To see or not to see...a house (Austin: how much, house prices)

[jmoxley]

Well, Steve, though I can understand your point of view, my point of view is that I need to see a few homes to make a decision on whether to move or not. I do not want to USE a realtor or take up their valuable time, but I can't get into the home w/o one. I have researched which homes I want to see and what land I want to see. I just cannot get into the home w/o a realtor to show it to me. If we decide not to move, then what point is pre-approval and will that count against my credit rating? I understand the more you have your credit pulled the more it works against you. On the other hand, if we decide to move then we will most likely chose the realtor that was kind enough to show us around to help get us to the decision of moving. Not all people that are looking at homes are flaky and just trying to use your gas and time. But having a pre-approval just to get in the car and see a few homes is ridiculous. I'd even kick in for gas money for crying out loud. I do not see the point in getting pre-approval when it could take us 3 to 6 months to sell our home and move. I can assure you that we are serious buyers, but only if my husband can get a serious job. I think by getting an appraisal on our property prior to our trip, is enough proof that we are serious about selling if it all lines up properly for us in Austin.

[Trainwreck20]

I just cannot get into the home w/o a realtor to show it to me.

Oh, that is easy enough...call the seller's realtor. They almost HAVE to show it to you, because they could be missing a client. OTOH, you do not to have a schedule and have all this set-up ahead of time vs. just driving around with a realtor.

[jmoxley]

I have a method to my madness. I plan to take the first two days of our week talking to personnel agencies to get a handle on the job market and so far I think it's best to stay downtown Austin to limit our driving. Then we plan to stay in a Buda/Kyle hotel and drive around on our own for a day checking out locations. And then spend a few days looking at a select few homes and talking to a builder. And then a few days to just have fun with some friends. I don't plan on running a realtor all over town from the north to the south ends. Thanks for all the imput. I really appreciate it, as we are trying to be conscientous of a realtor's time and money.

[gpurcell]

Since you're not looking at specific houses to buy, I'd drive around to open houses in the areas you are interested and poke your nose inside.

[iceshots]

Originally Posted by gpurcell

Since you're not looking at specific houses to buy, I'd drive around to open houses in the areas you are interested and poke your nose inside.

Actually, that is a very good piece of advise. When we were in the "not sure if the company is moving us phase" I had been in touch with a couple of real estate agents simply by registering on their websites so we could see the listings. I also talked to an agent recommended by a work friend, but was very up front about wanting to move to Austin, but not confident that the company would move us, and if they did, if we would be obligated to use a company referred agent. The agent I spoke to was OK with this set up as long as I was up front and not consuming too much time.

She asked about our preferences, set up the searches and left it like that. Over the next 18 months we corresponded via email and tweaked some searches, but never went physical house hunting even though I was in Austin quite often.

In the mean time, I spent a lot of time checking out builder's model homes, especially in the areas we were interested in. I also drove by some houses we saw on the web to check out the exterior for myself. On one such visit, I was picking up a flyer from the info box of a house and the agent came out and invited me in. He was setting up for an agent only open house and gave me a complete tour of the place. That house stayed on our short list right up until the end.

Drive around, pick up flyers, check the builder models, and look for open houses in the areas you are interested in. If nothing else, you will get a feel for the various locations.

Good Luck.

[Jennibc]

Originally Posted by jmoxley

I have been following another thread regarding showing properties, a realtor's ethical dilemas and what is the proper way of getting into and looking at homes and it leads me to ask the following questions. I honestly don't know how to accomplish actually looking at a few homes when I travel to Austin to research whether or not to move there and not step on some realtor's toes. Your advise would be greatly appreciated.

Ok, what about folks who travel to Austin with a limited amount of time in order to research the area? I feel that I NEED to view a few homes to get an idea of what is out there in that part of the world, but at this point, having just started my research, I cannot totally be certain I will definitely make the choice to move until our trip is completed and we can go home and talk over what we have found, therefore, how can I feel comfortable retaining a buyer’s agent just so we can look at a few homes and make our decision? What if I do retain a buyer’s agent, come back to my state to sell my house, then decide this buyer’s agent is not the one for us? Can I just fire them and start all over? I think that when a person is looking at moving to another state, they may need to look in a number of areas in which to live and how can one realtor be knoweldgeable of all areas north, south or west of Austin?

How can we research and make an informed decision if no one will show us any houses unless we retain them? Of course if I buy a house I want someone looking out for my best interests, but what if we have not made the final decision to move? There are a lot of factors into making that decision, jobs, salaries, taxes, mortgage, insurance premiums, commute, etc. And actually looking at a few houses is necessary to make the final decision to move or not to move.

