Feb 2, 2023

12 Weeks to Buying or Selling a Home: Week 3

A Real Estate Series

Here we are at Week 3 of our Home Series! Today we are going to be talking about the home search for buyers and what the listing day looks like for sellers. There is a lot to unpack in both of these topics so let’s not waste any time with small talk and get right to it!

Buyers:

Buying a home is one of the hardest, yet rewarding, things you will ever do in your life. It is arguably going to be the biggest purchase you ever make (unless you buy a jet one day or something) and it will honestly come with many ups and downs. Yeah, I know. Many agents are going to sugarcoat the process and make you believe it’s going to be super easy - I’m not that agent. Will I make every attempt possible to give you a smooth and pleasant experience? Absolutely! But the fact of the matter is that buying a home is not always just as simple as finding the home and bam- it’s yours! Instead many clients will search for weeks to months to find the perfect house, and may have made 5 offers during that time that were beat by better cards. Hey, I am just being honest with you! But, even though there are some things we cannot control about the process (like what your pre-approval amount is for or the cash you have in the bank) there are still many things that a good agent can do for you to get you the home you want.

Let’s talk about the steps leading up to an accepted offer:

Home search criteria. When you first get your pre-approval letter, you will simply reach out to me and tell me everything that you NEED and WANT in a home. These are things like location, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, acreage, neighborhood, and so on. I then will input this criteria into my system and you will receive an email with all of the homes available that meet that criteria in your price range, and a new email will be sent to you every time a new listing becomes available. When you see homes you like, you let me know and I will schedule a time to take a look at them! I also frequently handpick homes I see that you may have missed and send them directly to you. I don’t want you to miss out on that perfect one!
Your wants will change. When people begin their home search, they often have very lofty “wants” for the money they are able to spend. For example, I have had new buyers in the past who have wanted a 4 bedroom home on at least an acre for under $200,000 in Franklin. Well, sorry, but that is just not going to happen. Sometimes - ok a lot of times- I have to be the bearer of bad news and shoot down people’s dreams. It is ok to want things in your new home but you have to be realistic! So as you begin looking at homes and seeing what you get for the price tag, you will begin to change the things that you really want and begin focusing on what you need. That is of course unless you have endless amounts of money to spend, which most people don’t.
Make an offer. Sometimes buyers find a home they love very quickly and sometimes it can take months to find exactly what you need. That’s ok! I am here no matter how long it takes. When you find a home that you feel meets the majority of your needs and wants, you may be ready to put in an offer. At this point, we need to discuss the terms of your offer - price, possession, what do you want to ask for in the home, inspection terms, etc- and I will write the contract which will be sent to you to sign. I send the signed contract to the other agent and we wait for a response, which is hopefully an offer acceptance! If it is accepted great- we move onto the next step. If it isn’t, there may be some back and forth until you and the seller can agree on the terms of the contract, or it may come to a point where you move on and continue looking at other homes. When buyer competition is high, you may be outbid by another offer from a buyer who has the ability to give the seller more than you can. I do have strategies up my sleeve to help bulk up offers and make them more appealing (we will discuss this when the time comes), but sometimes the other buyer just simply has more cash and at that point there may be nothing we can do. No matter which way it goes, I am with you every step of the way!

As you can see, there is a lot that goes into finding a home that is right for you. Make sure you choose an agent that has your back and is willing to continue working hard to find you what you need no matter how long it takes.

Sellers

You’re up! I hope you take some time each week to read through the “buyers” portion of my blog. It’s important to have some insight into the process buyers go through since they may potentially buy your home! For today, let me walk you through what the listing day looks like for you here:

Pictures and video. This is the fun part! My husband, Chris (also an agent), is our videographer and photographer on all of our listings. This is the day where he comes to take pictures and video! Our videos include drone footage and a walk-through of the home which really highlights all of the important features you want to show potential buyers. It also gives buyers a better feel for the layout than pictures do. I can’t tell you how many times I have shown houses that are far different in person than they appeared in the pictures, and fortunately, videos eliminate most of that problem! It is also an excellent marketing tool for social media, and our videos receive thousands of views and spark a ton of interest in our listings.
Sign the contract. Before we leave this appointment today, it is important that we dot all of our “i’s” and cross all of our “t’s”. The contract is an important part of a listing because it lays out all of the details for both of us - agreed upon listing price, commission charges, seller’s disclosure of any known defects, etc. Basically this is a document to protect all of us throughout the process. Trust me - it’s painless!
Listing goes live. In MOST cases, we will have your listing entered into the system the same day we meet with you! Your video will be finished in less than 24 hours and we begin marketing your home like crazy from this point until it sells. That means you could have showings starting as soon as the next day, so be ready. Before we leave your home on listing day, we put a Bluetooth lockbox on your door that allows only other agents to access the home using a special app. So when a showing comes up, all you need to do is leave the home during the scheduled time! The agent will be able to let themselves in using the lockbox, and when the showing is over, you can simply return back home.

This isn’t so bad is it? We haven’t even tapped into the bulk of the process yet, so make sure you keep checking back each week to learn more!

Phew, that’s a lot of information! There is still SO much more to discuss over the next few weeks so don’t quit now. Join me next week as I talk about what happens after a buyer gets an accepted offer and what sellers should expect once their listing goes live!

About the Content Creator:

Courtney Burke is a real estate agent and co-owner of Welcome Home Realty Group, LLC located in Franklin, Indiana. She spent 9 years as a Biology teacher at Franklin Community High School but left teaching in 2021 to pursue a career in real estate alongside her husband, Chris Burke, who has been in the business since 2014. She uses her background in teaching to educate her clients on the steps to home buying, selling, and investing and help them reach their goals.

For more information, contact Courtney at 317-416-3073. You can also visit her website at www.whindiana.com.