When buying a home, it’s easy to get carried away and make snap decisions when you come upon your ideal property. But is it really your ideal home? It’s always best to be as thorough as possible before making that final decision. Here is a list of a few things you can consider.

Location
The location of your home is quite possibly the most important factor when it comes to choosing the right home. Consider the how close the property is to the city, ease of access to public transportation, your place of employment and the way traffic in the area would affect your trip to and from work or your children’s commute to school.

Financial Position
Most homeowners will need a mortgage when buying or building a home. A mortgage is a loan from the bank that will cover the cost of your home. When considering which bank to acquire a loan from, you will be informed of how much each bank is willing to lend you based on your credit score and income. Which gives you an idea of what you can afford when house hunting.

Size & Affordability
Having a spacious home with room to do as you please is great. But is that extra bathroom worth it? Is it in your best interests financially to buy a larger home? Before purchasing a home consider that the size of the property relates to its price, your loan and mortgage, utility bills and taxes.

Wear & Tear
Enquire about the age of the house and survey the property for damage like cracks and damp. If there are renovations to be made, consider the cost effectiveness of the repairing vs. choosing a different property. Seek professional advice about problems that could worsen in the future and get an estimate of how much you would spend on repairs.

Room For Improvement
Not every dream home is what you want it to be at first glance. But buyers who see the potential and have an interest in renovating and improving their property value should consider the space limitations and again, cost effectiveness of adding additional rooms to their property. Think about whether it would be better to buy a home with the space you need rather than building additional quarters.

Getting The Right Help
We’ve already talked about choosing an agent and what to look for, but the importance of having the counsel and assistance of a good real estate agent can’t be stressed enough when it comes to choosing your property. Buying your home is one of the biggest investments in any person’s life and mistakes made during the process can be detrimental.

Property is the largest and most important asset that many of us will possess in our lives, and represents the greatest portion of all our personal wealth or business capital. Deals involving real estate are some of the biggest transactions most of us will ever undertake and the value of such transactions cannot be understated.

Buying and selling property, and executing real estate dealings should be as straightforward as possible and can be if you find a good real estate agent. However, with so many agents out there specializing in so many different aspects of the industry, the process may sometimes seem daunting. So here is an easy way you can go about finding the agent that is right for you.

Where to Find Good Agents

In recent times, finding an agent is as easy as looking in the Yellow Pages or searching Google for agents operating in the area you want. However, when looking for a good agent that meets your specific needs, it requires a little more effort.

Word of Mouth Referrals
Ask around, there is a high probability that a family member, friend, neighbour or co-worker has engaged a real estate firm, was happy with the service provided and would offer a good recommendation.

Local Property Listing Publications
Local property listing publications such as The Barbados Property News tend to have the most extensive collection of ads. Check out firms advertising similar properties in the types of neighbourhoods you are interested in. Newspapers are definitely not an option to be overlooked.

Online
We are on the Internet, so too should any good real estate firm. A firm’s online presence sometimes speaks volumes about the level of professionalism, quality of services, specialty and expertise, and their experience level. With the emergence of social media, it is now possible to read comments and reviews from other customers about their different interactions and past experiences from the comfort of your own home.

Visit an Open House
After short-listing a few agents for consideration,you need a way to evaluate skills on the job. One of the best ways is to request a visit to one of the properties they currently have on display. It gives you a chance to see them in action by paying attention to the way they are presenting the home.

Characteristics of Good Agents you Should Look Out For

Your short-list of potential agents provides you with a starting basis, so feel free to engage them remembering that you don’t have to sign anything up front. Real estate deals should never be rushed and it’s sometimes better to shop around before making your final decision.

Courtesy and Professionalism
These skills are ‘gold standards’ in real estate and any professional service. As the client you should expect nothing less than a polite and patient representative demonstrating ‘professional conduct’.

What to look For: Your agent listens and is attentive to your needs; fulfils commitments to you (ahead of the sale); returns your phone calls and is on time.

Track Record
There’s no undervaluing a good track record. During the initial interview, the agent should provide documents indicating their record of performance. This allows you to get a feel of how they do business, their areas of success and their sales record or past accomplishments.

Guidance and Advice
The value derived from having a knowledgeable real estate agent to expertly guide you during the process cannot be understated. Every time you connect with an agent look at the way he engages with you. Are they taking the time to explain or go over terms and details with you? Pay attention to how willing they are to provide you with additional information at your request, to facilitate the easy flow of the deal.

