Whether you are spending $400,000, or $4,000,000, to you, it can be the biggest purchase of your life. Countless times I have seen the stress in my clients’ and others’ eyes as they view property after property, submitting offer after offer, and still not getting anywhere. Fortunate for many of my clients, they end up finding the home of their dreams. But for those that haven’t, there is reason.
Understand what you want, but don’t be picky: No house is perfect, and when you are so strict that on what you want, you will just be spinning wheels and wasting time. I have a client who has an extensive list of requirements from the layout to the physical direction of the house. And when a property came up that met all of the requirements with the exception of the direction of the stove, he passed on it. I even went out and got bids on moving the stove and it still wasn’t enough because he didn’t want the added expense. Little did he realize that as prices go up because of basic appreciation, in a few short months he would be paying that amount in the form of a down payment.
If it was meant to be, it was meant to be: You cannot control what the Sellers do when they receive multiple offers. All you can do is your best. If you get acceptance, then great, if you don’t, then move on to the next one. I had a client earlier this year submit over 30 offers, all cash, sometimes over asking, and he still didn’t get the property. It wasn’t until we found a property that immediately fell out of escrow that we jumped on it that he got the house. Since then he has remodeled it and made it into his ideal home.
Make House Hunting Fun: Make a day of it. Grab snacks, prepare your route, and enjoy the day seeing the homes. I had clients of mine who would meet with me Sunday morning, grab snacks at the local super market, and hit the road. We became known as the group eating snacks while walking through the house. Then we would stop for lunch, see a couple more, and then go out to dinner. Not only did it make it more fun for us, but we ended up seeing 10 houses in less than eight hours and we weren’t even exhausted!
Be prepared: Work with your Realtor® and make sure he or she has everything ready to go for an offer. This means getting the pre-approval letter, proof of funds, and a personal letter ready to go. That way, when you want to submit an offer, you can sign everything off and the rest is up to the Realtor®. No last minute scrambling.
Be Open, you never know: You will be surprised how many neighborhoods fit your criteria and you didn’t even know it. By expanding your criteria and option of locations, it puts you more in control because inventory levels become less important. If you focus on just one area, you are bound to put added stress on yourself when you realize that there is nothing in your area that fit your criteria.
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