Selecting Properties

Selecting your new home is the most exciting part of the process. But this should not be a 6 month project. If you have chosen the agent you want to work with, done your pre-qualification, and participated in a buyer’s consultation, your agent will be able to find homes that meet your criteria. All of this requires you to be open and honest about your wants and needs and freely discuss items that are deal breakers.
When you and I discuss the type of home you’re looking for, I’m going to ask you basic questions about the number of bedrooms and bathrooms you want and what would be ideal. I’ll ask about a garage. I’ll ask you if a basement is important to you, and what type of basement and how much finish you want. These are all very black and white questions/answers. What’s harder to identify is the emotion you’re looking for in a home. But through discussion, I’ll be able to determine what you’re looking for. If you’ve been open and honest about what you’re looking for, you should be able to pick out a perfect home with fewer than six showings.
So, what if you don’t really know what you want? I’m going to give you free passes to go to open houses. This is a card you can give to the showing agent at the open house to let them know we’re working together and that you’re doing some research. You can attend several open houses each weekend to help you determine what style of home you can envision yourself living in. I’ll also recommend you drive around some neighborhoods that you think you’re interested in. Spend some time in the local park. Even talk to people you meet on the sidewalk. Ask them what they like and don’t like about the area. This will help you narrow down the areas you’d like to consider.
When you’re looking at a home you’re thinking of buying, you need to walk through the house as though you own it. Open doors, make sure things work, look at rooms from different views. Envision your furniture in the home. Does it fit? And listen – be still and listen. Can you hear anything? Are you comfortable with what you hear or don’t hear? If everything meets your criteria and you like the home, let’s sit down and write the offer!
Call me at 402-239-9668 if you’d like to start shopping for a home.

The Buyer's Consulation

"This is Shellyn Sands, How can I help you?" This is what you'll hear when you call me. If you're looking at buying a home, you should answer with, "I'd like a buyer's consultation." A buyer's consultation is a chance for you and I to sit down together without the stress of house shopping. The consultation will accomplish several things for both of us. First, you'll get to decide whether you like me and trust me to take you through the home buying process. After all, you don't want to be knee deep with an agent that you can't stand to be in the same room with, right? During the consultation, I'm going to ask you a series of questions. Together we'll determine what type of home, in which area, and which price range you are comfortable. We'll do and initial search together and you'll get a chance to see all the search criteria we can use to narrow down your search. You'll get to see all the homes that are currently on the market that might meet your needs. We'll discuss them and discuss the pros and cons of each. Next we'll visit about the home buying process. You'll learn more about my duties to you and what to expect during the shopping and closing periods of buying a home. We'll discuss various inspections and companies that provide them. This way you'll be ready to schedule inspections when you make your first offer. We'll also discuss your lender and type of loan. It's important that your lender and I are able to work closely together to get you through the closing period. I will ask your permission to contact your lender so they know you and I are working together. Finally we'll decide which homes to look at first and we'll schedule a time to go out for our first showings. The buyer consultation is a very relaxed no-pressure time to ask all the questions you have of me and the process of buying a home. To schedule your buyer consultation with me, just call me at 402-239-9668.