Sep. 27, 2006 - A Lofty Goal - Transparency with Confidentiality
I am starting a new category today titled, "1st Time Homebuyer".
As with many of my posts, this is written for a specific client, whom I hereby rename Adrianna.
Adrianna and her husband have a business in Seattle. They have two children in elementary school, one is a boy and the other is a girl, so minimum 3 bedrooms and 1 3/4 bath with a yard.
Consumers should never have to tell the agent the parameters. An agent should know that 2 parents + one boy + one girl equals a minimum of 3 bedrooms and 1.75 bath minimum. Elementary school at lower grade level means a lot with regard to area, as geographic parameters are most restrictive at the elementary school level and least restrictive at the high school level. I figure this out for the clients, so they don't have to understand all of the relationships between housing and schools geographically. this is MOST important for 1st time buyers with children, as they may need to move up by the time the children reach middle school and high school to upgrade the schools, but for now...best elementary and maybe decent middle school should be enough until they can afford more in terms of housing payment.
All of the key elements that I will factor into my advices, will be set in bold, so you can see how an agent extracts housing criteria from an everyday conversation. Notice that the parameters are not in bold, just the tiny little details from which parameters are formed.
Rather than filling out forms and giving people the third degree, an agent should be able to extract the needed information in a comfortable conversation thread, preferable by email, to record the info for future reference. By blogging the key details as they come in via email, I can keep the info in one source-pile and by tagging by pseudo-client name, I can pull up each client's string separately adding client manager to the many other purposes of my blog. By using pseudo-client names, the client can also pull up the same history of advices by tag name. All while preserving the confidential client relationship.
Adrianna and her husband have 10% down plus money for Closing Costs and Prepaids in hand. For beginners, monthly payment of around $2,000.
Key question will be home or townhome. My gut says townhome, theirs says single family. We'll see as the story unfolds.
Once the client is given their new name, in this case Adrianna, they have a growing resource at their fingertips. By blogging, they have on online expanding resource, and other first time buyers in the same situation can follow along and pick up some times at the same time.
Transparency while preserving confidentiality. Online educational resource for both the individual at hand and those who are readers from near and far. A lofty goal, a new day...let us begin.
Sep. 28, 2006 - re: A Lofty Goal - Transparency with Confidentiality
Posted by former sf realtor
i know adrianna well, and have been giving her the townhouse hint for quite some time -- especially if they want to stay in seattle (and my gut -- which is expanding on a daily basis -- tells me that they do). i am not local, so am not entirely familiar with the seattle market. do they have viable single-family options in the southern end of the city, or is the northshore / shoreline area their only option? are there 3 / 1.75 townhouses in-city that will satisfy their yard requirement? what about edmonds?
LOL...until I meet Mr. Adrianna on Sunday, I have reservations about getting too far ahead. That said, there are many, many more affordable 3 bedroom, multiple bath WITH yard townhome options, than there are single family home options. If their number one priority is schools, for example, then townhome with yard in best schools vs. single family home in not best schools, may be their ultimate choice. If commute to work takes precedent over schools, or even equal place priority, then we go in another direction.
Lining up their priorities in order of importance is the first step.
I'll write an article on that today to explain further, for both Adrianna and her husband's benefit, and the benefit of readers at large. Too often people have a wish list and buy something that meets 4 of the 5 wants...but if that one that is "dropped" would have been the Number One Priority, had they prioritized their need vs. want list, then it equals a less than satisfactory result, even though it met 4 out of 5 criteria. "I can live in Tacoma or Edmonds or a fixer in Kenmore or..." is not the best strategy, as it is simply chasing down affordable single family homes. Clearly they can live anywhere they want to live. Clearly. Except maybe Medina :-)
Edited by Ardell on September 28, 2006 at 12:02 pm
Sep. 28, 2006 - re: A Lofty Goal - Transparency with Confidentiality
Posted by former realtor
you have already met the decision-maker in adrianna's family. mr. adrianna wants a garage. he dreams of a place in georgetown, but will be realistic. you have got it right. adrianna, i think, i presently working to prioritize her "must haves" vs. her "nice to haves."
Sep. 28, 2006 - re: A Lofty Goal - Transparency with Confidentiality
Posted by Adrianna
Pretty funny that you're waiting to meet the Mr. As you may have noticed, I am the one doing the research and making the contacts. I can tell you what he'll say - "NO neighbors". Here is what I would say, and you can see how they mesh on Sunday. No coaching, I promise. 1. 3 bedrooms 2. Schools 3. Single family 4. Yard 5. Commute. Meaning I'm willing to add 15-30 minutes to get an actual house. How realistic that is, I have no idea. My friend the former realtor underestimates how much we want an actual house. Sure we'd love to stay in the city, since we could then stay at our current school, but there ain't a lot out there at our price range, if at all. I have no problem moving to the Northshore District and neither does the Mr. If he could, he'd choose to live in the middle of nowhere! (Of course, he'd be independently wealthy and not concerned about commuting to anywhere...)
Dear "former realtor",
Iwould LOVE to post a link to your "ex-Realtor" post on your blog with my comments. Probably over at Rain City Guide, rather than here. Would love to have your permission to do that. It is a fabulous post!
Sep. 28, 2006 - re: A Lofty Goal - Transparency with Confidentiality
Posted by Adrianna
Great minds think alike apparently. Of course, we'd prefer closer-in Northshore, i.e. Bothell, but beggars can't be choosers. No deadline - one benefit of renting!
Oh, and "former realtor's" real passion? You just looked at it. Writing just doesn't quite make it in the bill-paying department - good think his wife can support him in the manner to which he's accustomed while he entertains the rest of us.
Adrianna aka Flush Puppy
Sep. 28, 2006 - re: A Lofty Goal - Transparency with Confidentiality
Posted by former realtor
of course -- i would be honored to have the link. and please find poor adrianna / flush puppy a new home so she can stop having parties on her driveway.
You guys are both great! FR, I'll send you a link to my post when I do it...have to run right now.
Will try to get both entries up tonight, one here for Adrianna and one on RCG for FR
ARDELL
DellaLoggia
On Seattle Real Estate including Kirkland, Bellevue, Redmond, Green Lake and most areas around Lake Washington North of Downtown Seattle.
Phone: 206-910-1000 - Mailto:Ardell@RainCityGuide.com
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