A recent survey from Zillow reported that over 50% of homebuyers said the homebuying process left them in tears. Furthermore, Millennial and Gen Z buyers reported this feeling at even higher levels – Millennials at 61% and Gen Z’ers at 65%.

Homebuying is stressful. You are making huge financial decisions and often must do them quickly. However, there are many ways to create a process so that if you are shedding tears at the end, it is because they are tears of joy, not frustration. After many years of helping clients navigate buying a home, we have developed best practices so that we can hopefully build a more positive homebuying experience for our clients:

• Expectations: The most important element is to set clear and realistic expectations. It sounds so simple, but if you expect that there might be bumps, then when they happen, it is possibly annoying but not frustrating.

• Education: I spend a lot of time making sure clients understand the homebuying process. I start with a 45-minute personalized homebuying 101 session, and then once a client is under contract, we go through all disclosures they need to sign. I can’t promise that you will understand everything, but at least we will try!

• Technology: We use technology to make it easier and more efficient but not to replace talking to a person. For example, we send disclosures to sign electronically, but we schedule a virtual meeting to go over them before they are signed.

• Communication: We try to keep clients appraised of next steps and deadlines without over-emailing so that it feels overwhelming. We also work hard at asking for documents once, not multiple times, which is a common complaint in the Zillow survey.

Please contact Margie with any further questions!