THE HOME SEARCH

Buying a home seems to start simple enough; you want a 4 bed house in a certain area. We find that the homes in that area are either out of your budget or there’s none for sale. Do you consider a smaller house? Change to another neighbourhood? Where else would provide the same lifestyle? And then, which house is a fair price? You want an upgraded kitchen and your husband wants a private backyard, but you can’t find both for your budget. What’s a priority and what’s a compromise and where do you go from here? This is how a simple desire for a new house is actually an intricate process with many details to work through. With the Village Guru, you get professional and objective assistance to keep you focused on your end goal.

AUTO-GENERATED LISTINGS

We know you want to see for yourself. Though listings don’t tell you everything you need to know, there is great value for you to be a part of the process and see what we see. You can start to get a sense of prices in a given area, and what you get for the money.

FILTERING & GUIDING THE PROCESS

With homes, it’s a lot like comparing apples to oranges. No home will be perfect, and all of them will have their pro’s and con’s. It is very common for buyers to get confused and unsure about what choice is best. We will never tell you what house is right for you, but we will help you narrow down your options based on what we discover to be your top priorities.

  • We will show you homes that meet many of your priorities, but usually not all. This is truly where you see in person what houses have to offer and decide what you can and cannot compromise on. For most buyers, the goals stay the same but the wants and priorities usually shift throughout the process.
  • We will show you options you may never have considered. Maybe there’s a home with no pictures and so you want to wait to see it. But we know, it might just be the perfect home for you and you’ll be able to scoop it before the other buyers bother with it. Maybe you’re banging your head on wanting a neighbourhood, and we might show you another neighbourhood that will give you all the same features and amenities. We’re here to make sure you don’t miss any opportunities that might work for you.
  • We’re with you as you change your mind. We never get frustrated over the process of home buying, we know this is the natural course. You might ask to consider a new option and then decide it’s not right for you. You might say no to one of our suggestions at first, but then come back around to it later on in the search. It’s called a process because that’s exactly what it is. Our job is not to hold you to what you thought you wanted at first, but to guide you through to the options that will ultimately make you the happiest.

DAILY HOME SEARCHES

It usually takes 5-10 viewings for us to filter down what it is you truly want. Once this is crystal clear, it’s time to really hunt. Great homes can be bought within hours and days, and we can’t be left sitting on the sidelines. So once we know you are focused and ready to go, we conduct manual, daily searches for your home. You also are allowed to be a part of this, and if you want to manually search all day long (on your work breaks, of course! :)) that’s ok too. We expect to be in almost constant communication with you when we’re at this stage of the search.

 

BEING AVAILABLE TO EACH OTHER

There are really 2 stages of the process.

  • The Learning Stage where we are learning about you and helping you decide your priorities. During this time we schedule viewings and plan our next steps. We assess and re-assess options through lots of discussions after home viewings. We send each other listings for feedback and communication is regular. We encourage regular emails, texts or phone calls and we will always respond to you promptly.
  • The Decisive Buyer Stage is when we really know you’re clear, focused and ready to buy. During this stage we must be proactive; you won’t buy your home on a Saturday afternoon, we can almost guarantee it. We need to go see homes as soon as they are available, not 3 days from now. Maybe we view homes on your lunch break or you can shift your schedule so that you leave work early. In special cases, we might go preview a home for you, and take a video tour if we really think this might be “the one”. In a hot market, being available plays a huge role in beating out other buyers for the home you love.

We work with multiple clients at once, all at different stages. Our system is to always schedule our Stage 1 buyers in advance, and ensure there’s always free time available for Stage 2 buyers who need to go see a home immediately. We work as a team; you will work with one agent dedicated to your house hunt, but if we need another team member to go show you a home so that you don’t miss it, this is what we will do. It is in your advantage to work with an agent who is part of a team. We always have back-up to ensure your house hunt never skips a beat.