FIND THE BEST AGENT POSSIBLE -- THE COST IS BUILT INTO THE PRICE OF THE HOUSE!

While there are several methods a buyer may use, a structured and professional buying approach that a high quality agent can guide you through will probably save you a lot of time and energy.  Whether you realize it or not, the real estate agents commission (or the marketing costs of the property) is built into the price of the house.  Ultimately the buyer pays for this cost even though the seller may write the actual check.  Therefore it is in your best interest to have a high quality agent on your side.  You should also make sure that the agent is representing you and not the seller!  When a property is listed by an agent, that agent is working for the seller and can never represent you and is required by law to reveal this to you before you write a contract on the property through that agent.  Why would you not want to have an agent on your side?

Buying a home is a fairly complex and nerve-wrecking process.  This is especially true if you are a first time home buyer.  However with a good buyers agent on your side, this process can be much smoother and all your concerns and questions can be answered so that you are not as stressed during the experience.  But how do you go about finding a good agent?  There are several ways and you may have to try a few ways before you can find someone you can relate to and trust.  People are different and agents are people too.  You may have to interact with several before you feel you have established a rapport with an agent.

Visit open houses.  Visit your local real estate offices.  Ask agents for client references.  Ask office managers who their best buyers agents are and why.   Sales volumes do not necessarily make a good buyers agent.  Sellers agents and buyers agents require different skills and many agents possess both sets of skills.  Someone who is too busy may not have the time to serve your needs adequately.  Look for someone whose schedule meshes well with yours.

It is extremely important that you establish a relationship of trust with your agent and you can feel that your agent is always looking out for your best interest.  Why is trust important?  Your agent will provide you information and analyze the market for you. If you are unable to trust this information, it will be difficult for you to make timely decisions.  The same decision delayed by two days will often yield completely different results.  You will also be revealing information about your purchasing power and flexibility and you need to make sure that this information is not compromised to your disadvantage.

Look for someone who is knowledgeable, customer focused, has good manners, listening skills and communication skills.   Take your time and select the best agent possible and if the relationship is not working out, be prepared to look for another agent.

BUYING FOR SALE BY OWNER PROPERTIES (FSBO)

A real estate agent can help you purchase a property that is a FSBO.  While some people have successfully purchased on their own, you may want to educate yourself by taking a real estate class if you are truly interested in venturing out and buying a FSBO on your own.  You may want a FSBO property thinking that it is a bargain and some are but with a rapidly changing market and often unrealistic pricing by owners, a FSBO may not be a bargain.  Unless the property is discounted by at least 10% or more you are taking on too much risk for too little gain.  Many of the FSBO properties I have seen were not discounted and some had unrealistic pricing and therefore sat on the market for prolonged periods of time.

COMPANY NOT AS IMPORTANT

While this is very important for sellers, the size of the real estate company your agent is affiliated with, is not as important unless the areas you are interested in are geographically dispersed.  Any real estate agent can help you buy a property for sale regardless of the company the property is listed with.  If your search is over a wide geographic area, your agent may need the services of other offices of the same company.  This is one advantage you will have with Long and Foster.  Your agent can write a contract sitting in any office and have the same contract available for editing in another office. 

UNDERSTAND AGENT REPRESENTATION

Make sure you understand which agent is representing which party.  An agent representing the seller can never represent a buyer!  Agency relationships MUST be disclosed to you at your first significant contact with a real estate agent.  This is a matter of law and not a matter of choice.  

All agents are required by law to deal with you fairly and honestly regardless of whom they are representing.  They are also required to disclose material information to you.  Agents holding an Open House are representing the seller.   However this is a good way to interact with several agents while you are out shopping for a real estate agent.  If you do not have an agent already, using a seller's agent (specially if the agent is a good one) to write the contract is fine if you know what you want to offer.  If you need help determining what you want to offer, the seller's agent is not allowed to provide this help.  If you use the seller's agent, you will be waiving the right to representation.  You can often negotiate a discount in return for giving up this right.   

UNDERSTAND AGENT LIMITATIONS

Agents are not allowed to comment about a neighborhood.  You have to select the neighborhood.  They can take you to the neighborhoods that interest you to help you make the selection.  They are not allowed to comment on the quality of school systems but can let you know which schools serve an address.  A sellers agent can write a contract for you but cannot help you negotiate a lower price or provide you information which might negatively impact the price of the property (except for known material defects which must be disclosed).