As far as a pre-approval letter, I would expect to do that after I move, not before. I don’t want to put the cart before the horse. Should I decide to move, after my research trip and giving great consideration to everything I have found, then my FIRST step is to put my house up on the market. Obviously if my home doesn’t sell, then I cannot move and buy another home. Once an offer is forthcoming, then I can fly back to Austin, get a job and seriously start looking for a home or land on which to build a home. To me that is when I should engage a buyer’s agent. I do plan to have my home appraised prior to our trip, can’t we just show that to a real estate agent as proof that we have a current mortgage in a certain price range and, therefore, we will most certainly be approved in Texas for a home loan when the time comes?

I understand the need for realtors to be safe and I’m more than willing for them to run my credit, but from my perspective, I do not feel it is necessary for me to be pre-approved prior to coming to Austin to research whether we can make a living in Austin and afford a home based on the salaries offered in and around Austin. At this stage of our research, there are too many unknowns to make a qualified decision. We could very well find that we can’t afford to live in Austin and come back home with out tails tucked under our legs.

So, when I get to Texas, I just want to see a few homes and need to know how to go about doing that and not step on anyone's toes. By the way, I also want to meet with a builder to discuss building a house to suit our needs, do I need to retain a buyer's agent just to talk to a builder?

You don't need a buyer's agent to talk to a builder.

When we were deciding whether we would move back or not I came down on a fact finding trip. I contacted a realtor before my visit and told her exactly what the purpose of the trip was and that I wanted to go on a house hunting trip and would she be willing to show me around even though I have no intention of buying a house at that time. I offered to pay for gas, but she refused to take it.

She set up a website for me, I selected some houses and in I flew. She knew it was a risk but was willing to do it. We ended up moving down here 8 months later and we used her to secure a rental while we waited for our house in another state to sell and when it was time to buy she represented us. There are plenty of realtors willing to do what she did and if you are interested I can PM her your contact information.

[austin-steve]

my point of view is that I need to see a few homes to make a decision on whether to move or not.

How will seeing the interior of a few homes help you decide whether moving to Austin makes sense? Seems like, at the stage you are at, there are bigger fish to fry and bigger questions to resolve first.

But good luck, and welcome to Austin!

Steve

[Jennibc]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

How will seeing the interior of a few homes help you decide whether moving to Austin makes sense? Seems like, at the stage you are at, there are bigger fish to fry and bigger questions to resolve first.

But good luck, and welcome to Austin!

Steve

I was in his boat over a year and a half ago and it makes perfect sense. You want to see what your money will get you in a particular market. If we'd done that when we considering moving to Seattle in late 2000, we probably would have never left Austin in the first place. You cannot tell from internet postings the conditions of houses that "seem" affordable.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Jennibc

I was in his boat over a year and a half ago and it makes perfect sense. You want to see what your money will get you in a particular market. If we'd done that when we considering moving to Seattle in late 2000, we probably would have never left Austin in the first place. You cannot tell from internet postings the conditions of houses that "seem" affordable.

I agree, of course they want to see if they can get a home they would be content with in a particular price range. I too, would want to see the inside of a few homes.

To the OP, no you can not get inside a place without a realtor, but believe most realtors are more than willing to show you a few places. Just because a few may not be, don't hesitate to try.

Nita

[jmoxley]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

How will seeing the interior of a few homes help you decide whether moving to Austin makes sense? Seems like, at the stage you are at, there are bigger fish to fry and bigger questions to resolve first.

Austin-Steve: You are right and I have been doing my homework. We are planning a week to knock it all out. Our purpose is not to find a job during this visit, but to find out if there is employment out there for my husband since he wants to change his line of employment. I've looked at houses on line and they are very different from what we are used to. Looking at a picture is not the same as walking through, actually getting a feel for the size of a room or a house or the lot and being able to picture all your things in there. I already know from what I've seen that we can buy a bigger house for less money than what we purchased our current home for, but bigger is not always better. I don't need 5 bedrooms or two living rooms! Bottom line is, if there are jobs out there that my husband qualifies for, then we will move. That means we will either buy or build.

Drive around, pick up flyers, check the builder models, and look for open houses in the areas you are interested in. If nothing else, you will get a feel for the various locations.

Iceshots: Excellent ideas. Thank you so much. You obviously understand my situation.

Jennibc: When I left Texas and moved to Virginia in 1985, I did not do my homework. The taxes and the cost of living here where overwhelming. I am married now and my husband has never lived anywhere except Hopewell, Virginia his entire life. He will turn 50 tomorrow. This is a huge undertaking for him and you can bet I will do all my homework this time, so he is well informed and will never regret his decision to move to Texas with me. Thank you so much for your input.