The Top 10 To-Dos for the Final Home Buyer Walk Through

You’ve found your dream home, and at last, you’ve made it to the Final Walk Through, also known as the second to last step in becoming the new owners of your property! It’s like the rehearsal dinner before the wedding or the baccalaureate service before the graduation. You’re almost to the finish line. And what better time than now to discuss this exciting subject since home closings are at their highest in the months of July and August.

In terms of the logistics, most final walk throughs are scheduled for the evening before or the morning of the closing. Which timeframe you choose is mostly dependent on the schedules of the parties, the time of the closing, and when the seller has officially moved out of the house. The final walk through can take anywhere from 15 minutes to two hours, with most of them taking about 30 minutes to an hour. When you get to your almost next home for the walk through, you’ll usually find yourself in the company of your buyer’s agent and the listing agent. The seller typically doesn’t attend.

So…when you find yourself at this almost final step to buying your home, here are the top 10 to-dos to keep in mind:

1. Review the Purchase & Sale Agreement (P&S) prior to your arrival at the walk through as a reminder of what the seller agreed to repair, address and leave with the property.

2. Make sure any inspection issues have been properly resolved.

3. Check that there isn’t any water in the basement or any other damage to the property that you haven’t seen or about which you haven’t been made aware.

4. Confirm the inclusions are still at the property and anything you’ve asked to be removed is no longer there.

5. Ensure everything has been removed from the attic, storage areas, drawers, cabinets, closets, etc.  

6. Confirm the house is “Broom Clean” (click here to learn about what “Broom Clean” really means).

7. Make sure the air conditioning and/or heating system, depending on the season, is working. 

8. Confirm the seller has left keys to the house and garage door openers.

9. Run the water in the faucets, and flush the toilets.

10. Look for any instructions and/or warranties to appliances and house systems that the seller said s/he would leave for you.

If you run into issues with any of the above final walk through to-dos, consult with your buyer’s agent and your real estate attorney. Together they will help get everything resolved one way or another prior to the closing. And then Happy New Home! Yay! 🙌🏻😄

What are your thoughts on the final home buyer walk through? When you were buying your house, did you do any of these to-dos during the final walk through or were there other ones you completed? I can’t wait to hear….

For more information on this or about the real estate market in Weston, Wellesley, Wayland and the surrounding towns or if you are considering selling your home, please contact me, Lisa Curlett (www.lisacurlett.com, 781-267-2844 or lisa.curlett@compass.com), to answer any questions or for a complimentary home appraisal.

Family Buy-in When Purchasing a Home

Purchasing a home is a family decision - yea or nay? I’m sure many of you have found yourselves in this situation. You and your spouse or partner are in the quest for a home and have seen countless properties during the process. Now you’ve found one that you both agree could be your next dream home. This begs the next question - how do you feel about family buy-in on the purchase of the home. Should this important decision include the opinions of your kids, parents and/or in-laws, for example. Are they entitled to a vote and/or to weigh in on the decision? Hmmmm….

The kids - If the kids are young, the answer is fairly straightforward. All things being equal, they should see the property - and will likely love it if you do - but they don’t need to be decision makers in the process. It becomes a bit more complicated as the kids age. Their opinions do matter. They should 100% see the house and be asked their opinion. But should they be decisions makers? For example, if your 16-year-old son doesn’t like the house or want to move, should that prevent you from pursuing your dream home?

Parents and In-Laws - The same holds true with parents and in-laws - at least as I see it. You’d like their opinion, but if it’s a “no-go, should that effect your decision? To make matters more complicated, what if they are investing in the potential property? And what if your parents or in-laws live with you and/or take care of your children while you work? Perhaps they feel your potential dream house is too remote. They want a location that is walk-to-town so they can go on fun adventures with your kids during the day, and you prefer a peaceful, serene setting that is a 15 minute drive to shops, restaurants and public transportation. This is getting more difficult by the second….

My final thoughts - and the bottom line from my perspective - are that while you’d like to have buy-in and a thumbs-up vote from your children, parents and in-laws about your next potential home, it really comes down to you and your spouse or partner. A family member’s financial investment in the new home complicates matters and should be seriously considered and evaluated, but at the end of the day, this is a decision for you and your partner.

