As a realtor® for the last 12 years, I have helped a lot of people buy and sell homes. During that time, I have learned a lot about assisting buyers and sellers in navigating a transaction and have helped manage their expectations.A few months ago, I decided that it was time to move from my home that I’ve lived in for 16 years, so I’d been looking for just the right place to move to.I was surprised at how quickly my professional mindset went out the window and my emotions kicked in when the deal was my own! In the sage words of my broker, Jerry Abbott, “Every Realtor should buy or sell their own home every 5 years so they can remember and relate to what their clients go through”….boy was he right. Here is what I was reminded of as I sat in the buyer’s seat:

Don’t Rely Solely on the Pictures When Determining if a House is Right for You - One of my fellow Realtors and friend had a listing. Knowing me so well, she encouraged me to go and see it. I had viewed the pictures online and had immediately ruled it out…it wasn’t the size I wanted, I thought I wanted a pool and there were too many bedrooms. She insisted it would be perfect for me and after blowing her off a few times, I decided to go and check it out if only to appease her. Guess what? She was right. Standing in the living room I said out loud, “I love this house.” Pictures are good for marketing but don’t give a feel for the floor plan or spatial context. If you think something might work at all, go see it in person!

Home Buying is a Process of Elimination, not of Selection - I have said this many times to buyers over the years. The best way to determine if something is right for you is to see what is not. After having viewed the house that I really liked, I went and looked at a few others to compare. That solidified my decision to move forward and write an offer on the house that stood out to me in the beginning.

Keep Emotions in Check - Uh oh…..It happened. I lost my cool and let emotions get the best of me. I did what I tell all buyers not to do! I fell in love with the house before I had won in the offer process. This can be dangerous because it can cause you to make decisions in writing your offer that you later feel uncomfortable with. Try to make reasonable and logical decisions when it comes to what you offer while heavily considering what kind of market you are purchasing in. In our current seller’s market, you want to go in strong and give it your best shot the very first time as the seller may not counter and just accept the offer they most like. Thankfully that happened in this case and mine was the winner!

Rely on your Realtor® - Hopefully you have enlisted the help of a real estate agent that you trust. If you have, lean into them. If they’ve been showing you homes for a while, most likely they have an idea of what you’re looking for. Let them guide you for what to do to write the winning offer, listen to their suggestions for things you may not have thought of and please, don’t let shows on HGTV override their advice when they have their finger on the pulse of the local market.