It’s a buyer’s market out there, which means there’s a ton of inventory for you to choose from. If you’ve been online recently you’ll realize there’s almost too much to go through on your own. Working with Annie and Bob you’ll not only save yourself time and money, you’ll have full time professionals guiding you through one of the most important transactions of your life. Our insight into the daily market will help you find the right home and negotiate the right price. Don’t forget to check out our Home Buyer WOW! factor [read more]. There are few things we do as buyer’s agents that are unheard of in the industry and will truly WOW you. We also have a list of tools for those of you who are looking to do some digging around on your own, here are some of our favorites:
Basic Home Search Brokerages such as Coldwell Banker, Edina Realty , RE/MAX, Keller Williams , and even theMLSOnline are all brokerages that share their listings via the MLS (multiple listing service). Companies such as Realtor.com use the same MLS data feed and others like Trulia , Zillow and Yahoo get their data from participating brokerages. Use whichever one feels most intuitive to you, but keep in mind that none are the actual MLS. Basic Home Search
Custom Home Search The property-search tools available to today’s buyers are numerous, maybe too numerous. The most efficient way to access the MLS data is to have a real estate agent set up a custom home search for you. You will then receive listing data directly from the MLS and be provided with information that may not be available on many Basic Home Search sites. Contact us today for your own custom search. It’s free and requires no commitment. Custom Home Search
Market Data You get the paper (or read online)…you watch the nightly news (or watch videos). You’ve got a pretty idea of what’s happening in today’s real estate market. For a little more in-depth research, the following tools will let you better understand what’s going on in today’s real estate market. The local Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors (MAAR) does a great job consolidating the data and presenting it in an interesting and easy-to-understand presentation. Real Estate Market Data
Schools Whether you’ve got kids or not, knowing something about the school district a prospective home resides is something you might be interested in. MLS data indicates which school district a listing resides in…the following tools will give you some more specifics like elementary, middle school and high school attendance boundaries, individual school website addresses, and state test scores. School Information
Buyer’s Tutorial Looking for some Buyer 101 tips and guidelines? These are some lessons that our buyers have found helpful as they’ve journeyed from home buyer to home owner. Whether it’s the overall process that you’re looking to better understand or some specifics of the home buyer adventure that you’re looking for, our tutorial is a resource well worth looking into. Home Buying Tutorial
Utilities As you approach your close date on your new home, you’ll need to transfer the utilities into your name. Gas, electricity, water, sewer, garbage, cable & satellite tv, internet and phone are all potential utilities that you may have to attend to before moving into your new home. Use the utility list to get the ball the rolling. Utility Information
Property Tax Info Yes, you’ll be paying property taxes on your new home. Here are links to the county you’ll be paying your taxes to. Most of county websites allow you to tell if the seller is up-to-date with their property taxes along with past sales prices, and even what next year’s property tax is estimated to be. The better sites also include lot drawings and neighborhood info. Property Tax Information
Buyer’s WOW factorDo you know what it’s like to work with real estate professional when buying a home? Add a WOW! factor to that and you’ll know what it’s like to work with Annie and Bob. Whether you’re in town, outstate, or half way across the globe, Annie and Bob have a few above-and-beyond tricks up their sleeves that will truly impress you. WOW! Factor the a&b WOW! factor
photo credits: creative commons attribution licenses on flickr.com (home buyer search – Magnifying Glass by nathanmac8, custom home search – Binoculars by vestman, market data -negslope2_1 by blamevaraia , schools – Yellow School Bus by freefotouk, buyer’s tutorial – Apple by orangeacid, utilities – Plug Face – Day 3/365 by Jake Mates, property tax info – Two Hundred Dollars 1 by Surat Lozowick )
