5. Understand your price range. Get preapproved for a loan and take measure of your financial situation so that you understand what you can afford and what you are willing to spend.
4. Get connected if possible with your real estate broker online. Log in as a new visitor on your agent’s website for daily updates and to search properties at any time which are currently active, now under accepted offer and recently sold. I frequently communicate via email with buyer clients during the course of a search. I am, of course, available by phone and in person as appropriate. That being said, a great deal can be and is accomplished via email during the course of a search.
3. Pay close and careful attention to all the properties you see. Even if the house is a bomb, a light may go off in the kitchen on your tour that you want an island. It may come to you on the dark and dreary back deck that you really want a deck – all properties send messages. Let them speak to you so that you can refine your search parameters and learn what is important to you.
2. Have your real estate agent complete a market analysis for a property you feel inclined to make an offer on. When you think you are ready to do something, your real estate agent ought to carefully consider the subject property with you, weighing pluses and minuses. Also, your agent ought to crunch the numbers and review relevant properties now for sale, under accepted offer, and recently sold. Is it a deal? Priced right? Overpriced?
1. Maintain a positive attitude. Things can and do happen in a real estate search: you might lose out in a multiple offer situation; it might be discovered during a home inspection that your dream home has a serious structural defect; the place you are certain is perfect for you comes on the market when you are out of town. HANG IN THERE! Keep a positive attitude. Remember, this is real estate – expect the unexpected.
Generally speaking for most buyers who practice these five precepts, the result is a successful search.
If you are considering buying or selling in Cambridge, I am here to help. I can be reached at ccherney@hammondre.com or 617-733-8937. I am a Harvard graduate, a Cambridge resident and a top broker in the city since 1999.
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