The Informed Buyer and seller-

“Success doesn’t come to you. You go to it.”

Marva Collins

“Success is a journey, not a destination.”

Ben Sweetland

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are

doing, you will be successful.”

Herman Cain

Like most things in life, shopping for a new home can either be time-consuming and stressful, or fun and satisfying. It just depends on how you go about it.

There are many things you can do to make the home shopping process go smoothly and accomplish what you want: finding the home of your dreams at a price you can afford.

Here are some ideas:

•Get pre-approved.

Find out from your bank or lender how

much you qualify to borrow. That will give you confidence

when home shopping, because you’ll know that, should you

find the right property, financing won‘t be a problem.

• Make a list. 

Write down everything you want in a new home.

 The obvious items include the number of bedrooms,
 size of backyard, location, etc. But also list not-so-obvious features,
such as walking distance to public transit and the potential
for a large recreation room in the basement.

• Take a camera.

After seeing a few homes, you may not

 remember every important feature and characteristic. So be

sure to take pictures (where allowed) of the properties you

view as well as the neighbourhoods. They’ll be invaluable

when shortlisting potential properties later on.

• Keep an open mind.

 

There’s probably an ideal home available 

for you on the market. But it might not be exactly what you

had originally envisioned. So try to be flexible when

considering potential homes. If, for example, a property

doesn’t have a big deck for entertaining, you can always have

one built.

• Take care of yourself and your family.

When you’re viewing

 properties, bring some healthy snacks and water with you.

Take regular breaks, especially when you’re seeing multiple

homes. And don’t see too many properties at a time

especially if you’re bringing young children with you.

Also, find a good REALTOR

to help you. He or she can make the

 home shopping process go smoothly.

Family pictures on the fireplace mantle.
 A friendly dog lying on a mat in the foyer.
 Dinner cooking on the stove.
Kid’s toys scattered in thehallway.
Closets stuffed with clothes.

Those are the unmistakable signs that a family is living in the house.

But does that “lived in” look appeal to home buyers?

In most cases, no.

Home buyers know, of course, that a family still

lives in the home. But if you have constant

reminders of that throughout your property,

some buyers will feel like intruding strangers.

So when preparing your home for sale,

remember: buyers want to visualize themselves

living in the home, not you.

Not intended to cause or induce the breach of, cancellation of, assignment of, or to interfere in any way with the existing agency agreement of another Realtor.