Officer, Realty Executives Integrity in Madison, WI.
Always do your own inspections:
My first year as a licensed Realtor, I was eager to buy my first home. We submitted an offer to purchase a home and were ecstatic when it was accepted.
Although the home was pre-inspected, I felt that we should pay for our own inspections with a separate company. I was present for the inspection, and as soon as the water was turned on in multiple rooms in the house, hundreds if not thousands of tiny bugs started coming up through the bathtub drain!
We walked from this house and found another home, but I learned a valuable lesson. Always pay for your own inspection, even if the home was pre-inspected. You just don’t know what could come up.
Melissa Blevins of Real Broker LLC in Springfield, IL.
Try not to get too emotional:
I have purchased a few homes for my family and one of the biggest lessons I have learned – and relay to my clients constantly – is to be logical, not emotional. When we purchased our last home, we were so excited about the possibility of getting into the neighborhood we wanted that we overlooked some major designs errors, one of which being that there weren’t any electrical outlets in the master bathroom!
Holly Williams of The Williams Group with Century 21 Redwood Realty in Alexandria, VA.
Don’t give up:
“My wife and I found the perfect home when we were first looking to buy. We offered full price, but they still sold the home to another buyer. I considered putting a hold on our home search after that, as I thought we lost the only home that would work for us. I was wrong and, three weeks later, we found another home. Now, we couldn’t be happier with how it all worked out.
It was a good personal lesson that I often relay to clients who get distraught when a deal doesn’t work out. This experience helps reassure them that the right house is just around the corner.”
Jonathan Budwig of The Budwig Team at Realty One Group based in Scottsdale, AZ.