5 Priciples About Buying and Selling Real Estate

There are many "principles" of Real Estate or business "truths" that I could list here, but I believe these are 5 key concepts that all buyers and all sellers should take to heart. 


1. Selling a home is very inconvenient.
2. Buying a home is always stressful.
3. No house is "perfect", but there are perfect homes.
4. No matter how many times you have done it in the past, if you are not doing it every day for a living, it will be different this time and buying a home, new or used without an experienced Realtor at your side is ill-advised. 
5. You must be ready. Buying or selling. When it happens, it happens suddenly. 


If you have ever sold a home that you are living in, you know that selling your home is very inconvenient. A staged home is very different from a home set up for day to day living. And being a Buyer is not much better. No matter how many times you have done it in the past, buying a home is always stressful. Even to those who believe that they have this down-pat, it is still a stressful event to write such a large check.

On the front of "perfection"--perfect homes are made by the family, not built by a builder. I have helped a lot of home owners who are extremely happy with their house purchase and seen them turn their house into their home. But I don't know that I have ever heard a home owner say "There is nothing I would change about my house", it's size, location, features, yard size--or something. Even if it seemed perfect when they bought it, at some point the house features could almost always use modification. Understanding what you are trading off and what you are getting for your trade-offs is key to every home purchase at every price point. Any Realtor worth his weight in salt will tell you this simple truth. And no matter how many times you have done this in the past, an experienced Realtor in the area where you want to buy or sell will always have more information and better information about how to get you the best and the most out of your real estate transaction today. 

Lastly and possibly the least understood of these concepts--you have to be ready. Buying or selling--your search will go from "not much looks interesting" to "this feels like the house" in just a few minutes time. It will not happen gradually. It will be sudden and often times scary. You have to be ready when the moment arrives.