Buyer Guide - Style Two
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Welcome to real estate in Minnesota! My Real Estate Buyer Guide is my play book to guide you from house hunting to the housewarming party. Whether this is your first venture into owning real estate or your 10th, it never hurts to review the process, especially since there are changes to our industry every year. The process of buying a home has many steps, and I want you to feel comfortable throughout the process. You don’t need to know everything at the start. As new questions come up, I hope that referring to this booklet can help answer them. And remember, I’ll be with you every step of the way. You can contact me at any time, and I am happy to explain each step in more detail. I can answer all your questions up front, as well as go over the details of the process of buying real estate, at what I call a Buyer Consultation. I want you to be prepared at every stage so you can proceed with confidence as we focus on finding you a home.
While house hunting, you will be extra aware of all sorts of real estate things. It is as if the real estate market will come alive for you. This phenomenon of “what you focus on expands” means that when you are actively engaged in something like buying a house your world will suddenly be full of things that were invisible to you previously. You may also find that your friends and co-workers will “house shop” vicariously through you as you share with them your experience in the real estate market. Please feel free to give them my card if they’d like any help with real estate. You may find it helpful to bring along your parents, friends or children as “consultants.”
Please know that as we tour homes I will be focused on you. In my experience, your house hunting must be 100% about your needs and those of your family, and about finding the house that will meet your needs and make your wallet happy. Let’s all focus on our common goal – and get you a great home. I believe strongly in the village approach. I am your coach and I will help manage your team. There are important decisions you need to make, and my goal with this book is not only to break down the steps of how to buy a house but also to reduce future instances of “if we had known” and help you do it right the first time. An investment this big deserves your time and full attention. Be confident that I will be giving it all I’ve got.
One of the very first disclosures you’ll see is the Agency Relationship Disclosure, which
deals with the role of the real estate agent in a transaction. This document spells out my obligations to my client, including the principle of dual agency. Because it is important to understand the way that dual agency works in Minnesota, we will cover this in detail and address any questions you may have.
Please tell me the best times and methods to communicate with you so I can respect your time. Also add my contact information to your phone and email address books. I strongly believe in direct personal contact, so I highly value phone calls and meeting in person, but please tell me how you prefer to communicate so I can reach you in our fast-paced multitasking world.
The best ways to reach me are by phone, text or email. Please text or call me anytime, and please leave a message if I miss your call. I will get back to you as soon as possible. My pledge to you: I will respond promptly to your phone calls, text messages and emails and do my best to answer all your questions. Where further research is appropriate, I will keep you informed of my progress and keep working until I have all the information you need.
My work hours are generally 9am-5pm Monday to Friday, but I am also available in the evenings after 7pm and on weekends. We will meet and view properties at times that work for you. I am happy to schedule appointments on short notice; just ask and we’ll get it on the calendar. In certain market conditions it’s in your best interest to see a property right away when it first hits the market. For example, in the last two years I have made six sales on first day showings.
It won’t take long for you to see that we still use a lot of paper in real estate! There will be many documents, contracts and disclosures that you’ll need to read, initial and sign. It will be important to keep track of everything. I will always keep a copy of everything you sign with me, and I will give you a paper copy or send a PDF copy to your email. Please store paper copies in the red Edina Realty folder I give you. You can store electronic copies in a folder on your desktop or use Google Drive.
Edina Realty also offers a secure cloud for storage of your real estate documents. The system is called Home Docs (documents, not doctors), and registration and use of the system is free for you. Please tell me if you’d like me to set this up for you. If you ever need another copy of any real estate document, just ask and I’ll send it to you. I will also send copies to anyone on your team, such as your mortgage company, title company, insurance agent and attorney as appropriate.
While it only takes an instant to fall in love with a house, it will take several weeks to finally close the transaction and move in, and a small army (your team) will be involved along the way. Anticipating the time involved will help you plan for scheduling movers and setting up utilities but also for giving notice to your landlord if you’re renting. The timeline to buy a home takes around 60 days on average but keep in mind that this process can be somewhat shorter or quite a bit longer, depending on your individual circumstances. I am happy to advise you as we proceed.
Download the complete Buyer Guide at JESSESTEED.COM
