Search the multiple list in real time and subscribe to searches

Tips for Buyers - purchasing real estate

These tips are designed for the Washington DC metropolitan area real estate market. If you are from outside this area, please consider these tips in consultation with your real estate professional.

Finding a home:

• Consider working with a licensed Realtor who can help filter properties to meet your needs. Your agent should ask what you like and dislike about properties to tailor your search. Be sure to communicate with your agent what you think about properties you have seen.
• Think about using a "buyer's agent" who will represent you, and only you, in the transaction. Look for a CBR designation for a certified buyer representative.
• Determine  your long-term plans. If this home is only for a few years, only shop for what you need during that period.
• Make a list of features you must have (number of bedrooms, baths, particular schools, proximity to mass transit, yard, etc.). Also make a list of things you want (additional bedroom(s), fireplaces, skylights, walk-in closets, etc.) Prioritize each list and discuss trade-offs, particularly on the items that are "wants".
• Get a good map book of the area. When you drive or walk streets you like, highlight them. When you find streets and areas you do not like, highlight those too. Try to go through areas you have not been through before - looking at the various highlighted areas on the map, find out more about areas you have not been through.
• Focus on what you cannot change in a home. Painting, carpeting and remodeling can turn a so-so house into your dream home. Structural items, such as the layout of rooms or absence of key features are much harder to change.
• Keep an open mind. Remember that you are buying the home, not the decorating of the current owners. Ask your agent what they believe can be done to a home, particularly a home you don't initially like.
• Go to open houses. Summarize what you have seen and not seen. Inform your agent why you would eliminate particular homes from further consideration.
• See what a neighborhood is like by driving around during the morning, again in the evening and also on weekends.
• Talk to your friends and acquantances. If both you and your agent are networking, you may come across a new listing that is right for you.

After finding the home that you wish to purchase:

• Make a reasonable offer. This can mean an offer close to list price, at list price, or even a bit in excess of the list price. Your real estate professional, or better yet, your buyer's agent, can help you place a bid that designed to be accepted or countered.
• Remember that every $1,000 you finance with today's low interest rates only costs about $7 per month, and that is before the tax effect of homeownership is considered.
• Consider an adjustable rate loan, which may offer a lower rate initially and allow you to extend your purchase range. In conjunction with your long-term plans, if you are looking at a new home for only the next three to seven years, products other than 30 year fixed-rate mortgages may better meet your needs.

I have several contacts in the mortgage field with whom you may want to speak.

• Have your financing "pre-approved." Your offer is much more convincing when your agent can represent that you have a loan approval, or a loan in process. Additional information available
• Submit a significant deposit. The deposit should be 3% to 10% of the purchase price, if possible. A $5,000 deposit on a $300,000 home will not look as strong as a $15,000 deposit.
• Try to meet the seller's terms, such as settlement date, as closely as possible.
• If you are notified of multiple offers (and you will not always know this), improve your offer. Someone will prevail and be elated -- someone will lose and feel rejected. I work with my clients to get results first. In this market - that is more important that price as good homes are scarce and move quickly.
• Some buyers will make a low offer and ask the agent to try to get a reasonable counter-offer. This is understandable in a slow market. In today's seller market - a low offer may not get countered, particularly if the listing is new or other offers are present.
• Try to visualize what the seller is being advised. Each contingency or concession is seen as a strike against you relative to other offers being presented without those requests.
• If you do not prevail the first time, other properties are coming onto the market all the time. Your real estate professional should have access to the latest information. Be flexible to see properties as they get listed. Exposure time does work against you. The more people who see a home, the more people you may be bidding against.

(c) 1998- 2004 and 2005. Dan Melman and Mary Jane Molik - the Melman and Molik real estate team at W.C. & A.N. Miller Realtors. All rights reserved. Information is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed. If you are actively looking to market your home or purchase a home, or know someone who is,  please call us at (202) 895-8950.

Website originally created: March 1998
Last Updated: March 2005