30 Home Buying and Selling Tips for 30

For Buyers

• Your lender is just as important as your agent – find someone who is working the hours your agent is, is willing to take the time to review numbers with you before you make an offer, and offers up strategies and solutions rather than just doing the minimum
• Find a home that meets 75% of your criteria – ideally, the criteria you can’t change (location, floorplan, natural light) – it doesn’t have to be (and likely won’t be) your dream home. That doesn’t mean it’s not a good investment.
• Buy a house/townhouse/condo as early in your life as you can
• If you woke up tomorrow and it was under contract would you be sad? If your agent called to tell you “Congratulations, you got the house!” would you be happy? If the answer to those questions is “yes” – you found a home worth making an offer on
• Don’t sign an agency with someone until you’ve seen how they tour homes with you
• Look at numbers, disclosures, previous sales, etc BEFORE touring the home
• The brokerage your agent works for doesn’t matter. It can harm you just as much as it can be helpful.
• If you trust your agent, seek their advice and use their vendor partners – this is what they are trained to do and your transaction will be 100% smoother and work out better in doing so
• If it doesn’t feel a bit scary or cause a little anxiety, THEN I would be worried. This is a big investment and it’s ok to feel all the things – don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
• There’s a reason agents pay for leads, be careful with clicks on Zillow, paid instagram ads, etc.

For Sellers

• Home pricing is based on location, condition, and price. And price can solve the other two.
• It’s worth the pre-market prep and money – there’s only one way to make a good first impression.
• Pools are just as much a feature as they are a deterrent when selling a home
• It’s impossible to underprice a home.
• You will learn from experience – whether it’s yours or an agents. Read that again.
• Agents don’t know everything, cannot guarantee anything, and shouldn’t promise.
• Ask to see an agent’s previous “work” before signing anything
• If you can keep the property forever, keep it, but not if it affects you from purchasing the next home you want. It’s not worth it.
• The brokerage your agent works for doesn’t matter. It can harm you just as much as it can be helpful.
• Your first offer is 8 times out of 10 your best. Proceed with caution.

For Agents

• Other agents and other people are going to tell you that you can’t do it on your own…you can.
• You don’t have to work with everyone who may want to work with you
• Set boundaries early – they are much harder to set later down the road
• Hire an assistant who’s good at everything you’re bad at as soon as you can. It’s worth the investment (and yes, it is an investment)
• Take a weekend off a month and don’t feel bad about telling your clients so long as you know they will be taken care of with a plan
• Agents, clients, friends, and family cannot argue with honesty. Always be honest.
• There are a ton of systems – find the ones that work for you and ignore the ones that don’t. They will not make or break your business.
• Stephanie Lanier explained the home buying/selling process like a flight one time and it’s stuck with me. There will be turbulence throughout the transaction – some your clients will feel and others they won’t even know you maneuvered around. The most important thing is a safe and effective takeoff and landing.
• Your most important lead generation is the client you have in front of you right now. Do a good job for them, they will tell someone else. Do a bad job, they will tell 100 people.
• The brokerage you work for matters to you and you only NOT your clients – don’t get caught up in the cool kids lunch table, it’s a scam.