Initial Assessment
A professional agent should meet with you initially to determine if your individual situation is in keeping with their service offerings and their particular niche and expertise in the real estate market. While the agent is reviewing your details, you should not only be assessing their performance, techniques and capabilities, but also soft skills like the ability to communicate, resourcefulness, listening ability and honesty.

Making the Choice
After separating the wheat from the chaff, you should now have your shortlist of superstars. All that is left to do is to choose the one that can meet your needs, happy hunting!

Coming Up in the Next Post

In this article we made you more aware of where you can find good agents and the characteristics to look for in good real estate professionals. Our next article will be taking an in-depth look at lending, where you will be guided through the borrowing process.
In the meanwhile, you can share any comments you may have with your fellow readers.

Buying a house is one of the biggest financial transactions you will undertake in your lifetime and should not be taken lightly. When the going gets tough, it is important to remember the purpose of your search; to find the perfect house and turn it into the perfect home. Your home becomes your sanctuary where you relax after a stressful day, raise kids in comfort, and entertain family and friends. Deciding and agreeing on the right house can be a long and exhaustive process therefore start the looking as far in advance of your move as you possibly can. The search can be simplified by being methodological. Keep in mind there are as many houses as there are different tastes and needs for housing, therefore you will find your perfect home. Making the decision to buy or build is a personal and lifestyle choice but here is some information that will help you in your decision making process.

What kind of house do you want?

There are many options; remodels, pre-owned houses, custom built homes, and owner built homes. With a new built house you can choose a floor plan to suit your present and future needs. You can customize your house down to the carpet colour, window type and household gadgets; building a more efficient and effective house. Pre-existing homes offer more character than newer homes, but remember that a custom built house can have as much character and charm as the homeowner wants. Older homes tend to have more mature landscapes than new constructions, though to an avid gardener this offers a blank canvas to design a garden of your individual taste

How much money are you willing to shell out?

The cost of purchasing a pre-existing home is normally less by the square foot than building a new home. If you decide on building in a development don’t forget the hidden costs including association fees, and landscaping. On the flip side if you chose to buy a pre-existing home you may still have to update the house to suit your needs meaning more costs in the long run. If you have the construction wherewithal, easy access to supplies, and a source of labour for difficult parts of the home building process you can tailor your home for your needs and/or aesthetic tastes and potentially afford property in pricier neighbourhoods. Moreover, if you time the market accurately, not only might your property appreciate over time, but your home itself could serve as an attractive selling point years down the line when you are ready to move. On the other hand, buying an existing home allows you to move in as soon as possible and to take advantage of the architectural and aesthetic features that are already there. You can modify them at personal expense to get the custom fit house that you desire without spending weeks to months on construction. Moreover, you don’t need to have any specialized knowledge about construction to purchase an established house. New built and resale homes have advantages and disadvantages your task is to determine what you prefer and decide. Remember the correct answer to the build or buy is as unique as you are.

This month we give a few tips on staging your property for sale. We had first hand experience of the value of staging recently when one of our vendors staged their properties so professionally that we think they created a desire to own it or to live there by almost every potential buyer we showed the property to. The owners ended up selling the property for considerably more, in our opinion, than if they had not done such a great job in presenting the property so well.

The Market

We have found that the market has continued to soften somewhat from the activity we saw in January when it was as though many potential buyers who put off their purchase or moving plans during the latter part of 2009 decided that they could wait no longer and that now was a good time to buy.

We think that the signs from government that things are likely to get tougher (team Barbados), the softening of the pound £, the financial concerns over Greece, Iceland, Spain and Ireland affecting the EU and the varied and wavering good and bad news coming out of the US (a little more bad than good) lead us to believe that we are unlikely to see an improvement in the market for some time to come.

With this in mind, we believe that anyone who is serious about selling now must price their property competitively in order to attract potential purchasers. Having said this, we are still selling properties where the vendors are willing to negotiate and there remains a shortage of good quality private homes between $500,000 and $1.5M.

There are some great private deals for properties that are not officially on the market such as 4 acres in St. Thomas for Bds$450,000 (rough interior land) and a 14,100sqft lot in Welches Terrace with a sea view that is likely to sell for around $22.50per/sq/ft.

We hope you find the above information useful and wish you every success with your property adventures.

See you next month.