In this video we answer what to look for when viewing a home,
how long does it take and how you should prepare. That's starting right now.
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So today I'm joined by Kevin French, realtor with RE/MAX Realty.
The question we're gonna answer is, what to look for when viewing a home?
So what are some things that you're looking for when you're actually viewing a show home?
A show home specifically?
Yes
A show home or a home you're thinking of buying.
so whether it's a show home or a resale.
Quality and finish so I think it goes without saying you're going to look at
it already ticks the boxes of you want the 3 bedrooms or the 4 bedrooms or
whatever your needs are and that's why you're in that property but then from
there you're going to look at, does the home feel like it's well taken care of?
Does the home feel like it's properly built? Does the home seem to have any safety concerns?
And then is it have does it have an open concept is obviously
very big for resale, so does it feel like it's the a great area to entertain in?
Everybody has different needs but like without a doubt the mass wants an open concept.
They want the home to feel bright and open and then understanding
your exposure that you're going to be getting so if you have an end unit home
I guess for the block or an end unit townhouse, what kind of what
kind of sunshine is gonna come through? Having a home that shows very bright and
feels very large, is always better in the end than something that
feels very dark and closed off. Walking through the home you're gonna, you'll be
able to pick up on numerous small things throughout and that'll give you a
feeling that the home is well taken care of it feels good to be here or it feels
like it's been abused or poorly poorly constructed.
So for a resale home, like if the person has hired a really good realtor like yourself,
and they do a really good job of preparing the home,
maybe a too good of a job that you don't see some of the flaws or things.
Are there things that you should really key in on when you're going into
- let's say specifically a resale home, that could be hidden by the marketing or the
really great house prep that that realtor that person has done?
They shouldn't be hiding anything that's material latent defects so that's of
course a defect that is expensive to fix and can't be seen or can't be
easily discoverable during home inspection but I would say most
of the time the properties are gonna show as they are.
You can get caught up in that the space feels larger than it does because it has a large
sorry, a smaller scale furniture that makes the living room feel like it's large.
Now a lot of people have their furniture that they're intending to
bring with them and they're gonna measure accordingly and see how it fits
or they can buy new stuff, but the reality is if this looks like it seats
four it doesn't seat four comfortably if you were to use this furniture so think
about it in the way that you're actually gonna use the space.
On the other side, there's people who don't properly take the proper steps prior to
listing and the properties don't look... they don't show it their best.
You turn a corner and they've got a sectional that closes off the living room and
then the kitchens on this side. It feels uncomfortable so the sectional
should be really positioned differently even though that's not in line with the
TV directly which is a big thing, it makes the space feel more open.
A seller, sorry, a buyer would go into a property and say it feels small, it
feels closed off, it could be the exact same home they just saw that they
loved and that's the same layout but they feel like it's that because of the
way everything's positioned. So getting beyond that that's actually working in
your favor as a buyer because the seller didn't do take the proper steps prior to
listing to make it short it's best so they're getting negative feedback
particularly in this market over and over again.
It feels small feels closed off feels dark. Don't like the feature wall paint that's burgundy black/ dark gray.
Those things should all be taken care of prior to listing so that
it feels larger but if they don't know that ahead of time and they're not doing
that work ahead of time they're gonna think the only solution they have for selling is price reductions.
They'll keep pricing it lower and lower until ultimately it will sell but you can take
advantage of that by understanding our realities of the space.
How long should a typical viewing last for? How long should you have like if
you just walked it like if we walk through this show home right so it was
really nice everything is prepped you can go through at what five - ten minutes?
But should you take longer?
Five - ten minutes if you're doing, typically
you can book a second showing most people who are interested, they don't
just go through one time for 10-15 minutes and say buy the home.
They book a second showing they go through a more thorough and that's where they'd spent
forty five up to an hour and then from there they make an offer.
If the offer is accepted then they have a home inspection and then they're gonna be in
there for two to three hours at that time.
