Well, if you’re following along through our full Buyers’ Guide, then there’s been lots of talk about how we can help you find that perfect property. But let’s get into some of the specifics.
Once we’ve established your criteria and know just what you’re looking for (though, we’ll urge you to keep an open mind about the possibilities), it’s time to start searching.
When you set up an exclusive Buyer’s Portal, our system will generate every available listing matching your criteria. But shopping for properties isn’t like shopping for shoes, or televisions. In other words, all of your options aren’t resting in plain view. There are literally dozens and dozens of criteria that go into locating the right property and checking one wrong box can easily keep even the most perfect listings from coming up. It happens all of the time: Buyers take to Internet listing sites, plug in their criteria and receive a long list of properties to consider. The next day, they drive by something that looks absolutely perfect, but did not show up through their search. Worse yet—it’s just sold.
We know how to finesse the system to ensure that no listing is overlooked.
For example, you may indicate through your Buyers Portal criteria that you’re interested in homes with four or more bedrooms and a minimum of 2,800 square feet of living space. And that’s exactly what you’ll get, because, like any search engine, that’s what the system is designed to provide (exactly what you ask for based on the data). But what about those three-bedroom homes with a 12-foot by 14-foot office (that isn’t listed as a bedroom, but one trip to the local hardware store and a handful of materials can fix, by adding a closet)? Or, what about the house that includes just 2,100 square feet (under your 2,800 minimum), but also includes an unfinished bonus space located over the attached garage? At the right price, you may consider making that your new master bedroom. That information isn’t going to be listed under the available criteria, but we know how to find it.
Those are just two small examples of the scenarios we hear about every single day and they’re exactly why we will spend hours (if that’s what it takes) overturning every stone. If there’s even a shade of doubt that a listing might work for you, we’ll set up a prescreening and drive out to the property for a closer look.
The human factor
There’s one more big advantage that we have over search engines that we want you to be aware of and it’s something we like to call the “human factor.”
When an agent in our office meets with someone who is interested in selling their home, we begin consulting over that property right away. In other words, days, weeks and sometimes even months before a property is actually listed for sale, we already know about it. Should one of these properties match what you’re looking for, guess who gets the first shot at it? Long before the sign goes up and even longer before the listing strikes the Internet, we are already looking at it.
And this isn’t limited to just the agents in our office. Before we hang the phone up (or at the close of every email), we always make it a point to ask other listing agents what they may have on the horizon. Technology is great, but it doesn’t grasp those opportunities that arise through the “human factors.”
One thought on “Finding the Perfect Property”