It’s easy to get mentally fried by the process of buying or selling a home. The transaction is charged with emotion, commitment and thousands of dollars. Home sellers often second guess the pricing if the house sells too fast or exhaust their creative minds with home marketing inspirations. Home buyers romp from house to house looking for their personal ‘gem’ and pull their hair out with the pressure of making a good investment decision and at the dollars being sucked out of their pockets. Buying a home is not only a single biggest purchase one will make but a very personal one. Added stress from buying can come from balancing and prioritizing your family’s wish list in a new home with the reality of your pocket book.
No matter which side of a home transaction you are on it is an anxiety ridden, tense experience for both the buyer and the seller but it does not have to be that way.
To help you glide through the buying process with more ease and less headache you should split the workload. Give your spouse the pile of currently available listings while you organize the financing. Division of the work load will alleviate the stress of one party and make it a more evolved process for both. However looking at homes is a step that should be done together so that you and your better half can agree on aspects that important to the both of you. 
Do your homework on current market conditions so that you are well informed of the facts. One visit to www.ofheo.gov will give you information on current market trends and the house price index in your market. What are homes in your neighborhood selling for? Do you have any idea of how many comparable homes are currently for sale in your area? What’s the average price per square foot in neighborhood X compared to district Y? --Mostly how are these questions relevant to your buying or selling a home?
Picking a good Realtor will be the single most important factor to having a smooth, unruffled real estate transaction. A Realtor will advise you before hand of what to expect during the buying/selling process: You will be ready for inspection problems if they come up, you will be explained the costs that will be incurred at closing, be informed of the differences of buying a new home vs. a ‘pre-owned’ home, etc.
When you are relocating to any area a Realtor will inform and educate you on your different area options based on your family’s lifestyle. Eliminating much of the preliminary research and feeling that you may have not covered all the areas around town.
When selling or buying the Realtor negotiates offers, pays attention to important dates and coordinates appraisers, inspections, title companies and lenders. A good Realtor does a great deal of this with ease and rarely is the purchaser or seller involved with the follow-up and minuscule details. A buyer can focus on the handful of other moving issues requiring his attention.
Buying or Selling a home is involved but it doesn’t have to be so stressful that you decide never to move again. Simply prepare and use the resources that are available for your benefit. It's an involved process that requires a professional agent that knows the ropes so you can focus on the moving process and getting to a place that defines your new lifestyle.
I agree about splitting the work load between the proper agencies and saving everyone involved some headache, having worked a different side of the home selling/buying market(ie. construction) I have seen my share of "over stressed" clients. To appoint the proper team at the beginning of a project enables those involved to concentrate on their tasks to the fullest extent w/out uncalled for vexation. Sound advice Vali.
Posted by: Travis Hooker | April 27, 2007 at 06:42 PM