Once you’ve prepped for your buyers meeting, we’ll meet in person and cover the following (allow two hours):
What’s your key need?
What’s making you need or want to buy right now? What happens in the next five to ten years?
In order to win your priorities in a vibrant home sale market like many in Greater Boston, we’ll need to clearly identify (and rank) your most important needs. Is your primary goal to:
- avoid signing a new lease at increased rents?
- be on a certain train line before a new job starts?
- have a new home before a baby is born?
- move into a particular school district?
How long might you need to have this home before transitioning to a new one? Does this need to be a place you can re-sell in the near future, or hold onto and rent out?
What do you bring to the table?
Who you are as a buyer will often make the winning difference if you’re competing with other offers. We lay out all your strengths, for example:
- How much can you use for downpayment?
- Are you able to buy with cash (and perhaps get a mortgage later)?
- Do you have extra funds to strengthen your deposits to the seller?
- Do have extra funds to absorb an appraisal deficiency?
- Do you have extra funds to handle repair items? (If so, we can get creative with your home inspection contingency.)
- How flexible are you on time frame? Are you able to allow a seller to close quickly but remain in the property for some time after closing (if so, are you able to allow that at no charge to the seller)?
- If you have a lease, are you able to break it; if so, what might the penalties be, and under what circumstances would they be worth assuming?
The buying process and strategies to win
Once we’ve discussed your strengths and the risks you’re comfortable taking, we talk through the entire buying process with your strategies built in.
- I describe the “classic” offer approach, and the “now” approach, reflecting what you’re able to do to win your goals in the current local market.
- We’ll discuss who your competition is likely to be and how you can distinguish yourself from them.
- And I’ll share negotiation strategies that have been highly effective for my clients.
Equipped with this insight, you’ll be able to size up a property at an open house or showing, consider what the property might be worth to you, and how you’d structure an offer to get it.
Shopping your priorities by location
We’ll identify the communities and neighborhoods where you can compete with other buyers, based on:
- your cash or financing position,
- what you can afford monthly, and
- what you need in a home.
For instance, let’s say you can afford a 20% downpayment on $500,000 and you’re interested in a location where homes are selling at 10% above listing price. We’ll need to target homes priced at or below $450,000 to give you room to compete on price while leaving some money to handle repair items. Alternatively, we’ll focus on a less pricey location.
After the buyers meeting: touring homes
After our buyers meeting, we’ll be able to tour properties together and I’ll coach you on how to size up a prospective home. I’ll guide you on what makes a place a good investment in terms of condition, location and price, given your goals. Here, some general pointers on how to use an open house.
