Now that you’ve read How Long Will It Take? you may be thinking “Gosh! It’s going to take a lot longer than I expected to find my new home.” So let’s talk about how to shorten your search.

If you don’t care how long it takes to find your new home, you’re probably either: 1. Someone who doesn’t trifle with the concept of time because you’ve already attained enlightenment and know that your home will appear when it’s supposed to appear; or 2.  You’re someone who likes to look at homes as a sort of hobby. I envy you if you’re in the first group (my envy betraying that I don’t yet belong in that group), but there’s nothing wrong with being in the second group either.

Don’t despair if you don’t fit into either of these groups. It just means that you’re like the rest of us, the folks who want to find our new homes as soon as possible. We’re anxious to cross things off our To Do lists. And there’s nothing wrong with that either because, let’s face it, looking for a new home in central Toronto can use up a significant chunk of our leisure time which is extremely scarce to begin with.

I’m not advocating that you should rush your search. Not at all. I believe in taking as long as you need and looking at as many homes as you need to see until you find the perfect home. But given that time is scarce and valuable, here are a few things you might want to consider doing, at least until you attain enlightenment, to shorten your search without compromising your goal of finding the perfect home:

The Obvious

• Get your financing in order before you start looking at homes so you’ll know how much you can afford.
• Make a list of features you’d like your new home to have.
• Explore some different neighbourhoods to get a sense of where you’d like to live. You can do this by talking to friends or by driving or walking around different neighbourhoods to get a feel for what it would be like to live there.
• Spend a little time online to scope out what you’ll get for your money in the different neighbourhoods to confirm that you’re being realistic. Being unrealistic is a sure way to turn your home search into a long, frustrating and unsuccessful experience.
• After doing this basic research, speak to your Realtor to get the ball rolling. I know this sounds like a plug for working with a Realtor, but if you want to save time and increase your odds of achieving the best result possible, there’s nothing better you can do.

The Not So Obvious

These next few tips are very important and are what some might refer to as the “pro tips”:

• Ask your Realtor to research the neigbhourhoods you like and send you the listings for homes in your price range that have sold in the past 6 months. It’s the best way to determine if you’ll be able to get what you want within your budget in that neighbourhood. Why’s this? Three reasons. First, looking at current listings is all fine and good, but list prices mean very little in this market. It’s the sale prices that give you a true indication of what you’ll get for your money in that neighbourhood. Second, there will likely be very few current listings to look at since there are never a lot of homes on the market at the same time. They get listed and they sell. It’s hard to get a feel for the market with such a small sample size. And third, looking at the details (photos, room sizes, floor plans, features, etc.) of the larger sample size of sold listings will give you an idea if you’ll be able to get something you like in that neighbourhood in your price range.
• If you’ll feel comfortable paying $800,000 for your home, but could stretch to $1,000,000 if you really had to, don’t make the mistake of spending 3 months looking at $800,000 homes only to discover that you can’t find what you want at that price and then tell your Realtor that you’d like to increase your price limit to $1,000,000. You’ve essentially just wasted 3 months. What happens if those 3 months are March, April and May so that by the time you start to look at the higher price range there are no new listings coming on the market because it’s Summer? You might have just added 6 months to your search! You should’ve been looking at homes in both the $800,000 and $1,000,000 price ranges so you could compare them and made an educated decision about whether it’s worth it to you to spend the extra money. Just because you look at $1,000,000 homes doesn’t mean you have to buy one. A good Realtor isn’t going to try to sell you the most expensive home possible. He or she will help you buy the home that’s best for you.
• Be realistic and tell your Realtor to be honest with you and let you know if you’re being unrealistic. Don’t hold out for that once in a lifetime home or for that deal of the century that no one else knows about. Chances are they’ll never appear. Pretend you’re enlightened and adopt the attitude that if they happen they happen and if they don’t they don’t. You’re best off dealing with reality and what’s 99% most likely to happen.
• When you see a home you like, take your best shot at it because you may not see another home you like for a long time. Remember You See It, You Like It, You Buy It – Part 1?

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with taking as much time as you need or looking at as many homes as you’d like to see until you find the perfect home. Some of our clients have taken years to find the home of their dreams, but they were patient and so were we. But if you’d like to shorten your search, hopefully these tips will help you. Happy house hunting!

And if you know of anyone who’s looking for an honest realtor who really knows his stuff and doesn’t pressure his clients, Please Don’t Keep Me a Secret. I really appreciate your referrals. Thanks for reading and don’t be shy if you have any questions or comments!