Time to go shopping
With the preparation done, this is the part people look forward to.
Take a drive
Before you fall for a particular house, get to know the neighborhoods, condo buildings or subdivisions you think you like. Drive them, and walk them if you can, on a weekday morning and again on a Saturday night. You are trying to find out what it would be like to live there, which a listing cannot tell you. As you go, start noticing what is for sale in those areas. Our neighborhood pages are a reasonable place to start.
Narrow your search
Pick the few properties that interest you most and we will set up the showings. While we are in each one, ask us what we think about resale. Nobody can predict prices, but location, layout and the lot tend to hold up over time, and a problem you notice is one the next buyer will notice too. We will also look into what the place costs to own beyond the mortgage, such as association dues, utilities, a septic system or well to maintain, or a roof near the end of its life.
Writing the offer
When you have found the one, we write the offer together. In most deals here that is done on Northwest MLS forms. Price is one line of it. The rest is the earnest money, the closing date, how you are paying, and the contingencies, which are the conditions that let you back out if something goes wrong (inspection and financing are the usual ones).
Sellers look at all of it. A solid pre-approval and a closing date that suits the seller can count for as much as a bit more money. If there are competing offers, some buyers shorten or drop contingencies to stand out. That carries real risk, and we will tell you what you would be giving up before you decide anything.
Once the seller signs, you move into escrow, inspections and the appraisal.