Archive for February 3rd, 2009

Seattle home buyers should visit a home more then once

3rd February

2009

written by robgraham

This may be obvious to some, but I have seen many Seattle home buyers make the mistake of only visiting a listing once before making an offer on it. It made sense in years gone by when a good listing would disappear in 48 hours, that buyers were jumping on a home they liked without doing all the due diligence. Those days are gone. With longer times on market, Seattle home buyers have enough time to do some extra investigating to make sure a listing will meet their needs.

It is important to visit a home more then once. I personally have taken buyers back to a home up to four or five times if they want. Here are some things to check out on return trips:

1. Bring family and friends – Sometimes we get wrapped up in the emotion and don’t think all that clearly. Friends and family can offer a cooler head and some very practical advice that you might overlook.

2. Visit the home at different times of day – A home that seems ideal during the day may have a lot of road noise at a different time of day. Daylight is also a big issue. I would recommend visiting the home once in the daylight and once at night. Often a home feels very different based on the light it receives.

3. Do the commute from the listing – Get up early one day during the week and make the full commute that you would need to from the potential new home. You may find out that your commute makes the home less desirable. This suggestion is a big one here in Seattle.

4. Measure to see if your furniture will fit – You can also do this while the inspection is taking place. If you have a favorite couch or dinning room table, don’t just eyeball it. Make sure your furniture will fit in the new home where you want it.

There is no rush. Take your time, gather all the information you need and make an intelligent decision. There are no guarantees, but the more you are willing to do the necessary investigation, the happier you are likely to be in your new home.

I’d love to help you find the home of your dreams. Give me a call if you need help.

Rob Graham, Accredited Buyer’s Representative

Windermere Real Estate

206-321-6349

robgraham@windermere.com

Popularity: 1% [?]

0 Comments

All, Buying Process

Seattle home Buyer Public School Information

3rd February

2009

written by robgraham

Finding information about local school districts is a major consideration when shopping for a home. I originally wrote this post for another blog of mine on Active Rain Last Spring. The information was good enough that I thought I would post it again here.

Also, for those of you who don’t know me all that well yet, I used to work in both the Shoreline and Highline School Districts and still have many friends in both. If you have specific concerns about any particular district, please don’t hesitate to ask and I will try to find the answer for you.

Here are my recommendations for web sites for finding out more information about all of the local school districts.

The Seattle Times actually maintains a great web site about local districts. The map feature is really helpful to see current boundaries of school Districts. Click on a given district to get a brief synopsis of that district. I think it is really helpful for anyone basing a purchase decision on district reputation.
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/schoolguide/districts.html

In addition there are a couple of other web sites I would recommend.
GreatSchools.net is an excellent resource for parents of school age children. It has all kinds of articles about being a parent of a school age child.
http://www.greatschools.net/

SchoolMatters.com is another excellent resource to find out information about specific teachers, schools and districts. In fact you can look at other parent’s comments about specific schools and
teachers.

http://www.schoolmatters.com/

Here are web sites to specific districts:

Bainbridge Island: http://www.bainbridge.wednet.edu/

Bellevue: http://www.bsd405.org/