Step 4 to Buying a Home: Finding the Home of Your Dreams
At this point, you’re probably excited and full of optimism. You’ve gotten pre-approved, your checklist printed out and have (hopefully) started to complete it. Now comes the most important step… finding the right home.
Before we start, make a list of your top 4-6 needs and a list of your top 4-6 wants. Examples of needs are:
- How many bedrooms do I need? Will I need one for an office or play/hobby room?
- In a certain school district/s
- Yard for the dog
- Gas cooktop/range
- Updated and move in ready (because you don’t even own a hammer)
- These are the things you absolutely cannot live without. You won’t even see a property unless it has every one of the above items. Get it?
- Then, make a list of your wants. Examples of wants are:
- Hardwood floors throughout
- Ensuite master bathroom with double sinks
- Updated kitchen with granite and stainless steel
- Wood burning fireplace
Click here to see a list that will help you think through priorities vs wants.
Once you’ve made your lists, email them to me. That way when you see a property you love with the kitchen of your dreams, we can remind you that it doesn’t have a gas range so we don’t waste time seeing it. Once that’s done, we’ll set you up for auto search on MLS. This means that periodically you’ll get an email with new properties that have come on the market that match your criteria as well as any price changes which may put homes in your budget that were previously over your budget. It’s the best way to find a great home in Nashville.
To do …
- Check the MLS feed email notifications daily and review all of the properties sent to you. Take some time to review the photographs and details of the property. Pull it up on google maps and take a look at the street and surrounding homes/area to be sure it’s in a location you like. It’s disappointing to think you’ve found the home of your dreams only to find upon showing that it is located next to a power substation or backs up to a dump. Checking photographs and google can save you time.
- If you find a home that you wish to see, send me an email or text along with your availability and I’ll set up a showing. It’s important to set up showings sooner than later as properties can sell quickly in the current Nashville market.
- Once a showing time has been established, you’ll receive a confirmation text of our meeting location.
While you’re looking at the MLS feeds each day, our Village team will also be networking to find you homes before they go on the market.
At this point there should be no need for you to continue to look on other sites such as Zillow, Trulia, etc. as all of those properties should be showing up in your MLS feed. If one isn’t for some reason, let me know and I’ll check the search parameters of your MLS feed. If you see a “coming soon” sign for a property that you’re interested in knowing more about, let me know the address of the property as well as the listing company and I’ll find information for you.
Now on to the showings! Read this great article about how many showings it usually takes to find the ONE.