Your Team: Homebuyer Edition

Get to know your team: homebuyer edition. So you’re planning to buy in 2024. Yesterday, I offered up some thoughts on what you can do to get yourself ready to buy. Today we’ll talk about your team who will support you through the transaction.

Where to Start when Assembling Your Team: Homebuyer Edition

In my opinion: The first two roles on your team are interchangeable as to timing and selection. So, let’s first acknowledge the two parties and then I’ll go into why I think there is some flexibility. Specifically, I’m talking about your Realtor and your lender.

Meet Your Realtor

Remember, you will be spending quite a bit of time talking to and interacting with your Realtor – find someone you find compatible with your personality. Far too often, people overlook the importance of interviewing their agent. Interviewing is an important step to consider with any of your vendors. As your Realtor – I would love to hear all about what you want and need in a home, where you want to live, how you envision your life. However, I truly don’t think we can realistically finish those conversations until you know exactly how much you can spend (more on that in a minute).

Let’s Talk Lenders

To this you would likely say: “So the lender should come first.” I can honestly go either way on which you retain first (real estate agent or lender). For anyone unfamiliar with real estate and the industry as a whole – I would offer that you want a trusted professional acting in the capacity of your lender. To me, the lender does so much more than provide a letter acknowledging your purchasing power and pushing paperwork. A rock star lender will get to know you, your financial situation and make suggestions before heading down the pre-approval path. If you are unfamiliar with the local area, real estate or home buying – you may not know who to partner with or trust with your business. This is where I think that your Realtor can lend a hand. Most have a list of trusted partners to recommend to clients.

As a Realtor – it is helpful to help build your search around what you can afford. Hence why I make the recommendation of involving the lender early on in the search. With a pre-approval letter in place, we can proceed to house hunting phase. Following your search, we’ll hopefully be able to proceed to the offer phase.

Home Inspector

With an offer accepted, we will next need to plan for your home inspection (which leads us to the next member of the team). Your home inspector will assess the overall health of the home you hope to purchase and issue a report with notes and findings. This document will be helpful as we proceed through any further negotiations.

Insurance Agent

Following inspections – the next team member you’ll need to add is an insurance agent. They will walk you through available plans and all the topics of importance (deductibles, coverage limits, flood insurance and more). This information will be needed in advance of close – especially if you plan to obtain a mortgage to finance your purchase.

Other professionals you may leverage on your team when purchasing a home: a real estate attorney, environmental inspectors and the title company (which your seller will likely pick).