How to Buy a House Like a Pro
10 house hunting tips to help your realtor help you from Thang M. C. Holt.
The backstory
It’s been two years since we held that SOLD sign. Not to go down COVID lane, but if you would have told me two years ago that we’d be spending the majority of the next two years in isolation at home, I would have made the condo-to-house move that minute. Funny enough, we ended up buying this house (before we sold our condo 🤪) in what felt like a minute. Over exaggerations aside, the only way we are lucky enough to call this house our home is because of our friend and best-in-class realtor ✨Thang✨.
Knowing how crazy the housing market still is in the Twin Cities, and in many other cities - don’t even think about buying in Hawai’i right now unless you’re swimming in cash - we asked Thang to share his 10 tips for being the kind of clients realtors want to work with. After all, they’re the one who will be there for you for all the things that happen when you buy a home. So, don’t you want to be the kind of buyer they want to work with? 🗣Help them help you and make your life easier by making their job easier. Get ready to ✍️ take ✍️ notes ✍️. Here’s how to buy a house like a pro from an expert realtor himself.
Meet Thang
Thang Holt , CEO/Lead Realtor®
The Greater Global Homes Group w/ Teams Proudly Serving Minneapolis-Saint Paul & Greater Des Moines
For many years, even decades, I have found myself drawn to a wide array of careers and jobs hoping to find that perfect occupation that offers that fulfilling balance of challenge, impact, and growth. Challenge in that it could provide a continued fountain of developmental opportunities, impact in the amount of lives that I could serve and help grow in fruitful ways, and growth of my own opportunities in the many ways I can show up, step up, and speak up for my industry and the communities that we serve.
Skip 10 years later into my professional career, I finally cut my W-2 umbilical cord and embraced the world of 1099 self-employment in the real estate industry - and frankly, I wouldn’t change it for the world. Fast forward to 2021 where we have the privilege of serving over 200 families across the country each year, earn our clients millions of dollars worth of wealth and grow legacies by way of real estate in monumental ways of breaking generations of poverty. So, to be asked by my dear friends, the Komos, to write a piece on how to buy a house and be an all-star client in the process, is a bit humbling simply because I get to wake up, put on my armor each day, and go to the battlefield to fight for the hopes and dreams of so many amazing humans.
With that said, I do believe that we all want to wake up each day to do better and be better - and that includes our truly incredible community of clients. So, with humility and honor, I offer you my top 10 tips to being the type of client that your Realtor® dreams about, pines over, and passionately fights for each day:
1. Come To The Table With Open Hearts & Open Minds To Learn
We operate from a fundamental belief that knowledge is power. Years ago when I started, clients hired me to give them information about properties, the market, and the experience of homeownership. Today, with information at fingertips, our jobs have now shifted to not just providing information, but helping clients filter all the information to extract the facts that pertain to, are beneficial for, and applicable to their individual wants and needs. Know that just because your Uncle Bob got a 2.75% interest rate doesn’t mean you will.
Or just because your friend from high school had to sacrifice their first born to win their home in multiple offers doesn’t mean you have to. You don’t have to live that life.
2. Get Pre-Approved
Oftentimes, the hardest conversations are the most important. When it comes to buying a home, very few have the capacity to bring an all cash offer. This means you’ll likely be reliant on getting approved for a home mortgage - which can sometimes feel like you’re running a never-ending obstacle course...blindfolded. You have 30-days to shop as many lenders as you wish and only have those credit pulls hit your credit report once. Use this time to gather both loan estimates, interview your loan officers for unique strategies and skills, and gain a better understanding of how those lenders will fight for you, work for you, and partner with you in your goals of purchasing a new home. You’ll be asked for a number of documents, you’ll need to understand your financial obligations (monthly payments, cash to close, fees, etc.) and you’ll want to be able to communicate with your lenders during the times you’re seeing and shopping for homes. Checking this off the list first helps to ensure the rest of the process will be more fun and enjoyable.
3. Know Who You Trust To Protect Your Largest Financial Asset
For many of us, our homes are not just the backdrop to memories, celebrations and milestones - but in effect, over the years, it is our largest financial asset and investment. Finding the right home means having control of what you do with it in the future - this ensures that you maintain a net-positive asset versus a high risk liability. What that property looks like depends on a number of variables and factors - choosing a Realtor® and real estate agent that you trust to help you work through those options will ensure that you are protecting your largest financial asset and not purchasing a detrimental liability for your future. While this relationship tends to yield deep and meaningful bonds, it’s important to have professional skills that you need in that trusted expert in the real estate field to guide you through the ever-changing variables of the housing market.
4. Communicate: Effectively. Promptly. Thoroughly.
Regardless of market conditions, everyone wants the same thing - buyers want the best home for the best price and sellers want the best price with the best buyer. The most important factor to make this happen smoothly is communication. Whoever you choose to be your winning team (lenders, agents, inspectors, etc.) must be able to communicate with you effectively and must have your trust to get communication effectively from you. Additionally, all things in real estate are time sensitive, so prompt and timely communication may mean the difference between a lost opportunity or a huge win! Lastly, the sheer depth in complexities that comprises a real estate transaction is enough to make your eyes glaze over, not to mention take the wind out of your excited sails in finding your dream home. It’s imperative that you understand the details without getting overwhelmed - asking questions, discussing options, and talking through scenarios will help you better discern the difference between real concerns to protect you versus implied fears that prevent you from making sound decisions.
