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To answer some of your questions, yes, my husband and I are definitely on the same page with these properties and for the most part, so is the realtor. She has agreed with us 100% on all the homes on why it wouldn't work for our needs except for two properties and the one we almost put a bid on was nice but the rooms were too small and at a $550,000 price point, I am not about to purchase new furniture. I think this last one we viewed she really thought was "it" but unfortunately my husband and I couldn't get there. I do a lot of research on my own finding these properties to make sure it could work for us by scrutinizing the photos (which have proven to be deceiving at times), previewing the neighborhood through google earth, proximity to grocery stores, etc. I then go over them with my husband to make sure he is agrees before we put a list together for our realtor so we definitely don't go in blindly.
I just counted all the homes and it is a total of 16 properties so it is under 20. We have expanded the area because of the limited inventory and actually the two homes we did like the most ended up in that expanded area so it did turn out to be a good thing. I feel we are getting real close. We know exactly what we want and can walk in immediate and know which our realtor has pointed out that she really likes about us as clients. We are willing to make compromises in some areas and really trying hard to find our home. Yes, we are serious buyers who really want to find our home so she can compensated for her time.
After reading some of the responses, I was thinking it might be a good idea to reach out to her and go over what our needs are so she can better help us. I want her to know we greatly appreciate her time and effort. I am still of the opinion that 16 homes with a half a million dollar price point we are spending is not unreasonable. It was great reading all the responses and at the very least, it urged me to at least reach out to her and clear the air.
On both choosing a retirement re-location state/area and buying a house we used a "playoff elimination" method. ( I learned this in a retirement magazine )
We started with about 10 retirement locations and narrowed them down by doing as much research on our own.
We then visited the 6 finalists and compared one on one.....never all 6 at once.
Started with A and compared it to B.
B won out and compared it to C.
B won out and compared it to D
B won out and compared it to E
E won out and compared it to F
E won out and was our pick.
We did the same with houses.
It worked for us ( comparing only 2 at a time and one advances)
We were completely satisfied with B for a house and if not we would have told realtor....." this is the closest, but we would like a house similar but add X and Y .
Some people like to be comparing 8-10 houses at once.......great
For us, comparing two at a time and one advancing worked great.
This sounds sort of like what I try to do with clients. Even if we're looking at 6 houses that day, once we've looked at the first three, I ask them to rank them (each person individually, if it's a couple), and then we figure out which one is the best of those three (this is where the Why comes in). Then we look at another one and rank it with the best of the previous three until we're done for the day. By the end of the day, even if we have another day to look, they have a Plan A and a Plan B, and I send them home to discuss those two. Works pretty well because I tell them that we're looking to eliminate houses as well as to find the right one.
This actually caused friction between me and the spouse. He wanted to physically look at everything, even houses that I knew wouldn't work for us... so I quit telling him about anything I didn't want to look at. He never knew what he didn't see, and kept our realtors from wanting to choke him.
That said, we did look at over 20 places - each -before buying the last 3 times we bought.
The last one, where we are now... was in a different state. So, I would look online every night, and if a place or two looked really good, would email our agent, saying that we would be down on the weekend and wanted him to make appointments for us and ensure that the house was still available (it was a bit of a hot market when we were looking).
After a couple of times, driving 300 miles, texting him the time we would arrive and thinking it was all set - got into town thinking we had appointments that same day, and him then saying he needed to call the other agent and set up the viewing, only to find out the house was already under contract, or we wouldn't be able to see it for a couple of days... we just ditched him. Yeah, he'd spent a lot of time with us, but he really hadn't done a good job.
ETA: We did try to keep the project reasonable. When possible, we drove by anything we liked online before going to see the inside with the realtors. Some things look terrific online, but as soon as you see them you can sometimes tell from the road that they just won't do, so doing a drive-by without the realtor is a good idea.
I can't imagine looking at 20 houses! I'd lose my mind. I don't have that kind of free time. I've owned 3 houses and haven't looked at 20 houses combined!
Have you made your lists? The list of items that is absolutely non-negotiable....The things you would really like..... The things you want....The things that don't make a difference either way...
Do you take photos and notes on each property to review later? We also bought a laser measurer so we would know the exact measurements of the rooms.
Are you doing a lot of online research on each house? Like looking at the realtor's listing and seeing what other sites have to say. Sometimes I find more info on other sites than the listing which is weird. Are you visiting the neighborhood before viewing the house?
Do you have questions that your realtor could ask before a showing that would rule the house out? Like for us, cable or fiberoptic internet is required due to my husband's job. So anywhere we live absolutely must have one of them. That's usually our first question. If the selling realtor says no it's DSL, we don't even look at the house. There's no point.
To answer some of your questions, yes, my husband and I are definitely on the same page with these properties and for the most part, so is the realtor. She has agreed with us 100% on all the homes on why it wouldn't work for our needs except for two properties and the one we almost put a bid on was nice but the rooms were too small and at a $550,000 price point, I am not about to purchase new furniture. I think this last one we viewed she really thought was "it" but unfortunately my husband and I couldn't get there. I do a lot of research on my own finding these properties to make sure it could work for us by scrutinizing the photos (which have proven to be deceiving at times), previewing the neighborhood through google earth, proximity to grocery stores, etc. I then go over them with my husband to make sure he is agrees before we put a list together for our realtor so we definitely don't go in blindly.
I just counted all the homes and it is a total of 16 properties so it is under 20. We have expanded the area because of the limited inventory and actually the two homes we did like the most ended up in that expanded area so it did turn out to be a good thing. I feel we are getting real close. We know exactly what we want and can walk in immediate and know which our realtor has pointed out that she really likes about us as clients. We are willing to make compromises in some areas and really trying hard to find our home. Yes, we are serious buyers who really want to find our home so she can compensated for her time.
After reading some of the responses, I was thinking it might be a good idea to reach out to her and go over what our needs are so she can better help us. I want her to know we greatly appreciate her time and effort. I am still of the opinion that 16 homes with a half a million dollar price point we are spending is not unreasonable. It was great reading all the responses and at the very least, it urged me to at least reach out to her and clear the air.
Thank you!
if you've pre-screened them, and still seen 20, and not made a choice, then I'd say you've seen too many.
One comment that you've made in both posts relates to the $$. I remember my 2nd house, and being astounded at closing "Oh my gosh, I just spent a quarter-million dollars". No, I didn't, and no, you're not spending a half-mil.
You are spending what is within your means based upon your income for your housing needs/home. You now KNOW what a half-mil gets you in your location, but you're deciding it's not good enough to spend "all that money".
That's my birds-eye experienced perspective.
If you want THE house for your half-mil, figure out how to build it, but know it'll be +10-15% more.
My first time, I looked at three houses. One I requested, it was a foreclosure and had a lot of damage that they obviously didn't feature in the pictures. One my realtor chose and I hated it. The last I also found and knew once I stood in the doorway that I found the one.
This time, I have looked at 8 so far. Inventory is incredibly low right now, so sellers are priced high and not budging. Of the eight, a couple have been eliminated, a couple are under contract, and the rest are still options, but not for what they are asking. I'm definitely more willing to settle right now, because I am looking at a short term home. I need more than a one bedroom (currently renting an apartment), but I don't have the savings yet to purchase the type of home I really want. So I am looking at condos and small starter homes to get me by a couple of years.
I've shown as few as 1 and as many as about 30 or so. Just depends but ultimately I show however many it takes to find "THE One!" It's our job
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Same realtor so I guess my average with him is 13 houses.
