The One Thing I Want Buyers to Do Before Touring Homes

There are a lot of exciting parts of buying a home. Touring houses. Imagining where your furniture will go. Finding the one. Writing the offer.

But before we do any of that, there's one thing I want you to do:

Sit down with me for a buyer consultation.

A meeting probably doesn't sound like the most exciting part of the process, but as someone who has been helping people buy and sell homes for over a decade, I can tell you that starting with a buyer consultation is one of the most important.

Before I start touring homes with a buyer, I like to spend some real time together talking through what they're looking for, what the buying process will look like, and what they can expect from me along the way.

My buyer consultations usually take about an hour. Sometimes a little longer. And I consider that time incredibly well spent.

Because my goal isn't just to help you find a house. It's to make sure you understand what you're doing when it comes time to buy one.

We Start With Your Hopes and Dreams

First, I want to know what you're actually looking for.

How much space do you need? What price point are you targeting? Are you picturing an older home in Central Austin, something newer in the suburbs, or are you open to either? How important are the number of bedrooms, the yard, the commute, the neighborhood, or the style of the home?

If you've already talked to a lender, even better. Knowing your target price range means we can get much more specific about where and what we should be looking at.

Then we pull up the MLS and build your search together.

We can draw the areas you're considering on the map, plug in your criteria, and look at the homes that are actually available. Instead of me making assumptions about what you mean by "a little more space" or "close to downtown," we can look at real houses and figure it out together.

Once we've got it right, I save the search so you'll automatically see new listings that meet your criteria as they hit the MLS.

But even more importantly, we start learning what your budget and priorities look like in the real Austin housing market.

Then We Talk About What You're Actually Buying

Looking at listings together naturally leads us into another important conversation: the homes themselves.

Maybe you're interested in a neighborhood where a lot of the houses were built in the 1960s. Great. Let's talk about what you might encounter in a home of that age.

Could it have cast iron sewer lines? What would it mean if it does? What might an inspection uncover? What kinds of repairs should you be prepared to evaluate?

We'll also talk about what's happening in the neighborhoods you're considering. How much inventory is available? How quickly are homes selling? What does the current market mean for the way we approach an offer?

A house doesn't exist in a vacuum. Neither does your offer.

The more we understand before we start touring, the better prepared you are when something you really like comes along.

We Walk Through the Whole Buying Process

Next, we go through what actually happens when you buy a house.

And I mean the whole thing.

I have a buyer guide that lays out the process from consultation and financing through touring, offers, negotiations, inspections, appraisal and closing. There's a linear version for my fellow process people, plus a narrative explanation for those of you who would rather not look at a flowchart.

We talk about questions like:

What happens after you make an offer? How does negotiation work? What is the option period? Which inspections might you need? What happens if an inspection uncovers a major problem? How much should you expect to spend on inspections, an appraisal and other expenses along the way? What happens between going under contract and getting the keys?

I don't want the first time you hear the words "option period" to be when we're discussing how many days you want to request in an offer.

When that moment comes, I want you to already understand what it means and why it matters.

Yes, We Talk About the Forms Too

This might be the least glamorous part of the buyer consultation, but it gives us a chance to start our working relationship with everything out in the open.

We go through the forms and disclosures I'll be asking you to sign.

Actually go through them.

If I'm asking you to sign something that affects our working relationship or your home purchase, I want you to understand what it says and have the opportunity to ask questions about it.

Some of it is serious. Some of it gives us an opportunity to have a little fun.

There are disclosures about things like noise. For example, I will absolutely remind you that buying a condo in downtown Austin and then being shocked that you can hear live music is perhaps not the strongest plan.

The point is that you know what you're signing and why you're signing it.

A Better Home Search Starts Before the First Showing

As with most important things in life, a buyer consultation looks a little different for everyone.

If you're buying your first home, we may spend more time talking through terminology and the mechanics of a transaction. If this is your third home, we can focus more on what has changed since your last purchase. If you're an investor, our priorities and conversations may be different altogether.

But the purpose is always the same.

I want to understand you, your priorities and how you make decisions. And I want you to understand the process, my approach and what you can expect from me.

An informed buyer is an empowered buyer.

And when the right house hits the market, I don't want to start explaining the basics while you're trying to decide whether to make an offer.

I want you to already understand the process so we can focus on the house in front of us, the terms that matter and the decisions you need to make.

That's why, for me, a good home search doesn't start at the first showing.

It starts with that one really important thing: sitting down together for a buyer consultation.

Want More Info?

If you’d like more information on buyer consultations, or maybe reading isn’t your favorite thing and you skipped down to the bottom looking for a video link, well you’re in luck!

Watch my video, The Buyer Consultation with Ashley Jackson here: