Home Buying in Five Steps—Part 2

Part one of our series, focusing on securing financing, .

Once you have selected a lender, qualified for the loan and selected the loan product that best suits your needs, the next step is to work with your real estate professional to schedule and conduct a tour of homes. With advances in technology and the prevalence of internet use, this step in the process has become much more efficient than in times past. It used to be that only licensed brokers had access to property listings and the multiple list services published a book of those listings. The agent would select listings from the book based on the criteria provided by the buyer. The properties selected were usually listed by the broker for whom the buyer’s agent was working. The system was good for its time, but thankfully we’ve advanced to a system that allows for free and open exchange of listings. The percentage of homebuyers who begin their search on the internet has been estimated by some to be around 90 percent. That’s an approximately 20-percent increase in just the past six years from around 70 percent. However, just because the information is readily accessible doesn’t mean you won’t need professional guidance to interpret the listing information and schedule a tour of homes.

The listing reports can contain language that could leave you wondering if you’ll need to employ a cipher to break the code. That cipher is your real estate professional. You’ll need to make sure that the property is listed in the Active status to ensure no other purchase offers are being negotiated and that your offer will be the primary offer considered. Your real estate professional should also know that an Active status in the MLS doesn’t always mean active. A quick phone call to the listing agent will usually confirm the most accurate status of the property. Your real estate agent may also alert you to any homeowner’s association fees, any closing costs the seller might be offering to pay, and other pertinent features that might affect the offer you make.

Once you’ve searched and narrowed your list to a group of homes you wish to tour, your real estate professional will call each listing agent to schedule the showing appointments. You should expect to tour approximately 10 or so properties on your first outing. Too many more than 10 and you might find that you’ve overwhelmed yourself with choices and much fewer than that might leave you feeling unsatisfied that you’ve used your showing time ineffectively. Of course, these are just suggestions. You and your real estate professional will determine the correct number of homes to see in one tour. You will also want to make sure you bring a pad, pen, tape measure and camera. Having these tools with you will help you recall your favorite and not so favorite features of each property at the end of your tour.

At this point your agent will probably present you with a brokerage agreement or engagement for services contract. The main reason is to formally establish the agency relationship with the brokerage and thus the real estate agent who represents you on behalf of the brokerage. Simply put, the agreement means that you are working exclusively with that brokerage as your buyer representative. This agreement for representation protects your interest and position while negotiating the contract terms and through closing the transaction.

Your tour of homes might yield results on your first outing. Or you may find multiple tours are necessary to identify the property that best fits your needs. Once you find the perfect property you and your real estate professional will move on to step three in the process, which is writing and presenting offers.

iDeal Real Estate Professionals, LLC is owned and operated by Brandon Bramlett and C. Mark Willix and is affiliated with Maximum One Realty Greater Atlanta. For personalized service visit us at www.idealrealestateprofessionals.com. You can also email us at info@idealrealestateprofessionals.com.