Weekend House Hunting

I don't think you need to sign anything unless you decide to make an offer. We didn't do that on our house hunting trips and it seemed to be ok, but maybe there are advantages. To maximize your time, he could send you mls reports for different houses and you could tell him what you like and don't like. Our agent gave us local website that showed mls listings that was easier to use than realtor.com (but we needed to ask her for the detailed reports).

Can you research schools before you go? I used greatschools.net and the district sites. We narrowed down houses based on school boundaries and distance/commute to the university.

We looked on-line quite a bit before going. It sort of helped. Some houses we liked on-line weren't what we expected in person. Some houses we hated on-line, we liked in person or saw the potential.

The house we are in is one of the ones we didn't like on-line. DH ended up putting an offer on it during a 2 day trip by himself. I didn't see the house until the day I drove up to move in. Made us both a little nervous. But it has all worked out ok.

Good luck on unloading the house! Just get it on the market as soon as you can.

We did the whirlwind house shopping thing: 25 houses in 1.5 days. You need to totally take advantage of the internet and MLS listings, etc. Give the realtor specifics as to what kind of house you want, what your school requirements are, what kind of commute is okay and have him send you listings that meet those requirements. Then go through all of those listings and see what you like and have him schedule appointments.

We did not sign anything w/our realtor upon meeting her - not until we put in the bid (1.5 days later).

Best of luck with all of it. We had double mortages for a year -- so plan for the worst.

-- little suzy sunshine -- aka jesher

[mommax3]

I agree, use the internet! And make a list of your "have-to-haves" and your "absolutely will not haves"........if it is as much of a buyer's market as it is here, you will need some things to help narrow down the list due to the number of houses there will be and the amount of time you will have.

I always enjoy looking at houses, but it is always SO STRESSFUL to actually pick one! I hope you get some good info ahead of time and are able to enjoy the process.

Sally

[Meenah]

This may sound silly, but when we were looking for this house I knew the school district and the commute I wanted, and my MAJOR requirement was absolutely no septic. I wanted city water because I have several friends who had septic nightmares. Good luck.

I'd send it back and point out the basement issue. If you only listed 5 requirements and he ignored one (a pretty major one), that would scare me as to whether or not he'll be attentive to your needs. Since your shopping time is so limited - you really want someone keyed into what will work for you.

I'd send it back and point out the basement issue. If you only listed 5 requirements and he ignored one (a pretty major one), that would scare me as to whether or not he'll be attentive to your needs. Since your shopping time is so limited - you really want someone keyed into what will work for you.

I agree. Either people in that town have something against basements or he didn't get that requirement. Or he should explain -- houses in this area don't typically have basements because blah blah blah.

I miss having a basement. But people keep telling us how nice it is that we don't have one and don't have to worry about it being moisture problems. I still miss having a basement! Oh, but we live in an area with a lot of ranches and to be in our price range and near a certain school, it would have been hard to get a basement too. That is the sort of thing he should explain, IMO.

[mommax3]

Yeah, I would just ask him about the basement deal. We really wanted one in Texas and were kind of put out when nothing the realtor was showing us had one (this was before the internet was widely used for real estate) and when we finally asked about it, we found out that most homes in TX don't have basements because the ground is so rocky......who knew?

Sally

also - I'd ask why you only got 22 listings. our realtor overnighted us upwards of 100 listings that met our criteria, then we went through one by one online and sent her the MLS #'s we wanted to see. Unless you're moving to the middle of nowhere, or looking in an EXTREMELY tiny window for price, I'd expect there be a lot more than 22 listings.

[mommax3]

You know, I would think there would be a link at your realtor's website to a way to search the area listings YOURSELF, using your criteria. If not their website, maybe another company's website.

I very much hate the idea of having to rely on someone else for information that is readily available on the internet. I have great faith in my own research skills.

Can anyone say "control freak"?

Sally

Might be worth asking for another recommendation . I think it is weird if he steers you clear of those other towns without an explanation. Oh, those are the haunted towns.

I used the local site to look at the overview (like what you see on realtor.com) and to get the mls numbers and then ask for the detailed report. It should be really easy for them to send.

When we sold our house, some of the highly recommended people we interviewed..... :! . There is a lot of variation.

If you have a realtor you like / trust in your current area, you can ask them to find a realtor for you in the new area. They find the highest producing / most highly reccomended folks -- and have a vested interest in doing so b/c the 'found' realtor will give part of their commission to the one who generated the referral.

I'm not liking the limited info feedback. With such a small timeframe he really should be on the ball.

[PrincessFiona]

You've gotten great advice. I would also have the realtor that you choose (and if you aren't happy with this guy, get someone else!) send you mls listings available before you come out.

We also searched realtor.com etc but some of the newer stuff takes time to get into the listings and some of the stuff still up on realtor.com etc has already sold. It isn't as current as it could be, unfortunately.

The only advice I'd offer that you haven't gotten is....don't force a decision. Worst case scenario, you have to pay to go out another weekend. We made a snap decision that cost us because we didn't want to pay to come out again.

Regarding selling a house in a soft market. UGH...it might be worth paying to have someone come out and give you advice on how to 'stage' your house. We had a huge article about this in the paper about 6 months ago highlighting the difference that it can make in moving a house.....


kris

Laura -

if by 'midwest' as your current location, you mean ANYWHERE near Chicago, I might be able to help you w/the staging. My cousin is an excutive producer for Design to Sell -- and not only does the work they do help to move a house faster, but the television exposure (as well as the fact it's going to be on tv) brings a lot of people in. Just a thought.

[PrincessFiona]

Are you kidding, Jenn? I love Designed to Sell.....I watch it obsessively...along with all of the flip this house shows!

Nope. Not kidding. She was the supervising producer in LA when they started the show (she works for Pie Town), and recently moved to Chicago to work in the new office (didn't want to raise her daughter in LA) and got promoted to co-executive producer.