What are your thoughts on this subject? Have you found yourself in a similar scenario - where you and your spouse loved your next potential dream home and certain family members didn’t? How did you handle the situation? I can’t wait to hear…..

For more information on this or about the real estate market in Weston, Wellesley, Wayland and the surrounding towns or if you are considering selling your home, please contact me, Lisa Curlett (www.lisacurlett.com, 781-267-2844 or lisa.curlett@compass.com), to answer any questions or for a complimentary home appraisal.

5 Things to Remember in a Bidding War

The dreaded bidding war. You’ve found your dream home but so have 10 other buyers. Your first thought is probably #$%&@! But don’t despair…. Before you feverishly start putting together your offer and get thrust into an insanely competitive home-buying scenario, take a deep breath and remember these thoughts which I hope will guide you through the process:

1. Keep in mind that the pricing strategy is different in a bidding war. If you truly want to buy/”win” the house in a multiple bid situation, the competitive offers - and not the comps - become the most relevant part of your pricing strategy. The comps go out the window and are basically irrelevant - that is if you want to successfully win the bidding war.

2. Put your best foot forward at the get go. Start as strong as you can because you don’t know what the seller will do with the offers. S/he may decide to go back to the strongest offer and just work with those buyers.

3. Only do what is comfortable for you. If you push your offer price too high, remove contingencies and overextend yourself financially, you may win the bidding war but you likely won’t be able to ultimately go through with the deal, which isn’t fair to anyone, including you.

4. Remind yourself that you are purchasing your next home and not trying to beat out the other buyers. This ties in with point #3. Don’t get caught up in the hysteria of a bidding war, focusing only on winning and losing sight of the home you are buying. It’s about your potential new home and not the competitive game.

5. Remember that only one buyer will purchase the property. So the odds of your offer being accepted may not be high depending on the specific scenario. That being said, even if your offer is not accepted, it can happen that the first (or second) offer will fall through, and you could be hearing from the listing agent. As Bebe Rexha says, “If it’s meant to be, it’ll be….”

What are your thoughts on bidding wars? Have you ever found yourself in a multiple bid situation? Were these thoughts ones you kept in mind as you ventured through the process? And how did you fare in the war? I can’t wait to hear….

For more information on this or about the real estate market in Weston, Wellesley, Wayland and the surrounding towns or if you are considering selling your home, please contact me, Lisa Curlett (www.lisacurlett.com, 781-267-2844 or lisa.curlett@compass.com), to answer any questions or for a complimentary home appraisal.

The Top 5 Questions to Ask Before Starting Your Home Search

The time has come….you’ve decided to embark on a search to find your dream home. But before you reach for the phone to call your real estate agent to start seeing properties, here are some important questions to ask yourself first so that you can better understand your priorities and the consequences therein as well as optimize your home buying search:

1. Do you need to sell before you buy? This addresses the financing component and is probably the most important question that you need to ask yourself - and your lender - and figure out prior to your home buying search. If the answer is “yes,” call your real estate agent pronto to list your house before passing go. And then once your house is solidly under agreement or sold, you can begin seriously looking at potential dream homes.

2. Are you willing to do work to a house? In other words, is your new home’s condition important to you? Are you looking for a home that is move right in, a fixer-uper or somewhere in between? If it’s the former, be prepared for your potential dream house to sell quickly perhaps in a bidding war and possibly over the asking price (which is the perfect segue into question 3 below). If you are willing to do updating, you often don’t have to act as quickly, and you may even get a better deal.

3. Will you pay more for the house you love? To paraphrase, how much price flexibility do you have? As mentioned above, a bidding war often happens with properties that are in beautiful condition among other things, i.e. priced to sell, in a great location, etc. If you find yourself in a bidding war for your dream house, will you do whatever you need to do to get it, which usually means paying more than you might like to? If the answer is no, you’ll likely have to shift your focus to properties that will be less appealing to the masses and less likely to result in a competitive buying situation.

4. Can you accept a compromised street or location? For example, would you buy a house on a busy road or close to a noisy thoroughfare? Or do you only want to live on a quiet street in an A+ neighborhood? The answer to this question will also impact your home search. If you only want a quiet, highly desirable location, then you could be competing with many other buyers for your dream house, which then can force up the price of the property. If a busy street, noise issues or a compromised location are ok, you may be able to find a bit of a better deal.

