The internet will quickly drown you in market data and “experts.” Helping you to filter, analyze, and transform that data into useful intelligence is one of the services our buyer clients really appreciate.
You can change anything about a property but location, and getting a foot in the market with something is better than walking away with nothing — this is what we have seen our clients experience time and time again. As a well-prepared buyer in San Francisco think in advance about the various combinations of home sizes, features, neighborhoods, and amenities that are important and acceptable to you. These will guide your search. And you’ll know it when you see it: the right property is out there.
You can change anything about a property but location*. – Matt Fuller
Slow or Speedy, Always Your Style
There’s no right amount of time that you should spend on market education.
Some buyers feel that they need to look for several weeks or months, while others begin the process with a solid idea of what they want and are comfortable making an offer after having seen just a few properties.
We’ve even had buyers make offers subject to seeing the property! (Meaning they make the offer before they’ve seen the home.)
Lockbox? Nope.
San Francisco isn’t a hop-in-the-car-and-go-see-all-the-homes-for-sale-with-a-magic-lockbox-key kind of town. Weekend and evening showings are typically scheduled by appointment and generally require advance planning, especially when properties are tenant occupied (which require 24 hours’ notice).
We love to tour properties with our clients because it helps us get a better feel for your intangible reactions that are more complicated than “checks the box.” Although we can’t view all properties with every client every weekend, we find that spending time together during the search process is helpful to our buyers.
On a side note: open home hosts are often not the listing agent, and may not be fully informed about the property. The agent hosting the open is there in the hopes of picking up open house visitors — that would be you — as clients, in case you were wondering.
If you find a property that you really like and have questions, make notes and hand it off to your agent — that’s what we’re here for!