The Real Estate Game Plan You'll Need When Buying or Selling a Home

If you are thinking of buying or selling a home, having a game plan is one of the must-haves in every transaction. 

One of the ways I like to set myself apart is by making sure that people understand how they can accomplish those specific real estate goals. Sometimes those goals are really simple, which is great while sometimes, they’re more complex. Sometimes, they’re shorter-term goals that we are trying to meet and sometimes your long-term goals.

As a huge sports fan, what I like to do is come up with kind of a sports analogy, and Game Plan seems to work. It's never too early to start the game-planning process. 

Real Estate Game Plan for Home Buyers

During the first quarter, we’ll begin with finding a lender. In the second quarter, it is being in a position to know what you can afford and have talked through your home buying goals. We’ll then start looking at properties, going out and looking at homes, talking about the pros and cons, what they're liking and what they're not liking.

Once we get to halftime, we're regrouping and getting ready to put an offer on something. Now that we have the lender’s input, the buyer’s input on what they're liking, what they're not liking, what's going to work for them for the short-term and long term. 

The third quarter is where we're going to go put an offer in and work through the contract process. It’s the process where we're going to talk about it all in more detail. But right now I'm talking from a buyer perspective. From a buyer's perspective, we're really looking at crafting that offer and getting it accepted. 

The fourth quarter is where all the behind-the-scenes stuff starts happening. The lenders doing what they're doing, the title company's doing what they're doing, the buyers doing the stuff that they need to be doing to get ready to move into the home, the sellers are getting ready to move out of their home. 

By the time we're done with the fourth quarter, our goal is to not go into overtime – which is the deal falling apart and having to start over and create a new game plan or don't want or extend the closing, which sometimes happens more often than we would like. 

By the end of the fourth quarter, we scored that final touchdown, and everybody was happy and celebrating from the seller's perspective.

Real Estate Game Plan for Home Sellers

For home sellers, in the first quarter, we'll talk about why are you selling your house and where you're going to move to. Obviously, sellers have to go somewhere. They're not always necessary to buy something right away and for some, they're not always staying in the Middle Tennessee area. It's really helping them figure out what they need to do from a buying perspective also. In this process, the first part is when should they sell their home? 

The second quarter is getting their home ready to be listed on market. What would be the best list price, what marketing things are we going to do? 

At halftime, we're regrouping and putting that game plan into play. On the third quarter at that point, it’s getting it on the market and getting an offer that hopefully is going to make it to closing. If we have multiple offers, how are we comparing those offers in order for them to pick the one that is most likely to make it to closing? 

After the fourth quarter, they have people behind the scenes. Title companies and moving companies that are helping to get them ready to move out of their place. 

From that, we're taking it step-by-step and piece-by-piece. With my help walking through that process in greater detail and as we get to each one of those activities that have to happen, part of the joy and satisfaction I get out of it is watching people's eyes light up as they learn and as they get that next financial thing paid off and they get one step closer to their goal.

Sometimes that journey that gets them there is even more exciting or as exciting as hey, I'm finally here and I'm finally ready to go. It's fun for me to watch people progress in whatever it is that they're trying to do.

Are you thinking of buying or selling a home in the Nashville - Middle Tennessee area, call me at (615) 930-0313, schedule a call with me, or send me a message! Let’s get your game plan going today.