5. What is your ideal timeline and closing date? Do you need to buy quickly or can you wait to buy? If you need to buy quickly, you might have to make more compromises - or even rent - if the inventory at the time isn’t appealing to you. But if you have time on your side, you can wait for that just right house for you - keeping in mind that no house is ever 100% perfect.

While there are millions of questions you can ask yourself to help you focus and streamline your home buying search, the questions above hit on the major categories that will come up again and again during your search. Once you understand your financing capabilities, price flexibility and timeline as well as your preference for you new home’s condition and location, you’ll be able to better understand what you want and to more quickly and effectively find the right home for you and your family.

What are your thoughts on this subject? Did you ask yourself these and other questions when you were starting your home buying search? What were the most important and insightful questions you pondered at the start of your home search? I can’t wait to hear….

For more information on this or about the real estate market in Weston, Wellesley, Wayland and the surrounding towns or if you are considering selling your home, please contact me, Lisa Curlett (www.lisacurlett.com, 781-267-2844 or lisa.curlett@compass.com), to answer any questions or for a complimentary home appraisal.

The Time to Get the Best Deal When Buying a House

The time to get the best deal when buying a house is - drumroll please - NOW! And by now, I mean the late Fall market into the holidays. If you’re scratching your head and wondering why this is true, here are the three primary reasons that sellers are extra motivated to sell at this time of the year:

1. The real estate market virtually goes on hiatus for three months. In early-mid November when Thanksgiving comes onto the horizon, buyers tend to get into holiday mode - not only for Turkey Day but also for Hanukkah, Christmas and the start of the New Year. And then once the New Year has begun, it takes a bit for buyers to focus on real estate again especially if the weather is cold, snowy, icy and yucky. This translates to a very slow market for most of November, December, most or all of January and sometimes even into February*. There is no other time in the year when the real estate market activity slows for this amount of time. And for those who are anxious to sell and can’t afford to wait at least another three months to potentially do so, they will accept the price that allows them to move on and sell now. 

2. Many sellers don’t want to carry their homes through the winter. They don’t want to deal with some of the damaging and costly issues that can come up during the winter months, i.e. pipes freezing, ice dams, heating problems, shoveling/plowing snow time and time again, etc. I have found that this can be especially true if the sellers are elderly as home care-taking in the winter can be quite taxing for them. I also see this with sellers who no longer live in the house and can’t monitor the housing issues/situations that tend to arise in the winter months. Therefore these sellers are especially motivated to get the deal done before the harsh weather comes and potential ensuing issues emerge.

3. Sellers know that they will be competing with fresh, new-to-the-market inventory in the Spring. During the Fall market, the sellers’ homes have accrued days on the market (DOM) - often significant DOM. In addition, their homes have been on the market and haven’t sold which often leads buyers to wonder what’s wrong with the properties. So not only are these sellers stuck with homes that have a prolonged market time** but also that need an explanation for why they haven’t sold. The bottom line is that these properties often have a hard time competing with the fresh, new-to-the market inventory in the Spring. And knowing this can make sellers more motivated to accept offers that allow them to sell now instead of waiting to do so in the Spring market.

There are two caveats to getting a deal at the end of the Fall market. First, not all sellers are motivated to sell their homes despite the reality of the three issues outlined above. And if you end up negotiating with one of these un-motivated sellers, you probably won’t end up with a great deal. Second, the downside to buying at this time is that the inventory is sparse. And so you may be able to get a great price on a house, but you might have problems finding a property that fits your needs and desires.

Have you ever found yourself in this situation - looking for a deal on a house at the end of the Fall market? Were you able to find it? If not, what prevented you from getting a great deal? I can’t wait to hear….

For more information on this or about the real estate market in Weston, Wellesley, Wayland and the surrounding towns or if you are considering selling your home, please contact me, Lisa Curlett (www.lisacurlett.com, 781-267-2844 or lisa.curlett@compass.com), to answer any questions or for a complimentary home appraisal.

* The start of the Spring market varies depending on the town or city in which you live.

** Although there are tricks to making market time less apparent, there is no way to erase it.

Is There Such a Thing as a Dream House?

