The Home Buying Process: Step 1

Define, Research, Plan

Define Your Goals, Research Your Options, Make Your Plans

Given that buying and moving to a home is such a huge step, it’s all the more important for you to educate and prepare yourself as much as possible in advance. This means clearly determining why you’re buying and what kind of home you’re looking for. It means doing some careful soul searching into your priorities and discussing them with your spouse if you are married. It is amazing to me how many times my partner and I sit down for an initial consultation with new clients and discover that the husband and wife are not really on the same page in terms of their home buying goals. They often have different “must haves” lists, and the “wish lists” often have no overlap at all!

To summarize, explore these questions:

1.    What is important about buying a new home to you?
2.    What is important about buying a new home to your spouse?
3.    What are the essential, non-negotiable, “must have” features of the property for you?
4.    What are the essential, non-negotiable, “must have” features of the property for your spouse?
5.    What are additional wish list features that you would like, but are not critical?
6.    What are additional wish list features that your spouse would like, but are not critical?
7.    What is the order of importance of the items listed in 3 through 6 for you and your spouse?

If people would do this kind of preparation in advance – through private contemplation or thinking it through with family or friends if you are single, through frank and open conversation if you are married, it would significantly ease the stress of the home search process and make it much more efficient.

An anecdote from the real world…

We are currently working with buyers relocating from the east coast because of the husband’s job transfer. After looking at many homes in their target areas, we found that the husband was gravitating towards tract homes in Scripps Ranch, while the wife was drawn to more custom, unique homes in Poway. It turned out, after viewing many homes and finally distilling out the unspoken preferences, that the husband’s priority was to live close to work to minimize his commuting time and maximize family time, while the wife’s priority was to find a home with character and charm that suited her view of her family. Once this became clear, they could focus on the overlapping priorities and hone in on a neighborhood close to his work, yet in a cluster of newer homes that were customized as a result of the recent Scripps Ranch fires.