Preparing Yourself to Go House Hunting

Here’s what you should expect when you go house hunting in this market.

Now that you’re pre-approved as a buyer, it’s time to go house hunting. How do you proceed?

It’s not like what you see on the TV show “House Hunters.” Things are a little more challenging nowadays. Appointments themselves are sometimes hard to come by, especially for hot properties. The property you’re drooling over probably has about 30 other buyers drooling over it. Those buyers have probably already scheduled a showing for it. A lot of our showings are by-appointment-only right now, and they’re scheduled by specific time blocks. We’re not allowed to overlap showings unless some allowances are made, but we’re hoping COVID restrictions will loosen up a bit. 

In any case, we want you to have realistic expectations of what it takes to get inside available properties out there. Before you even start looking at homes, you need to have a conversation with your agent about your wants versus your needs. While you’re walking through houses trying to figure out where your furniture will go, we agents typically think about what loan type you’re using. For example, if you’re using an FHA loan, we know that your future home requires that certain health and safety items have to be up to par (handrails, GFCI outlets, etc). It’s our job to educate you on this and discuss issues you might run into. 

“In this competitive environment, there’s a chance you’ll have to write multiple offers until you finally win the home you want.”

With how quickly homes are selling, we also suggest looking at them with someone you trust. We no longer have the opportunity to schedule a home showing a second time or take a whole hour to tour a home. You’ll only get about 30 minutes, and you’ll probably have to decide by the end of the day whether or not that’s the home for you—if you’re lucky. That’s just the state of being in an extreme seller’s market. 

If you’re looking in a broad area and are thinking of touring three to five houses at a time, we don’t recommend adding any more homes to your outing. After a certain point, homes start to look alike, especially if you go out two or three times. Also, try to be as patient as possible. In this competitive environment, there’s a chance you’ll have to write multiple offers until you finally win the home you want. Stay patient, and stay positive. If you work with us, we’ll work our tails off for you no matter what!

Lastly, make sure you’re improving with the time that passes. For example, try boosting your credit score so you have more money to work with. We’ll help you with the tasks you need to undertake to be competitive in this market. 

Stay tuned for our next video for our advice on that subject, as well as what happens once you go under contract. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d love to hear from you.