Several years ago my wife and I embarked on the journey of becoming homeowners and during the process we visited many, many, many open houses and I don’t about you but my tolerance is viewing about 5 homes after that I’m mentally drained, tired, hungry, grumpy, and overwhelmed . Now fast forward… to today as a Realtor that sells homes and has hosted many, many, many open houses I see the face of potential buyers coming through with that drained, tired, hungry, and grumpy look. So to help with giving you a better experience when going to open houses here are some tips that you will find helpful.
Tips for a better open house viewing experience:
- Eat before going to view open houses and try eating foods that will help to give you energy all day. By having a meal before viewing homes it’ll help to keep your mind alert to help process information faster and ask the right questions. Here in Silicon Valley you’ll easily be spending over $500,000 for a home so you want to make sure your are prepared in any way that will give you an edge when it comes to buying a home. Here’s some great info on energy foods that can help.
- Preparing and having a game plan will help. Research the homes you want to see and plan the route so that your’e not going from one end of town to the other end then back again. Believe me i’ve witnessed this many times.
- Prepare a list of questions to ask the listing agent this will help you stay focused and this will able to get you in and get out quickly, unless you really love the home then you may end up staying longer. If you need help with what questions to ask here’s three easy questions to get you started.
- Why does the seller need to sell? (Gives you an idea on the seller’s motivation)
- What is the seller’s time frame to sell? (If the seller has to sell quickly this may give you an advantage when putting in an offer)
- Are there any offers on-hand? (This will give you an idea if there is stiff competition for the home)
- Here are 20 proven questions that will guarantee you, to learn more about a home than the average buyer.
- Make it a point to get your exercise in before. This will help to boost your energy throughout the day due to the release of endorphins.
- Pack yourself a snack bag and bring water. This can be used as a grumpy emergency kit if you are still get hungry.
- Bring a note pad and as you visit a home use it to make notes on what you like and don’t like about the home. What really helps my clients is for them to give the home a rating “1” being the worst and “10” being the “I must get this home”. This will really help you from becoming overwhelmed and will give you a systematic approach to choosing the best home when it comes to putting in an offer.
I do hope that these tips will help prepare you with a better open house viewing experience and this is just one of the many tips that are out there if you happen to have any want to share please do so. Happy house hunting and if you happen to come through to one of the open houses that I’m hosting please say hello.