Step 2: The House Hunt!
And now, for the fun part: house hunting!
We will set up a search in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), based on your search criteria: price range, location, and housing needs (minimum number of bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, lot size, single story vs. two story, pool vs. no pool, new home vs. resale). You will receive an email with all of your property matches and a new email every time a new house that matches your criteria hits the market. Once you’ve had a chance to look at the homes that match your criteria and pick your favorites, you and your WPM agent will go look at as many homes as necessary for you to find your perfect property.
As your agent we will be able to make suggestions about the right home for you once we have taken you house hunting and have observed, first hand, your preferences. We will ask you important questions about your home needs as well as likes and dislikes during the home search. Finding the right home can take one week to six months or longer, depending on market availability. On average, it takes about three to five outings. Part of the process of looking at homes is honing in on what you want, so don’t worry if you’re unsure about exactly what your needs are from the get-go. The house hunting process enables you to figure out your top priorities in a home.
NEGOTIATING THE OFFER
Once you have identified your dream home and you’re ready to make an offer, it’s time to submit a contract. The contract has many terms (closing date, earnest money, option period and fee, financing, who pays for the title policy) but, most likely, the most important criteria to you is price.
As your realtor, WPM prepares the Comparative Market Analysis (CMA), which assists in determining the fair market value and ultimately your offer price. We advise you on getting the terms that best suit your needs, you’ll sign the contract and we will submit the offer to the seller’s agent.
How long it takes to get a response varies, but in most real estate transactions you’ll generally hear back within 24-48 hours of submitting your offer. The seller can accept your offer, reject it or counter it with different terms. Perhaps the seller needs to close on a different day to correspond with an out-of-town move for a new job? This could prompt the seller to request a different closing date. All of the terms in a contract are negotiable. The key to executing the contract is finding the terms that work for both the seller and the buyer. WPM advocates for you during the process and make sure that you’re completely satisfied with the contract terms and sales price.