5. Write Down Your 1-5 Year Plan
The average home, when compatible with buyers’ goals yield a minimum return of 5%-10% year-to-year in gains and [straight-line] appreciation - that means that a $250,000.00 home should turn around over the course of time and net you a gain of about $12,500-$25,000 each year. In our current market, many of our sellers are turning around to after 2-3 years and walking away with over $100,000.00 in profit. For some homeowners, profitability is second to the perfect home for their family. Whatever your goals are over the course of 1-5 years, it’s important to write them down and keep them front and center as you embark on your home sale or home purchase. Plans to house-hack for a lower cost of living, providing a home for your growing family, adding to an aggressively growing portfolio of rentals, pursuing retirement by the age of 40 using real estate investments, etc. These are all real possibilities - but they all require different approaches. Know your plan and partner with a team to help you bring those plans to fruition.
6. Have All Decision-Makers At The Table
This seems simple, but you’d be surprised how often buyers or sellers are relying on the opinions or support of family members, friends, trusted colleagues, etc. in their buying or selling decisions, only to find out half-way through the transaction when they need their distant 3rd cousin who is a real estate agent on the other side of the world to come in and vet their purchase or sale. There are so many variables that are unique to your specific transaction, that specific home, not to mention every market and sub-market in real estate. Having all parties involved from the beginning helps to ensure that we’re addressing everyone’s concerns, needs, and providing the information to help all parties feel validated, informed, and excited about however we proceed. Conversely, having decision-makers pop in and out of the experience as you go only leads to mass confusion, distrust, and lack of confidence in what could potentially be a missed opportunity for you.
7. Know Your Non-Negotiables
Most of the time, we’re looking at buying or selling existing homes that have endured decades or centuries of life. These homes are not perfect by any means or measure - but instead, come with generations of love and care. Most of us will never intentionally do anything that will yield a contentious, dangerous, or unsafe place for us or our families to reside. Whether you’re buying or selling, it's important for you to know that every home comes with it’s own set of needs and it’s up to you and your real estate team to discern what they are, and if you’re adequately equipped to take on it’s responsibilities. You will likely be putting money into your home (if you haven’t already as you’ve owned it) whether it’s a new kitchen, updated electrical, a new roof, or replacing a furnace or water heater - doing so not only will allow you to be more comfortable in the home as you live in it, but may also add future value to the property for resale. Knowing what you cannot or will not be able to take care of is just as important as knowing what you can - overcommitting to work, projects, or needs of a home is just signing up for bad news and failure when it comes time to sell it or hand it over to a new buyer.
8. How will this home serve you and your lifestyle?
Typically, we find that homes find the same owners in life - first time homebuyers, empty-nesters, growing families, rental properties, etc. If you’re selling, understanding how your home offers the best experience for buyers will help you communicate its value to maximize your return. For buyers, a home is a component of your life, so understanding how you’re going to use the space (entertaining family/friends, gather for meals, meet the needs of your hobbies and interests, etc.) or how it provides access to important amenities (grocery stores, parks, schools, trails, lakes, etc.) will be important to ensure that it meets your needs beyond just being a beautiful home.
9. Timing Is Everything.
I won’t insult your intelligence as I know you’re all well aware of the current market conditions - but even in a non-combative hyper-competitive market, timing is everything when it comes to real estate. As an example, I took a listing years ago that was on the market for 2 years without selling. It took us 5 days to prep it, rebrand it, and market it to get not just 1 but 3 offers making our sellers more than they thought possible after 2 years of wasted energy, anxiety and frustrations. If the buyers had gone in and assumed that this listing didn’t sell for 2 years because something was wrong with it, they would have missed an incredible opportunity to own a very well cared for home that simply just wasn’t marketed properly. Similarly, even in a down-market, a great home will sell if priced properly in multiple offers - so it’s important that whether you’re selling or buying, you’re going into that experience prepared and proactively set up so that when the right offer comes up or the right home presents itself, you’re ready to go. Side note: every client is different - some need more info than others, some need more support, others need more education, while some need a combination of these things. Regardless of who you are and what you need, it’s important that you have a team of professionals that can serve you in a timely manner, setting you up for success.
10. Have Fun
The entire point of this whole journey is to secure you the best home for your needs or sell your home to net you the most for your investment. The end outcome of these scenarios should be rewarding and fulfilling - not daunting, painful, or full of regret/anxiety. Understanding that people have been transacting homes for centuries before this, and will continue to do so for centuries after this, should offer some peace and comfort in an ever-changing market. There will always be surprises, there will be a lot of anxiety, and there will be challenges - we work really hard to limit these as much as possible, but more importantly, we’re here to serve, we’re here to care, and we’re here to help you make your goals of homeownership a success. So don’t forget to take a moment and smile at the possibilities, dream about the future, and let the future show you what is possible despite the challenges that you may encounter along the way! There’s much that we cannot promise you during a real estate transaction, but we can promise that if you are committed to having fun, you’ll find much success every step of the way!
And that really is the point, isn’t it? After all, very few people purchase homes for financial reasons - most people purchase or sell homes because of emotions. Whether that’s the dream of their own home, the potential opportunities that can be possible financially, the memories they can make with their loved ones, or because they want to retire and enjoy life in paradise someday in the near future. Whatever it is, ensuring that it’s successful is most agents’ goal - our livelihoods fundamentally depend on it. That said, my hope is that having some insight on the aforementioned tips will help you go into this journey to not only have the best experience ever, but also partnering with your “dream team” of professionals cultivating a lifelong relationship beyond the transaction - one that will certainly yield you years of friendships and value as you grow and care for your new home!!
Happy Hunting.