Got it. And is there anything I should do to prepare when I'm actually going to view home?
Is there like a checklist I need to do or I probably just don't want to show up and just look at home right?
Yeah you would want to make a list and there's generic lists
out there that real estate agents have or could have and would use that just
say you know the basics of the community, the size, the bedrooms but beyond that
you are going to want to make your own wish list essentially of what you're
looking for and if you can describe what your day-to-day life is.
If it's if it's coming home and relaxing and watching TV, you don't necessarily need a big open
space for entertaining. If it's having people over for dinner then you're gonna
want a space that can hold a large dining table, probably seating
at the island if there is one, things like that. If you want to have more than
two children you're probably gonna want a fourth bedroom but thinking about
those things above grade or if you want them in the basement typically you're
gonna find the fourth bedroom in the basement
but if you want the fourth bedroom to be above grade it's a lot harder to find
but those are all things. You make your own wish list essentially while you're
shopping that's custom to what your needs are.
Got it. And let's talk about like, yes you want a view inside the house but is there anything you want to
do outside the home whether it's around the property or even like the general neighbourhood?
what are some things, anything you want to take a look at? While you're there right.
Yeah so the exterior the property is mostly gonna be covered through the home inspection,
but it's making sure that the roof is in good condition, all the exterior, the siding
the eaves troughs, everything are as they should be and then from there consider
how you want to landscape the property do want to build a deck or do you wanna
build a patio? Patios in my opinion give a lot more privacy because they're on
the ground so then you can only have a six-foot fence you're sitting there
versus sitting you know three or four feet in the air you can see over the
fence see all your neighbours. And they can see you.
So thinking about the landscaping aspect and then when you leave there - what's the proximity to
any parks those are important. Proximity to amenities and then like
like I said sometimes you can get trapped. You go out when you look at
a brand new home or you look at a resale property and you're looking at fifteen
so it's two minutes to get to this one two minutes to get to that one and you
don't realize by the end of it the home that you love is 15 minutes in the back
of the community then you go ahead and you purchase that home and then you
realize well I purchased it at Saturday afternoon at 3 o'clock and now I have to
go to work at 7 a.m. and it takes me 25 minutes to get out of my community that
can be frustrating so I encourage people if they're serious about a property and
concern to both that, go there and spend Monday morning get back in the community
and then leave at the time that you leave for work. It seems crazy to be
doing that but you're going to live here for years and years, it's worth one day.
I think so too. I think maybe not all the show homes you visit but like the one that you really feel attached to,
or the house, take that drive to work and see like actually how long it actually takes right and
maybe do it and this sounds crazy but maybe do it during rush hour
because you always do it during rush hour so you get a real
understanding of what it is do it at your normal schedule.
If you want to learn more about how to prepare when buying a house check out our video above and in the description below.
Kevin, do you have anything else to add in terms of what to look for when viewing a house?
I would say the most important is that people get caught up in that I often see mistakes within is
square footage is not the exact same across the board and I think that
that's pretty obvious but if it's a thousand square feet here is it's not a
thousand square feet there or there they're all configured differently so
having an intelligently designed home goes much much further and the biggest
thing when you're looking at townhouses or attached homes is width so a lot of
people don't understand this home feels so much larger and it's the same size is
the last one it often comes down to the width of the home and feeling like
you're closed in and in a narrow place that has lots of length but
you're doing you know the direct set of stairs and then set of stairs and then set of stairs,
so you've got three stories that have 1500 square feet or you can have a
wider property that has 59 square feet over two stories which feels much more
like a single-family detached home and feels much more comfortable.
The question of the day I have for you is, what do you look for when you go visit a show home
or a home that you're interested in buying?
Let us know in the comment section below.
If you want to know more about home buying and the home buying process,
make sure to watch our videos here as well as don't forget to
hit the subscribe button to keep learning from the experts.
Thank you and we'll catch you in our next video