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First Time Home Buyers in South Lake Tahoe: Step Six

November 20th, 2009 categories: First Time Home Buyers, For Buyers, For Sellers, Lake Tahoe Real Estate, South Lake Tahoe Statistics, South Lake Tahoe, CA

SoundbiteblogLet the Home Tour Begin

This is inspired by a colleague and friend of ours, Rich Jacobson , who owns the Kitsap County Real Estate Blog in Washington state. His work for the source of this series is superb, and with his graces we are retooling it for first time home buyers in our South Lake Tahoe real estate market.

This then is the sixth in a series of articles focused on helping 1st Time Home Buyers successfully buy a house in South Lake Tahoe. Each time, we’ll focus on key events, or steps if you will, in the South Lake Tahoe home buying process.

1. In the first of these, we talked about Mortgage Lenders and Loan Pre-Approval.
2. In the second article we talked about the first five of the top ten traits to look for in finding A Great Real Estate Agent ( Pt 1).
3. In the third article we discussed the second five of the top ten trails to look for in finding A Great Real Estate Agent (Pt 2).
4. In the fourth article we looked at the initial meeting with your agent and Exchanging Vows: The Buyer Agency Agreement.
5. In the fifth article we looked at How Much $$$ Does it Cost to Buy a House?

Step Six:  Tips for Home Tourists

Home tourists get readyFrom your wants list, and carefully listening to what you find important,  your Agent will prepare a schedule of homes for you to see. As you venture out into this next important step of the home hunting process, here are some practical suggestions to keep in mind:

  • Bring water and granola/energy bars with you.
  • Realize you may, or may not find “the” house on your first tour. Be prepared for either. We have had numerous situations where we have shown only one house, the right one, but normally house hunting is a process of multiple tours.
     
  • Have a good map of the general area, although we always provide a specific South Lake Tahoe map for you. This helps you best understand our neighborhoods and their location to
  • We will provide you with a MLS print-out for each house you see, though we normally give that to you after your tour. We like to do that this way because we want to see your reaction to a house, not to a flyer, which gives us the best information possible to get to the right one. Wait until after your tour to review the flyers.
  • After each showing, please share your “likes” and “dislikes” about each home with your Agent.  We’re looking for your honest impressions, and don’t by shy: this information leads us to the right house for you.
     
  • In South Lake Tahoe, it’s likely that the homes you see will be second homes. In other words, this is not the Seller’s primary home and they do not live there. Sometimes though, it will be a primary home,
     
  • At the end of your tour, ask yourself this, “did any home satisfy all or most of your wants and needs? Did I fall in love with one?” Another way of asking the same question is, "will I be crushed if I don’t get that house?" If so, are you ready to make an offer? If not, then why not?”
  • And lastly, remember to Have Fun! (If we’re not making it fun, we’re not doing our job!)

Next, we’ll discuss the offer, one of the many key steps in “Adventures in 1st Time Home Buying!”

The first post in this series, Mortgage Lenders and Loan Pre-Approval  here.
The second in this series, Get a Great Agent (pt 1)  here.
The third in this series, Get a Great Agent (pt 2) here.
The fourth in this series, Exchanging Vows: The Buyer Agency Agreement here.
The fifth in this series, How Much $$$ Does it Cost to Buy a House here.
The next article in this series, The Offer They Can’t Refuse here.

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This entry was posted on Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 10:57 am and is filed under First Time Home Buyers, For Buyers, For Sellers, Lake Tahoe Real Estate, South Lake Tahoe Statistics, South Lake Tahoe, CA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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