Here's What We Do

For the most part, representing our clients during the home-buying process begins with these 3 things. We use the most effective and efficient, tried and true system possible to accomplish this:

LOCATING A PROPERTY

The first thing we need is to know what to look for in a property for you. This is done with an extensive interview, which identifies your wants, needs and desires. With this info, we will look up all the potential properties in MLS and other sources that match as many criteria as possible and email the listings to you for us to look at together. Sometimes this becomes a process of elimination and we are more than happy to offer suggestions and are always listening to your input, making adjustments to the parameters that are entered into MLS to help locate properties.

INVESTIGATE

After looking at properties together, eventually you’ll find one that you’d like to write an offer for. Once that property is located, we start with our investigation.

On site, we start with the outside. We walk the yard, look over the exterior, including the roof, windows, chimney, view, and landscaping. Our job is to point out the positives as well as the negatives, which usually includes things that are going to cost you money. We also look for things that may prevent you from obtaining financing because they will be pointed out in the inspection and/or appraisal report which goes to the lender. (ie: chipping paint, uneven sidewalks, etc.). Once discussed with you, we head inside.

Inside, we are looking at the layout, room sizes, condition of the finishes, age of the included appliances, water heater, furnace, central air unit, necessary updates and/or maintenance or lack thereof…everything is up for review!  Sometimes included appliances are being “included” because they are old and/or don’t work anymore and the seller doesn’t want to deal with them as part of their moving out. We’ve seen “half-baths” that consist of nothing more than a toilet in the corner of the basement with no walls around it. These are just a few of the things that we will be checking for.

If there is sufficient interest in a property, a second visit is planned and further investigation takes place before we return.  Some of the things we are checking include recent sales of similar homes in the area, how long the property has been on the market, other similar properties on the market, any and all historical price adjustments that have been made since the property went on the market, how much the seller paid for the property when they purchased it, if were building permits were pulled for any recent work that was done.

All available information is compiled, presented to you and discussed.

Keep in mind that had you been dealing with the listing agent during this process, who is working for the seller and job it is to present that property in its best light, you most likely would have been smelling chocolate chip cookies in the oven during the open house and would have been hearing about how great the closet space is and things like “how great the property flows!” While these things are nice and comforting, as Exclusive Buyer’s Agents, we are more interested in how old the stove is and if any “flowing” is water in the basement from a faulty basement wall condition or defective sump pump!



NEGOTIATE

Armed with all the knowledge and information needed to make a comfortable decision, if this is still “the house” and you’d like to write an offer, we discuss with you what’s involved in writing up and submitting the strongest possible offer to purchase. We discuss the best way to get the offer accepted, what will be expected when that happens and the timeline that begins from that point forward.

Some of the other issues we discuss with you at this time include the earnest money deposit, the home inspection, (specifically who inspects and when), well & septic inspections, if needed, radon testing, timelines and deadlines, different strategy options, what could cause the offer to fall apart, how/when/if you are able to walk away and the consequences of each, and a plan B in case we need one.

As Exclusive Buyer's Agents, we understand that changing homes is more than just a legal transaction. For that reason, we offer the following services to help in your decision.

• A true pre-approval of your financing
• Homeowners Insurance recommendations from trusted agents 
• Community contact information available
• Change of address kits
• Moving company recommendations and considerations
• Moving day check-lists

Make an appointment with us or call today and we'll tell you everything you need to know to move ahead with your plans.