FOCUS ON WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR

During the early stages of your search there is scope for exploration and you should certainly do this.  This helps you figure out what is available in the area you are looking for.  However, it is very important to focus on what you are looking for.  If the supply of homes you are looking for is low, you may have to compromise if your time frame to purchase is short.  If you absolutely will not compromise on certain features, make a list of those and give this list to your agent.  Your agent can input your search criteria and watch the market for your home to come on the market.

BE PREPARED TO FALL IN LOVE

There is a home out there for everyone.  When you find yours, be prepared to negotiate and get that home.  You are in competition with many other qualified buyers.  Timing will often be the critical factor on who gets the house.  If you see a house early in the game and fall in love with it, and your agent (whom you trust) analyzes the market for you and shares the information with you and you realize that it is a fair price, do not delay on writing the offer.   The sooner you turn in your offer to the sellers agents, the stronger your position.  You should also think about when you would want your offer to expire.  Always have your agent discuss this with the sellers agent.  Ask your agent to find out when the offer will be presented.   If you provide 24-48 hours for the seller to make a decision, you may be in a better bargaining position.  Your competition is around the corner and the next day they may love this house too.  You do not want the seller to be able to delay a decision on your offer while they wait to see if any other offers come in.  If you see a house on a weekday, try to write the contract and get a decision from the seller before the weekend arrives.  Weekends mean more competition for you.   Wrap up your deal before the competition finds out about the property and gets into the race. 

DURING NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE SELLER, BE FLEXIBLE

Most people do not like to deal with inflexible people.  Demonstrate flexibility in your offer and during the negotiations that may occur afterwards.  Flexibility on most issues will not cost you extra money.  If the seller has made a clear counter offer to you, chances are very high that is the bottom line for the seller at that point in time. Unless the property has been on the market unsold for several weeks, the seller is unlikely to come down.  If your financial position is very strong and there is no possibility of your loan being denied or you have no financing contingency in your offer, you may be able to negotiate a better price.  When you have received a counter offer, you are first in line. If you accept the counter offer you will now have a ratified contract and you have just bought the house.  If you reject the counter offer or make any changes to the counter offer, you may lose priority.  And while all this is going on, your competition may be preparing competing offers which could bump you all the way out of the race.   In many cases, buyers have lost out on making good purchases by being solely focused on the price of the house.   By the time they were ready to meet the sellers counter-offer price, others had moved ahead in the queue.  Your agent should be able to advise you on your best course of action with the negotiating scenario.   You will often do better if you empower your agent with guidelines and ranges that you are comfortable with so that your agent can negotiate and arrive at a solution acceptable to you rather quickly.  The longer these negotiations and decisions take, the weaker your position becomes.

FINANCING MORE IMPORTANT THAN PRICE OF THE HOUSE

Unless you are paying cash, over the long haul the interest rate and the way the loan is structured will make a world of difference on the total amount of money you pay for the house.  The initial price of the house or your feeling that you might have overpaid a little for the house will be lost in the shuffle.  Concentrate on getting the best loan program and be prepared to shop around for the best loan.  While at this process, pay careful attention to the upfront costs and compare each loan vendors offerings based on all costs and not just the interest rate.  Your agent can help you with this comparison.

GET PRE-APPROVED FOR THE LOAN

Once you have selected your loan program, get pre-approved for the loan and obtain a letter to this effect.  Nowadays this type of letter is almost a required accoutrement with any contract.  Without it, you may have very little credibility with your contract offer.  Talking with a loan officer will also help you focus on the monthly payments rather than the price of a home. It will also let you and your agent know what price range of home to look for.  The further ahead you are in the loan process, the shorter will be the time it will take to settle on your purchase contract.  The shorter the length of the financing contingency in your offer, the stronger your offer.  Since this added strength usually does not cost any extra money, there is no logical reason to delay this process.  You do not have to lock-in any interest rates, neither do you have to agree to any specific loan program.  You should still have sufficient flexibility to narrow down the exact loan program and interest rate after you have a ratified contract.  Its just that a lot of the preliminary paperwork and documentation will have been completed and you will often shave off a week or two in getting financing for the home that you purchased. Thus you may be in a position to settle a week or two sooner than your competition.  This alone will often clinch the deal for you even in the face of financially stronger competing offers on the home of your choice.