Relocation 101

I am sure all my readers are thinking, why are you writing a blog on Mothers Day ? So let me first just remind everyone of one thing, real estate agents do NOT get the conventional days off, and this is another reason I push for all buyers to use a Buyers Broker I just now finished working on finding homes for my buyers at midnight on mothers day, why ? Because they are trusting me to find them their perfect home, in a certain amount of time.  When it comes to re-location whether you are relocating from one county to another, or another state this is the most important time for you to have a buyers broker working for you!

When you have a buyers broker there are a few "perks" that you will experience that in the normal buying experience would not be as important to you as when you are doing a relocation.  Here are just a few: 

• Buyers have someone to actually go and take a first look at the home, ordinarily we would simply send you the listing when it comes to relocation we actually go and look at it in person and see if the size of the rooms, and layout will work for our client.
• When you are re-locating you don't always know what each area offers your agent will be responsible for pulling school information, village/town amenities, or things as simple as distance from employment. 

When it comes to relocating there are some additional steps that become much more important as well, and communication is key ! When I say communication I don't just mean between one partner to another, it becomes very important that anyone who is going to be living in the house with you voices their opinion.  Let me give you an example, if you have a child that is going into high school and wants to be involved in sports you should make that clear - we won't be able to guarantee finding you a home in a town that has won the championship but we can make sure that the schools have a good sports program ! 

Another reason that communication is key is because your agent will be previewing these homes for you, and if we go and find out that it does not meet that must have criteria list you will never see it and potentially miss out.  If you tell me that you absolutely must have 3 bedrooms and than weeks later your tell me you only really needed 2, there is a chance that we missed out on some great homes.  Your "must have" list and your "you would like to have" list must be 110% realistic.  If you only need 2 bedrooms, but you would like to have a extra room for a home office you will need to say exactly that so we can understand your needs completely.  Communication is key in any sale but it is extremely important during relocation and I can not stress that enough.  Calling random listing agents when you are re-locating is not the way to find your new home !! 

You will also have a new obstacle that most buyers do not have, and that involves some of the what would normally be smaller aspects of buying a home, but when you are relocating they become a much much more important, and that is your utilities ! Your phone, cable, electric, or oil company - if you are not from the area chances are you will need a go to person to help you along.  Let me give you an example in today's technologically driven world what do you think would happen if you moved into your new home flipped on the lights, sat down to open your email and found that your connection wasn't keeping up with the data it needed to download? This is where a broker can really come in quite handy, because we can give you honest opinions that you otherwise may not have.  Not everyone who is moving to a different state will have family or friends to depend on to give them sound advice on such small but important things.  

Coldwell Banker Residential has taken it one step further with our Concierge Service, it is a network of reliable and experienced professionals that can help you with even the smallest details of your new home.  When you buy that new home you may want to have it freshly painted or cleaned before you move in.  Your real estate agent may not have anyone to recommend to you but you would of course want to make sure that the person you hired is going to come thru for you, with our referral network you will be guaranteed that the job will be done right! Our experts can not buy their way into our Concierge Service, it is strictly based on the buyers/sellers satisfacction !

Another important aspect to relocating is timing, you should begin your search within a realistic time frame.  There are so many important aspects to finding you that "perfect home" that timing really should be at the top of the list.  If you have children who need to begin a new school, or a date to begin employment you must share this with your agent immediately.  Sometimes you may not have time on your side, and that is something you must keep in mind.  Many of the "great deals" are short sales, and unfortunately no agent can guarantee a speedy closing when we have no control over the other parties involved.  Even if your broker is the listing agent of a short sale it is impossible to say with 110% confidence that we can guarantee a particular closing date, things happen in the course of a short sale that is not as easy cleared up as it would be with a normal sale.  

If your working and have a time crunch where you need to make a move within 3-4 months than you may want to have your agent check during the preview process when the home would be available to close.  If the current homeowners have not even begun the search for their new home, chances are that home is too much of a risk for you to have to take.  The upside to the current market is that there are just as many renovations/investment homes on the market as there are homeowners trying to sell, so even those who are looking to buy and close quickly have quite a selection to choose from.

I personally enjoy my job, so working with those that are re-locating is very rewarding for me and I do not mind the work that it requires.  When choosing your buyers broker for the relocation you should of course not only check out the agent, but the company they work for as well Coldwell Banker Residential is one of the exclusive companies that the Cactus Relocation uses for their buyers, Cactus Relocation is the #1 company used for relocation services !!

Of course if you have any questions about relocation, or anything you would like to add onto my blog please comment or email me directly !!