Three Stages of Home Purchase

In this day and age, there are three clear stages that most buyers go through when buying a new home. While every buyer is different, and the order of the first two stages can be reversed, this seems to be the new tends for how buyers look at and purchase a new home.

First of all, Buyers start Online Research. This is easily understood and leads to a general understanding of what homes cost in a given city or area or community. This helps buyers know what a dollar will buy in the area where they are researching. This first phase tends to be all about the price of the perfect home search. (Our ZipRealty.com web site has every MLS listing in the Greater Austin area; it is designed to address a buyer's online research need in the Multiple Listings Service, as well as provide some ancillary information).

The Second Stage has to do with deeper research on the areas and communities. It starts to become apparent to buyers that not all areas or communities are created equally, and what costs $1 in one community, may cost $1.5 or $2 in other areas. Understanding what drives market values in the various areas of the larger city or areas is a big research effort and the deeper one goes, the more information they typically want to understand. (Combined with the ZipRealty.com web site, Austin Real Estate Secrets blog is designed to help buyers understand what drives the local Real Estate market, what triggers higher prices, and what is happening in our local market).

The Third Stage has to do with picking a Realtor. Regardless of whether the first two phases lead a buyer to new home communities or resell communities, there comes a time in one's research that the lights go off and there is a realization that dozens of hours of research does not equal the experience or expertise of a good local Realtor. Realtors know more and have access to more information because this is what (some of us) do 65 hours a week--every week. Twelve months out of the year.


Buying homes is my business. I walk 700-1000 homes a year with clients and help more than 30 families and investors each year find the kind of home that will make them happy for years to come. Stages 1 & 2 in this process are important first steps in your home purchase process, but no buyer who is buying fewer than 1 house a month in the local market should depend exclusively on their own experience or public domain information. There are simply too many places where you can go wrong, and at the end of the day, if your Realtors fees are already paid by the seller (i.e., the services of a Buyer's Agent is free to you), it seems to me that it is all upside for a buyer.



If you need a Realtor ®, I would be honored to assist you in your home purchase, search or selling your Austin area home.

tT

Tim Thornton, Realtor ®
Top Producer 2010, 2009, 2008
Century Club member
Zip Realty, Inc.
Austin, Texas
(512) 914.4665  mobile