I ponder this question all the time….  And I can tell you from my experience as a real estate professional, whether a house is priced at $500,000 or $5,000,000, buyers seldom view a house as their “dream house.”  A testament to this is a newly-constructed home that sold in Weston, MA a few years ago for more than $6 million.   At this price, you would think that the house would have been perfect – a real dream house.  But the week after it sold, there were a multitude of contractors’ trucks parked on the street. They were doing work on the house, and they were there for months.  Wow…..

I share this story with my clients because I think it is important information for them to have. The truth is, for the most part, a home is not going to satisfy everything you want in a house – no matter what the price point.  For example, the street may be busier than you like, the house may need more updating than you want or can afford to do, and/or there may not be a garage.  So it’s really about prioritizing and potentially compromising.  It’s about understanding what you can and can’t live with.  And also realizing that if you are waiting for your perfect, dream house, you could be waiting a long, long time.

I know that sounds a little negative – especially from someone who aspires to sell clients their perfect, dream houses over and over again.  But I have a different perspective when I think of my own life.  In the early 1990s, my father bought a Sea Captain’s house built in the early 1800s in Nantucket.  This was the house of my dreams – and still is, in fact.  It was filled with charm and personality (a fireplace in every room on the first two floors), it had six well-sized bedrooms and could comfortably sleep 13 people. It was located a stone’s throw from the center of town, and it had a private, gorgeous backyard which is almost impossible to find in the heart of Nantucket town.  We all loved the house and shared so many happy times there – countless birthday celebrations, wedding events, Thanksgiving dinners, family croquet tournaments.  We filled the house with such joyful memories.  Did it matter that the bathrooms were not updated, that the laundry room was in the basement or that the garage was detached?  Not a bit.  We looked past those imperfections because the home held a special place in each of our hearts – we truly loved the house.  It was our dream home!  So when I think of this, then my answer is YES; of course there is such thing as a dream house.  It really just comes down to your state of mind…looking past some of the home’s features that perhaps may not be ideal and focusing on the broader picture – the memories and joyous times that the house provides for you when sharing life with family and friends.

And so ultimately what I’ve decided is that yes, there is such thing as a dream house. But is it perfect in every way?  Not at all…which is completely okay and to be expected!  With all of this said, I wanted to share with you a few pictures of my dream house*, 6 Darling Street, Nantucket, MA lovingly owned by the Jack Curlett family from 1991 – 2011…..  Cheers!

For more information on this or about the real estate market in Weston, Wellesley, Wayland and the surrounding towns or if you are considering selling your home, please contact me, Lisa Curlett (www.lisacurlett.com, 781-267-2844 or lisa.curlett@compass.com), to answer any questions or for a complimentary home appraisal.

* P.S. These photos don’t do my dream house justice….😉

The Top 5 Tell Tale Signs that You Are a Home Buyer

As many of you know, the home-buying process can be fun, exciting and ultimately quite rewarding, but it can also be time-consuming, intense and stressful too, especially if you are under a deadline to purchase a home. During my years in the business, my buyer clients have shared their behaviors and experiences with the process, and from their feedback, I’ve come up with the top 5 tell tale signs that you are a true, bonafide home buyer who is 100% committed to purchasing your next home:

• 1. You find yourself spending hours upon hours and significantly more time on MLS, Realtor.com, Trulia and Zillow searching for information on properties for sale than on Google, CNN.com, Twitterand Facebook searching for information on breaking news, financial results, consumer trends and personal updates.

• 2. You schedule all of your free time to see houses. This means the hours before work, during lunch and after work, not to mention weekends when you now plan your Sundays around open house times instead of around the Patriots, Bruins, Celtics  or Red Sox games.

• 3. You take calls from your Realtor before those from your significant other, boss, children or anyone else for that matter.

• 4. You spend double the money on gasoline given all of the drive-by viewings of the properties, neighborhoods, schools and more – at a variety of times during the day.

• 5. You wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat after a terrible nightmare in which a multiple offer situation went awry and you lost your dream home.

The good news about all of this is that the often stressful and intense home-buying process is usually short-term and the net gain is that you end up with a home that you love. In other words, a little pain for a lot of gain….

