How Do I Own My Next Home In This Time Of Great Opportunity?

When is the best time to plant a tree? 10 years ago, right? When is the next best time? Now!
It’s been said that Luck is always preparation meeting opportunity. I would only add, in this context anyway, that it happens at the intersection of prudence. We need to look no further than the last 5 years to determine why that last part is abundantly important. It’s no longer ‘cute’ to look at real estate as an investment that’s addicted to “hope-ium”.

To be a buyer in this brand new marketplace you’ve got to be willing to do what other people don’t to get what most people won't. Gary Keller, co-owner and founder of Keller Williams Realty, is quoted in his book “Shift” that the market is now, “a price war and a beauty contest”. This couldn’t be truer. But what is just as true if you’re a buyer is that it’s also a foot race. To be a successful in this Buyer’s Market, you gotta be fastest, you gotta be highest, you gotta be best … and you gotta be all of them at the same time.

Someone much wiser than me once said, “Don’t try to motivate people…find motivated people”. This axiom is just as true for choosing your representation wisely. As a matter of fact, in the last market, all you had to do was fog a glass and have a shingle up on your wall – and you could help people buy and sell real estate.
Today, this is no longer true.
As a buyer, the intended and unintended consequences of not hiring slow and firing fast as it pertains to your Real Estate Consultant you choose – could leave such permanent damage, it might leave you wishing you would’ve never bought in the first place! Don’t settle for anything less than the best; that’s no longer negotiable. Make sure that who you choose not only passes your gut test, but also comes highly recommended and has at least 5 references to back it up.

Along with all that, anyone who has already gone through that space will confirm that there are always two parts to that equation: 1) People, 2) Tools.

1. So while you’ll be qualifying the human capital of the help you get as the most important consideration, we know that you’ll confirm that for both of us.
2. Let’s spend some time on what tools you can expect to help you get from where you are to where you want to be, shall we?

Preparation | FREE HomeBuyer College *Special Foreclosure Section*

Time Frame: (1 year - 6 months preceding target buy date)

New To The Process (First Time Buyer) -or- Curious To Know How ALL of the Home Buying Rules Have Changed (Move Up Buyer)? This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   It's actually our HomeBuyer College because its a 3-Part Instruction:

1. Seminar: LIVE Classroom style format over a multi-media presentation, includes a Q & A session at the end
2. Webinar - Finance: Online interactive presentation from our Mortgage Planners showing you what you need to know and how to go about getting to Pre-Approval (leaving the old standard Pre-Qual in the dust).
3. Foreclosure Home Tour: we meet up here at the office and caravan to 2 pre-selected Hot Bank Owned Homes of the Week to showcase:

• What to look out for (caveat emptor)!
• How to place REAL value on what you see when coming up with an offer price vs. their suggested retail price

Also, find the answers to many of your questions with these Free Reports:

1. 5 POWERful Buyers Strategies
2. How to save thousands when buying a home
3. Five Questions To Ask Your Lender – Before You Sign Anything!
4. Free Report: How To Buy A House With (Little Or) No Money Down
5. How To Stop Wasting Money On Rent And Own A Home Instead
6. 7 Things You Should Know About Moving
7. Six Ways To Beat The Stress Of Buying A Home
8. Seven Different Reasons To Own Your Own Home
9. Making The Move Easy On The Kids

STEP 1: “Huddle Up” | 1 Hour Initial Consultation

Time frame: (6 months – 3 months away from target buy date)

Here's Sherma, a new client, with some feedback she wanted to share immediately following her 1st "Huddle Up":

The Anatomy of the Hour First 15 Minutes = “What Are You After?” Next 15 Minutes = Presentation Who Are We? What Are Your 4 Options? What Is Our Purpose? What 3 Roles Do We Do For You? How Do We Do What We Do? What Makes Us Different? Why We Do What We Do? Whom Have We Already Done It For? Then, 20 Minutes Invested In = Your Why What’s Important About Buying This Home, To You? Final 10 Minutes = My Best Advice To You & The Plan

»Click Here« to visit our Initial Consultation Site for Directions, Laundry List of items and Questionnaire to fill out and bring in for your visit.

