Making Home Shopping Faster & Easier

Like most things in life, shopping for a new home can either be time-consuming and stressful, or fun and satisfying. It just depends on how you go about it.

There are many things you can do to make the home shopping process go smoothly and accomplish what you want: finding the home of your dreams at a price you can afford.

Here are some ideas:

• Get pre-approved. Find out from your bank or lender how much you qualify to borrow. That will give you confidence when home shopping, because you’ll know that, should you find the right property, financing won‘t be a problem.
• Make a list. Write down everything you want in a new home.The obvious items include the number of bedrooms, size of backyard, location, etc. But also list not-so-obvious features, such as walking distance to public transit and the potential for a large recreation room in the basement.
• Take a camera. After seeing a few homes, you may not remember every important feature and characteristic. So be sure to take pictures (where allowed) of the properties you view as well as the neighbourhoods. They’ll be invaluable when shortlisting potential properties later on.
• Keep an open mind. There’s probably an ideal home available for you on the market. But it might not be exactly what you had originally envisioned. So try to be flexible when considering potential homes. If, for example, a property doesn’t have a big deck for entertaining, you can always have one built.
• Take care of yourself and your family. When you’re viewing properties, bring some healthy snacks and water with you.  Take regular breaks, especially when you’re seeing multiple homes. And don’t see too many properties at a time especially if you’re bringing young children with you.  

Also, find a good REALTOR® to help you. He or she can make the home shopping process go smoothly.

Looking for a good REALTOR®? Call the Dion-Ivans Real Estate Group today!!