What are your thoughts on this subject, and can you relate? When you were a home buyer and trying to find the right home, did you experience some of these tell tale signs? And were there other, relevant tell tale signs that you experienced as a home buyer? I can’t wait to hear….

For more information on this or about the real estate market in Weston, Wellesley, Wayland and the surrounding towns or if you are considering selling your home, please contact me, Lisa Curlett (www.lisacurlett.com, 781-267-2844 or lisa.curlett@compass.com), to answer any questions or for a complimentary home appraisal.

The Post Offer Timeline for Buyers

The other night, I was going over the process from offer to closing with one of my buyer clients in terms of the standard dates and typical timeline, and as I was doing so, I realized that I hadn’t put this pertinent information in a document and go-to place for easy access.  Although we as Realtors know the standard timeline by heart, this can often be a new process for buyers – one that they might not have gone through in years.  And so I hope that putting all of this in writing will help my buyer clients as well as other buyers in need.

As you may know, when you put in an offer on a property, you commit to a variety of dates to get you from the accepted offer to the closing.  Here is a standard timeline and the events to which they are attached:

• Inspection contingency (including pest and radon inspections) –  7-10 days from accepted offer. This part of the process actually has two dates.  The first is the date within which you as the buyer must have the inspection, and this is usually within 7 days of the accepted offer.  The second is the date within which you need to come back to the seller with any inspection issues to be addressed, and this is usually within 10 days of the accepted offer.  So let’s say, the seller has just accepted your offer today on Friday, May 12.   This means that you would have the inspection by Friday, May 19 and get back to the seller with any issues by Monday, May 22.  And more times than not, this will result in a back and forth – a.k.a. another negotiation – between you and the seller concerning the inspection issues.

• On another note, during the days from the accepted offer through the inspection contingency, you also need to do two other things.  First, you need to talk to a few mortgage brokers about getting the best rate possible.  The mortgage commitment date is coming soon (see below), and so you need to start working on securing your options for getting a loan. Second, you need to hire an attorney.  Then once the inspection issues are resolved, your attorney and the seller’s attorney will work together to develop the Purchase and Sale Agreement (P&S), which is our next date/event.

• Purchase & Sale Agreement – usually 2 weeks from accepted offer. So using our example above, the P&S would be signed on Friday, May 26.  This is also when you would put down the remaining 5% of the deposit (a deposit of $1,000 was put down at the time of the offer).  And once the P&S has been signed, you would formally apply for a mortgage if you haven’t done so already thus fulfilling the mortgage application date, which is part of the mortgage contingency. 

• Mortgage contingency/commitment – usually 3-4 weeks after the signing of the P&S (or 5-6 weeks from accepted offer). Most buyers want the date of the mortgage contingency/commitment to be four weeks after the signing of the P&S (or Friday, June 23 in this example) to have more time to make sure all of the mortgage paperwork is complete.  And most sellers want the date to be three weeks after the signing of the P&S (or Friday, June 16) because it lessens the time that their house has been red flagged with an accepted offer and basically not shown by the brokerage community, which is generally what happens.  So if the deal falls through because you can’t get a mortgage, the seller has only lost five weeks of active market time instead of six.

• Closing – usually 60 days from accepted offer. And so the closing in this case would be Wednesday, July 12 (or thereabouts).  The theory behind this is that you can lock in a mortgage rate in 60 days, and it generally provides adequate time for the lender to provide the loan to the buyer and the seller to vacate the property.

I think that’s about it from a timeline perspective.  I hope this information helps, but keep in mind that the time frame from an accepted offer to closing can vary immensely based on the particular circumstances of the buyer and the seller.  Closings can happen within 30 days and can also take four to six months.  I’m hoping that laying out the typical timeline will give you a guideline from which to start to formulate a plan of action that works for you…. Good luck!

What are your thoughts on the subject? Did you experience a similar timeline when you were buying a home? Were there any surprises on the timing that you didn’t expect? I can’t wait to hear….

For more information on this or about the real estate market in Weston, Wellesley, Wayland and the surrounding towns or if you are considering selling your home, please contact me, Lisa Curlett (www.lisacurlett.com, 781-267-2844 or lisa.curlett@compass.com), to answer any questions or for a complimentary home appraisal.