3 overlooked responsibilities of a Real estate buyer

You decided to invest in real estate, Great! You decided to stop renting, Even better! Let's go shopping!

What do you expect from your real estate agent?

If you expect your agent to serve up your dream home on a silver platter, while you sit at home in your boxer shorts, then you might not have the greatest experience when you purchase your first home in Northern Virginia.

Every party in a real estate transaction has responsibilities to make the transaction smooth and successful. The following I feel are the three most overlooked when purchasing a first home or rental property in Northern Virginia.

Narrow your search

This is your home and your transaction. Take some ownership. Drive around the neighborhoods, research the schools, crime, and demographic information. Do whatever you can to narrow your search as much as possible. Best case your Virginia home search will be chopped to 1 or 2 subdivisions. There is nothing more disrespectful than coming to a real estate agent or REALTOR with 5-10 zip codes and wanting to see every single home in all off them. Driving around potential homes will help you eliminate the majority of your choices.

ACTION: Get a list of potential homes from your REALTOR and take a weekend to RESEARCH AND ELIMINATE as properties as you can.

Have a long conversation with your mortgage broker or lender

I always suggest my new investors who have never purchased before work with an experienced mortgage broker. Why? because they are going to give you the one on one time that the USAA, Wells Fargo, Navy Federal, and every other major bank or credit union will not. Second, they will have a deep understanding and knowledge gained through experience to share with you. This will result in you being more educated, having more options, and achieving the best outcome in your transaction. Virtually all the major banks run the mortgage process like an assembly line, you are a number to them, and the employees may have good intentions but in the end, they are hourly employees and do not have the knowledge and experience, nor take any ownership of the transaction.

ACTION: Speak with your mortgage broker about different pricing scenarios and the costs associated with each choice so there will be no guessing or hesitation when it comes time to make an offer.

Be ready to make the offer

Don't let the news fool you. The market is not crashing. Real estate inventory in Virginia (and the rest of the USA) is low. Buyer demand is still high. What does this mean? It means you will be competing against other buyers that will be offering over asking price! and they will not be asking for closing costs!

We have to make the best offer we can, as soon as we can.

I always suggest shopping on weekdays. Why? because everyone else shops on the weekend when they are off work. Will you possibly have to take a couple of days off to shop? yes, you will. When you get your offer accepted on your dream home before the weekend rush you will be thanking me.

ACTION: When you find the home that checks a majority of the must-have boxes for you MAKE THE OFFER IMMEDIATELY

Are these the only responsibilities of a buyer? No, not by a long shot, but i hope these three will help you bring some focus to your transaction resulting in stress levels to come down making the purchase process more enjoyable.