Thinking of buying?
Every house you buy either sets up the next one or gets in the way of it. Let's work out which one this is before you sign.
Every house you buy either sets up the next one or gets in the way of it.
Most people buy the way they'd buy a car. This one, now, does it fit. The people who end up owning a few buy differently — they already know how they'd get out before they get in. What the equity does. Whether it rents if it has to. What it's worth to somebody else in seven years.
What I'm looking at while you're looking at the kitchen
- Does it rent if you need it to? Not because you're planning to leave. Because having the option costs nothing to check now and everything to not have later.
- What's the equity story? Some houses build it. Some hold it. Some quietly take it from you and you don't find out for years.
- What's going to break? Roof, HVAC, water heater — and out here, the stuff the heat and the well country punish hardest.
- Why is it still sitting there? Days on market is information. A house nobody wanted at this price is trying to tell you something.
Sometimes the smartest house isn't the one you fell in love with, and I'm going to say so out loud. You might not want to hear it standing in the backyard imagining Thanksgiving.
You're going to fall in love with one. That's fine.
It's going to happen and it doesn't make you bad at this. You should love where you live — that's the whole point.
The only problem is that love shows up before the inspection does. And once it has, every fact after that gets weighed against it instead of on its own.
So my job is to be the one person in the room who isn't in love with it. I'd much rather look at four wrong houses with you early than talk you out of the right one late.
If I go quiet in a house, ask me why. I'm counting something.
If this is your first one
You're not behind. I need you to hear that.
The two most expensive beliefs in this market are that you have to buy right now before it gets worse, and that you have to wait until you can afford something perfect. Both of them cost people years.
What actually matters is whether the payment works on a bad month, not a good one, and whether the house survives contact with your real life. We'll look at that first. The countertops can wait.
Selling as well as buying?
Where I stop. Some of this runs into tax, legal or lending territory. I'll walk you through the options and what each one generally means, and then we bring in your CPA or your attorney before you sign anything. I'm not either of those and I'm not going to pretend otherwise.
Want me to run your actual numbers?
Send me the address and roughly what's going on. I'll tell you what I'd do if it were my house — and if that's nothing, I'll tell you that and we're still good.
Real Broker AZ, LLC · ADRE SA710418000