Curious to know »What Are They Saying About The Initial Consultation Behind Jesse's Back?«

STEP 2: “The Great Home Hunt" Begins | Searching 2.0

Time frame: (6 months – 3 months preceding target buy date)

Once armed with the purpose of What You Are After (Step 1), we can feel comfortable installing the tools that will help you get from where you are to where you want to be. Prior to the internet, traditional Real Estate Agency was a more like a fraternity of professional "gatekeepers". As a buyer, you were shown houses that were prepared for you and there wasn't much say in the operation. Thankfully, that antiquated model has been blown-up and replaced with the transparency of the M.L.S (or Multiple Listing Service, where most properties are bought and sold).

But...as Aesop's Fables taught us to, "Be careful what you wish for...", anyone who has already been the reluctant recipient of listings via email can attest that the process of being flooded with all that raw data can be overwhelming. A buyer in today's marketplace must have one thing: Someone who can bring a level of consciousness to the data so that it exists to them at the intersection of Content with Context.

Here's how we do it:

1. MarketWatch - gets you customized access to the %85 of the listings out there that make up the majority.  We just set it and forget it.

2. Free Foreclosure Search & Hot Bank Owned Home Of The Week Video – www.ForeclosureFriday.com - gets you access to the %15 of the Pre-Foreclosure, Auction & Bank Owned Homes that are out there right now in the "Silent Market".

**Secret HomeBuyer's Tip: Even though Pre-Foreclosed, Auction and Bank Owned Homes only make up a fraction of size of the marketplace, they are equal in weight and actually drive prices up or down in their process. Make sure you have BOTH on your side!

STEP 3: Identify Your "Purchasing Power" | Pre-Approval

Time frame: (3 months preceding target buy date)

Mortgage Planner & a Mortgage Plan vs. Loan Officer & a Pre-Qual
What is a Mortgage Planner?

STEP 4: "Get Your Hands Dirty" | SmartHome Tours

Time frame: (3 months preceding target buy date)

Remember when we talked earlier about Gary Keller saying this market is “a price war and a beauty contest”, then me adding that its also a foot race? Well, here comes your chance to showcase your weapons, your good looks and your blinding speed. When we get out there, experience shows that the last thing you want is to see 5 homes in an afternoon and leave only remembering the 1 living room that you loved the most. This will happen every time though because home buying is a very emotional process. It’s imperative that you have a checks-and-balances system to ensure that your left brain is getting as much of the attention as the right gets by default. Well, feel comfortable because we’ve thought of that for you, too. It’s called our GreenHouse SmartHome Liechert Scale. Here’s what our clients have said about it.

Jesse's “Ask a REALTOR” Q&A video from the N.A.R. Convention was featured on Realtor®.com Blog: Watch as I discuss the "Habit of Buying Success":

Whats the alchemy of happy new home buyers?

• Monitor the best the market has to offer with your customized HomeFinder System: MarketWatch.
• When you see something that you like, we get out there to see it ASAP
• When you like it, we make prisoners of those thoughts on paper, make a commitment to buy and put your best foot forward
• Then emotionally, physically, spiritually disengage from the outcome and let the rest take care of itself. In this market you optimize the variables that are in your control and you leave the rest to the powers that be.

STEP 5: Consult, Negotiate, Oversee The Transactional Details | Due Diligence/Escrow

Time frame: (1 month preceding target buy date)

A real estate transaction in a distressed marketplace has a lot of what you might call “Integrated Complexity”. There are 100 pieces of paper requiring upward to 43 different signatures and initials, 100-150 different phone calls and emails, sometimes 43 different people from at least 14 different industries that all take place throughout the 7 stages of your loan process! Every “I” has got to be dotted, every “T” crossed – because if there are ever any mistakes made along the way, guess who pays for it? YOU (the buyers)!
We use a premium platform service to ensure mistakes are mitigated, and a team assembled to carry that promise out. 

Kevin P., a recent client of ours, really appreciated the utility of this and mentioned it on his Yelp.com review: "He's quick to put his one-on-one thoughtfulness to each and every step of the process and even creates a website that you can track each documented step of the lengthy process."  Thanks Kevin, and we hope you'll come to appreciate that touch also.

STEP 6: "Celebrate!" | Keys & Client For Life Program

Time frame: (Target buy date achieved)

Once the dust of the HouseWarming party settles is where some of our clients tell us our greatest value begins. Where some people, like taxi-drivers, take off after they get their commission check only to never hear from them again. We like to keep a pulse of the market, our position within it and our long term goals in sight so we can remain intentional with our most valuable assets.

*Quick Client Testimonial* Here are some recent clients, Steven & Kimberly, sharing some thoughts about the process and experience of working with us in their own words: