When the time comes for you to begin a property search for your first home make sure you are prepared! Jodi Baker, who specializes in helping first time home buyers, offers some house hunting tips to help you get the information you need when you are visiting homes for sale. Her knowledge of Greater Victoria neighborhoods and the Victoria real estate market can make your house hunting trip a lot less stressful.
It might be a long day of touring, to make things easier when you are visiting multiple homes for sale you should:
- Wear comfortable shoes that are easily removed, untying and retying laces at each home will be time-consuming and leave you frustrated and perhaps unwilling to go inside homes that don’t look perfect from the outside;
- Depending on the weather, wear a jacket that is easy to shed for the same reasons;
- Bring a bottle of water and a snack so that you stay energized through visits to several homes, and don’t need to waste valuable time stopping for refreshments;
- Leave the children at home. Regardless of their age and maturity, they are unlikely to remain patient through a long day of touring multiple homes for sale.You can bring them to see any homes that you are seriously interested in, because you will almost certainly want to visit those ones again, and they can get a peek and offer their input during the second visit;
- Use a checklist to track the features that are important to you so that you can rate the homes you visit. Don’t rely on memory when you are touring multiple homes for sale, your head will be spinning by the end of the day if you do, and
- If you are moving to Victoria from elsewhere, and come to town on a house hunting trip, you should establish a list (using MLS listings and Jodi’s help) of homes that you want to tour beforehand. If Jodi has a copy of your checklist of priotities she can also alert you to new listings that have recently come on the market and arrange to tour these homes as well.
Buying your first home is a life altering event, and many people get very stressed out by house hunting. Try to relax and enjoy it! Knowledge and preparation are the keys to a positive and exciting property search experience as a first time home buyer. An experienced realtor like Jodi Baker, who specializes in helping first time home buyers in the Greater Victoria area, can help you in your journey to home ownership.
