The 5 Stages of the Home Buying Process to be Prepared For!

Buying a house is SO exciting but truth be told, the road to home can have some bumps along the way. My goal is to prepare future home buyers for what to expect before they’re knee deep in the middle of it! Here are 5 stages to prepare yourself for before you start house hunting!

STAGE 1: CONFUSION

You’re buying your first house… Of course you’re confused about where to start. That’s why I create videos and ALSO why I always always have a new home buyer discovery meeting before starting to look at houses. I spend that time with you not only digging into what you truly want in a house but I also educate you on the different steps of the process, how it all works and what you should be prepared for!

STAGE 2: EXCITEMENT

After the consultation we set up your official home search and start looking at houses! At this point you’re excited because it’s really happening! You’ve officially begun your journey to homeownership! You will get excited when a new listing that fits your criteria pops up! When we schedule private tours to see your top favorites and you get to start looking! It’s so much fun! You’re also going to experience excitement when you find THE ONE and get an accepted offer! You’ll be in celebration mode that day!

STAGE 3: DOUBT

There will likely be some point in the process where you experience doubt. Whether you’re not finding a house you love enough to write an offer or you wrote an offer that wasn’t accepted. You might start to feel discouraged. But I promise, you won’t be a renter forever. Sometimes it just takes a bit longer depending on the market, what’s available and how much competition there is. This is where we can regroup! We can talk about different strategies to help your next offer stand out in a competitive scenario. Or we can look at your search criteria and see if you want to make any changes. Sometimes you just need a little extra patience depending on the situation. When you get to this stage, I’ll be sure to help walk you through it!

STAGE 4: ANXIETY

You submitted your first offer and you’re anxiously waiting to hear back from the sellers. I just want to tell you right now that there’s a pretty good chance that you’re going to feel a little bit anxious while you wait. I always walk my buyers through the entire offer to purchase so they know their options and from there we determine how to fill it out based on a variety of factors. So while you’re waiting, you can be reassured that you made your best offer based on the circumstances and what is comfortable for you! That means, if it doesn’t get accepted, it probably wasn’t the right home for you!

STAGE 5: FRUSTRATION

I PROMISE I’m not trying to scare you off! I just want you to be prepared so there are no surprises! So in all honesty, there can be some moments of frustration as you go through the home buying process. There will be times we have to negotiate with the sellers on price, on home inspection repairs, and other contingencies within our offer. If the sellers don’t agree to your requests or they are refusing to negotiate at all. Don’t worry, when we reach this stage, I will help walk you through it and calm your frustrations. We will talk about your options and go from there. It will all work out in the end so just try to remain calm during any frustrating times and know that it will all work out.

There you have it! The 5 stages to prepare for during the home buying process. But the BEST news is, when you get to the end, you get to go back to STAGE 2 which is EXCITEMENT! Once you’re at the closing table and you get the keys to your new house, all of the other stages will be so worth it!

If you have more questions about buying a home or would like to learn about the entire process, let’s schedule a home buyer education meeting! That way I can share what I do to help my buyers make smart real estate decisions. I like to do this over coffee (Your favorite coffee will be on me!) Just comment below or hop in my DM’s if you’d like to get on my calendar.

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