BogoSort

Ever since I graduated college in 2002, I’d always looked briefly into buying a home of my own in the DC metropolitan area.  Through various factors(crazy housing market, buyingwith only one income, etc), I’ve managed to avoid pulling the trigger.  Now, with the $8000 housing tax credit for first time buyers, a depressed(but rapidly recovering DC area market), and low interest rates, I can’t resist the urge to invest in a home, even if it’s just for the investment potential.  In retrospect, as a first time buyer one of the biggest advantages that I have is that I can choose an advantageous time to enter the market(as opposed to a subsequent home where many of the market factors balance themselves out).

Today I began the process by meeting with Bob MacIntosh, a realtor who was highly recommended by many of my friends who recently purchased homes(Devin+Beth, Mike+Emily, Tom).  We had discussions about various topics to start to get a feel for my requirements in selecting a home, and thus I’ve started a page to detail them here.  With the listing of open houses, I can formulate a plan for tomorrow to see a variety of them and thus start hammering out my exact requirements.  The key thing that Bob liked to reiterate was that this process is supposed to be fun, which is in stark contrast to the horror stories of high pressure agents who just want to make a sale at the expense of who they are representing.

Handouts:

Poster sized northern Virginia map

List of open houses for tomorrow

Listings of houses in Fairfax and Loudoun Counties

Stack of business cards(to be left at open houses as I visit them)

Homebuyer’s guide from RGS Title(which had a nice home buying workflow that I shamelessly copied to keep track of what I need to d0).

Exclusive Right to Represent Buyer Agreement

Housing market activity report for the last week

Tasks:

Get an ADC map of the area

Visit open houses

Complete and return realtor contract