Getting Ready

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Before you begin working with a Realtor® to find a home, it is important to prioritize the features you want and need in a home.

New home or existing home

Number of bedrooms & bathrooms

Suburbs or city 

Short or long commute

Number of living areas/closet space

Big yard or low maintenance property

Garage Space
 

Only a home built from the ground up to your specifications could really meet all of your expectations.

To be realistic in looking for a home, you must learn to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of each property you consider.  Your Realtor® will narrow your search by price range, neighborhood, number of bedrooms or any other features you specify through the computerized Multiple Listing Service. When shopping with your Realtor®, discuss what you like and don’t like about the houses you visit. This will help your Realtor ® pre-screen properties and increase your success in finding the right home. 

From there, your goal should be to choose the home that most closely matches your criteria.
 

Ultimately, your home is what you make it through creativity, vision and adaptation. Compromise, when it comes to small shortcomings in a home that meets the majority of your criteria, is essential.
 

A word about location:  Location refers to more than a home’s physical position.  It includes the atmosphere and lifestyle of a particular neighborhood.  It includes everything from recreational facilities, such as community swimming pools and tennis courts, to schools, shopping, property tax rates and property values.  It also includes proposed changes in land use, such as construction of new roads or shopping centers, potential hazards, such as flooding, and noise from nearby establishments or highways.  All of these factors should be considered when you are making a choice about where to live.