The Big Realtor Decision
You want a Realtor:
Selecting a Real Estate professional is an important decision. It may be the most important one you make. You can check with people you trust and research local listings and sales to find the answers to the questions.
Living Through the Home Buying Process
So, you want to buy or sell a home. Yep, that’s the goal, but there is a messy process on the way to that goal. The best we can accomplish here is to first warn you and then validate the pain you will likely experience.
A great place to invest some time before you start the buying and selling process is HGTV. While watching the 30 or 60 minute show, wrap your head around the fact that the show really took months of time and hundreds of hours of skillfully edited film to become entertainment. Living through the real estate process is not entertainment.
No matter if you are a buyer or seller, Real Estate is invasive, disruptive, stressful and personal. Put a big star beside the word “personal” on this list.
Let me clearly say on a personal note, we have been very fortunate to have had the best of experiences with great buyers, sellers and Realtors. Any nightmare scenarios expressed here are not my personal experience in this process, but my observations across 35 years as a fly on the wall at home inspections.
It is personal: For most sellers there is personal pride involved in the sale of the home. Then there is the personal space invasion of people going through your home. Some go through your cupboards and medicine cabinet. Others will go so far as to try out your furniture including your bed.
What gets personal for the buyer is the process of qualifying for financing. What about that bill you were late on last year? Give us your bank accounts. Las Vegas? You took a trip to Las Vegas? We need a letter from your parents that the money they put in your account is a gift, not a loan. As I said, it can be personal for the buyer too.
It is uncertain: There are so many steps, so many landmines, so many places to go wrong. You have the offer, acceptance and maybe several counter offers. Next comes the home inspections which may go well, or may not go very well. You wait to get the report back from the inspector. Then the hurdle of the buyer qualifying for the loan. Next is the appraisal, followed by a title search, and then other preparation details for closing.
The uncertainty can include goofy things. The other party can lose a job, change their mind, get a transfer out of the area, decide to divorce or pass away. A deal on one house falling apart can create a daisy chain of other sales not being able to go forward.
It is a lot of work: There is preparation. There is the process of getting ready for house showings. Then the finding of financial information. Next preparation of almost endless paperwork. Following all of this is the sorting, packing and moving.
It is stressful: Let see, the process is personal and uncertain with lots of waiting time between each step. The unknown factors and the trying to sort out the order of things is nuts. Sell first and then hurry to buy? Buy first and hope to sell? Pay for an appraisal first and hope the home passes inspection or pay for the inspection and hope it passes appraisal?