As a relocating home buyer, your primary need is information. You need to know as much as you can about the area to which you will be moving. This includes neighborhoods, schools, shopping, and entertainment, among many other things. Your real estate agent is your easiest access to this information. Undoubtedly you will be busy with other things in your life, using your real estate agent to get the information will seem like a life saver in such a hectic time.
When your real estate agent provides you with information about the place you will be relocating to, he must be cognizant of fair housing laws. Some of the information you request cannot be given to you because the real estate agent would be violating these laws. Instead, you may found that you are frequently redirected to the Local Chamber of Commerce or some other resource available for finding the information. Keep in mind that the real estate agent often feels as frustrated as you by these laws. The real estate agent wants to give you the best information possible to help you make a decision, but he does not want to lose his real estate license for violating the law.
Relocating presents you with a lot of work to do in a short period of time. If you have relocated before, then you are aware with the steps you have to go through. Use your real estate agent to help you get some of these tasks done.
In most relocation cases, you are forced to settle on a home within a relatively short period of time; usually over a weekend. Since you have so little time to decide on a home, it is important that you have clear expectations about what you are looking for in a home. Present this information to the real estate agent in advance of your home-buying trip to give the agent time to put together a list of houses to show you. It is likely that you will have to make an offer by the time you return to your home.
If your real estate agent does not offer to give you a preview of the neighborhoods and towns in which you will be shown houses, request that he do so. This preview doesn’t have to be in depth and can be as short as ten to fifteen minutes. The goal is to give you an overview of the amenities the town has to offer as this will help you make decision about the home you would like to purchase.
You will probably be shown several houses in a single day. After viewing so many houses, it will be difficult to remember which house was which. It will be helpful to work with your real estate agent to come up ways to remember the houses. Giving the houses names is one idea. For example, if there was a house with a spectacular fireplace, you might name it “the house with the fireplace”. Should you choose this technique make sure you make the names unique enough so they only apply to a single house.
