How to Buy a Home, Part 1

One of my primary intentions for this log is to help you, my reader, become more educated about real estate, and through that education, make home ownership a positive experience for you. For today's message, I thought I'd go through some of the basic steps involved in the purchase of a home.

Where to start? As a real estate professional, my most important, and most difficult job when working with buyers is finding out what you want in a home. I have never "sold" anyone a home. What I do is help you buy the home you want, and my job is then to "sell" your offer to the current owner.

So, what's your job in this? When you begin looking for a home, think about everything you want in a home. Start by looking at your current home - what do you like about where you live? Do you like the way the space is layed out? Do you like the size of the bedrooms? Do you like the convenience of the entry from the garage into the kitchen area? Do you like your yard?

Once you've listed everything you like about your current home, then start thinking about everything you don't like. Is the kitchen too small? Are you constantly working around who gets to use the bathroom when? Do you have stuff piled all over because there's not enough space to store it out of the way between seasons?

Now you should have two lists - one of your present likes and one of your present dislikes. The likes are easy. Just add those to your list of things you want in your new home. The dislikes can be just as easy - for everything you've written that you don't like, switch it around. If you kitchen is too small, write on your wish list that you want a bigger kitchen. Picture it in your mind. Get a real good image of the home you want to be in.

Now, come talk to me. We'll take your wish list, plug it into the system and see how many homes match what you want. We can look at as many homes as you want, in as many locations as you'd care to see and never have to leave the office. After we've narrowed down the list of homes either by getting more specific on your desired location, the size of the home, the number of bedrooms, whatever... we can look at the likely price is of your desired home and start to talk about your budget.

We'll cover that topic next, so get your list together and be clear on what you want.

Questions?
Comments?
Let me hear from you! Chuck@Corvallis-Homes-for-Sale.com

Until next time...