Time to Go Shopping: Now that you’ve done your homework, it's time to go shopping. Your checklist of the reasons why you want to buy a home will keep you focused on homes that will meet your needs. Your lender’s pre-approval letter will keep you focused on homes you can afford.

Getting to Know the Neighborhoods: You may want to drive by a number of homes to become familiar with the neighborhoods and what your money will buy. We can take you on a guided tour of homes in several areas. This gives us a chance to really understand what you like and don’t like. Or, if you’re the adventurous sort and already know the areas well, we can give you a list of suitable homes to drive by along with a map.

Selecting Homes & Making Appointments: Select the top few homes and have your real estate agent make appointments to go inside. We look at hundreds of homes each year, so we can help you weigh the features and strengths, as well as point out the drawbacks or weaknesses of each home. Typically we can provide you with a printed fact sheet for each home, including pictures; this will help you keep track of the homes you’ve seen, what you liked and didn’t like. We’re happy to be your sounding board to compare and contrast your favorite homes to help you decided which home is right for you. We can also offer an opinion as to potential long term re-sale value, based on neighborhood trends. We consider ourselves counselors or investigators more than salespeople. We make our clients aware of all the positive and negative factors regarding a property or investment and if you are still interested, then we've served you well.

Make an Offer: Use our knowledge of the market to guide your offering price. We can tell you what similar homes sold for, and we will help you write an offer that is likely to be accepted by the seller. Some homes are listed at a price that may be lower or higher than the price at which it will actually sell. From our years of experience, we can help you understand the possible costs for any deferred maintenance and repairs before you decide to make an offer. We can help you select a title insurance company to ensure you can purchase “clear” title to the property and an escrow company to hold your deposit and ensure your contract terms are met before you buy. We’ll help you put in safeguards to your purchase offer, such as loan contingencies and physical inspection contingencies. Since this can be an emotional situation, it is especially important to have your real estate agent negotiate on your behalf with the seller.