First Time Homebuyer Series - Part 3: House Hunting - Where to Start

In the first two parts of this series, Personal Budget and Loan Prequalification, we examined your finances to help you determine if you can afford to purchase a home and if so, how much home you can afford.

Now the fun begins! For most home buyers, looking for the right house is the best part of the process. You get to go into a variety of properties and try to envision yourself walking through the front door every day. It's a really exciting time for buyers and sharing in that process is one of the best parts of my job.

You may have seen the billboard along I-85 in Atlanta that shows how many houses are currently for sale. Over the last 5 years, I can remember it ranging from 50,000 to 125,000. With that many homes to pick from, where do you start?

What's important to you in a home?

Many buyers like to list out the possible criteria and decide if certain features are "must haves", "must not haves", or "like to have". Below is a basic list with which to start:

Location, Location, Location
How Many Bedrooms
How Many Bathrooms
How Many Square Feet
Which School District
Is a Basement Required
Is a Garage Required
Need an Updated Kitchen or willing to do some work
Single Family Home or Condo / Townhouse
Need a Fenced in Yard

One could obviously make a much longer list, but when first starting out, I like to keep the list relatively short. I find that most first time buyers are not 100% sure of what they "must have" or "must not have" until they actually start seeing houses. The internet has made online home searching super easy. We can see pictures, tours, overhead views, and street views. However, there is no substitute for going into houses. Nonetheless, online is the place to start.

Where do I search online?

There are hundred's of online real estate search engines. In general, they all pull from the same database, so the homes you see on one site, you should see on all of the others. The three biggest differences between sites are the user interface, how often the listings are updated, and how much information is provided. Let's examine each of these.

1. User Interface - this is simply how you can search and how the data is displayed. Is there a map, what search options exist, how many listings pull up at a time, etc. This is really all about personal preference.

2. Up to Date Listings - most sites do not pull the data in real time. They take a snapshot of the data at a certain point and that is what the user sees. Some websites still show listings that are under contract. When real estate people use the term, "under contract" they mean that a buyer and seller entered into a a contractual agreement on the home, and it is now off the market for other buyers. This can be really frustrating to online home shoppers.

How can you know for sure if you are seeing up to date information? Luckily a new service called Listingbook was just launched to help Buyers search the same information as agents. You can click on this Listingbook link and create your own account. It allows you to see the exact data that agents see - what is available, what is under contract, and even what sold!

3. Information on each listing - Some search sites make agents pay to show extra pictures or have a custom description. That allows some agents to make their properties stand out, but it doesn't give the buyer full information. Our search engine on RichHomesAtlanta and on Listingbook allow you to see the full listing.

How do I keep track of my favorite listings?

Once you start searching, some properties will jump out at you. You want to keep track of those properties so that you can share them with your agent. You could always just keep a spreadsheet of the address, and that will work just fine. However, some websites, including RichHomesAtlanta and Listingbook, allow you to create an account and save your favorites to your profile.

Can we go see some houses, please!?!

Definitely! Like I said earlier, online is just a place to start. I will usually send my clients some houses, they will send me some, and we will share our initial thoughts. At that point, I'll put together a list, and we will hit the road.

Next time, we will talk about what to expect as we go look at houses. And in case you missed the 5 other links, you can now search just like an agent by signing up for a Listingbook account!

Justin Landis
Keller Williams Realty Peachtree Road
404-803-0471
justin.landis@kw.com