The home search can be an exciting and often stressful experience.

In 2023, the average homebuyer views 10 properties before reaching mutual acceptance over 12 weeks. How long it takes depends on numerous factors, including market conditions, local housing market dynamics, your price point, the type of property you’re looking for, and you.

At the moment, homebuyers face several major challenges:

1. Limited inventory of homes for sale
2. Rising mortgage rates
3. Affordability

Nationally, we have a housing shortfall of at least 6 million homes. New homes are not being built quickly enough, and existing homeowners are choosing to stay put as the majority (90%) have mortgage rates significantly below current mortgage rates. Many homebuyers are simply dropping out of the home search. But with too few homes, competition among buyers remains high.

As you start the search for a home, adopt a strategic mindset. Many factors are beyond your control, but you can minimize the time, effort, and stress to secure the right home when you focus on what you can control.

Before you start your search, ensure you have:

✅ Completed the planning & building consensus phase

✅ Secured preapproval for a mortgage

✅ Selected a skilled RE agent, and signed a Buyer’s Agency Agreement

This prep is necessary and will serve you well.

To build on that foundation, let’s look at how you can use a systematic approach and thrive despite competition.

We’ll cover:

• How to kick things off with your agent
• Guidelines for identifying homes
• Managing logistics as co-buyers

With this knowledge, you’ll be ready to act quickly.

Engage a Real Estate Agent

Every co-buyer group-agent relationship is unique, and individual agents have their own way of doing things. Generally, you’ll have a kick-off meeting to get on the same page, discuss the home search process, and ask questions. Make sure all co-buyer(s) participate, and share the following with your agent before the meeting:

• Output from CoBuy Wizard Worksheet
• Mortgage Pre-approval letter from your lender
• Contact details for all co-buyers and your Loan Officer

You’ll save a lot of time by providing this information. Instead of discussing basics like what type of home you’re looking for and where, you can drill down into finer details.

Discuss the following specifically:‍

➡️ Budget

Be open about your budget and any flexibility you have. Help your agent understand your absolute ceiling so you don’t waste time viewing properties at price points above where you’re willing to stretch.

➡️ Non-negotiables

Share your non-negotiables with your agent. These can relate to the property characteristics, timelines, or the transaction.

Example: Property Characteristics

We have a dog and need a backyard.
Two of us work from home and need a separate room to use as an office.
We have different schedules and need separate bathrooms.
We don’t have cars and must be within walking distance of a bus stop or transport link.

Example: Timelines

One of us is leaving for a work assignment in 5 months. We need to have a property under contract before then.
We’re having a baby in 6 months and may need to consider logistics if the home requires remodeling work.

Example: Transaction

We are not willing under any circumstances to waive home inspection.
We can’t view homes during the day on Mondays and Thursdays due to work schedules.

➡️ Offers

Ask your agent about how they approach preparing and submitting Offers. They should also explain the Offer Addenda and break down which are essential versus optional.

Ask your agent about how things work in the local housing market, both generally, and also at your price point for the type of property you’re looking for. We’ve seen all kinds of nuances and quirks. In some rural areas, the process moves more slowly. A buyer from the big city could interpret a slower response time to their offer as a snub when it’s just how things work in the local market.

From your side, highlight any information your agent may or may not share with the seller/listing agent. The relationship between you and your agent can become quite personal. You may share things about your intentions, situation, or life in confidence. Make sure you flag anything that you want to be kept private.

➡️ Communication plan

Agree on how and when you will communicate. In co-buying, a little planning and organization goes a long way since you’ll have different types of communication, levels of urgency, and stakeholders to keep in the loop.

Decide which medium you’ll use for different purposes:

• Flagging properties as they come on the market
• Non-urgent questions, insights, information
• Submitting offers
• Updates
• Transaction-related issues and key milestones, which may be urgent and/or sensitive

You, your co-buyer(s), and your agent should have an open channel to discuss things on a rolling basis. Separately, milestones and updates often involve additional stakeholders like your Loan Officer and Title & Escrow. You don’t want to miss a time-sensitive communication because it went to an old email address or landed in the spam folder. You need to prepare to move quickly. Slowness is a common choke point in home purchase transactions.

➡️ Introduce your agent to your Loan Officer

By now, you’ve provided your agent with your Loan Officer’s contact details. It’s also smart to make a proper introduction to ensure everyone’s on the same page, align on the next steps, and confirm the 3-way co-buyer-agent-loan officer communication plan moving forward. Your RE agent and Loan Officer form the core of your professional “deal team” and will be your biggest advocates during the transaction.

💡 Pro Tip

Assign a“Group Leader” for your group. Whether you’re an unmarried couple or a group of seven co-buyers, it’s efficient to have one person as a main point of contact vis-a-vis all other parties. Your agent and loan officer should communicate with all co-buyers, but in certain circumstances, it’s easier to coordinate through a central point of contact.

Identify Target Properties

Over 96% of all buyers use real estate search platforms to search for homes. They’re simple to use and a great place to start. But there’s more to shortlisting properties that fit your criteria, and these search platforms have certain limitations most people don’t know about.

Structure Your Search

In the plan and build consensus phase, you defined property criteria with your co-buyer(s). This is your starting point. Because of the sheer number of properties and different property characteristics, you need a base set of agreed search criteria. Without this, it’s easy to get off track and get into the weeds.

Stick to your search criteria.

If you need to make adjustments, do it. Instead of wasting time looking at properties outside of your agreed search criteria, go back to the drawing board. Discuss, align, and update your criteria. This should be your standard operating procedure. When co-buyers deviate from this approach, they go around in circles and lose momentum. Inefficiency in your home search isn’t productive. Left unchecked, it dampens everyone’s enthusiasm.

📝 Field Note

Searching for a home without a structured plan is like going to a large grocery store together without a shopping list during rush hour. You’re hungry, they’re out of certain things, and you still have to get home and cook. You split up and head down different aisles. If you’ve been in this situation, you probably remember regretting that you didn’t plan.

The stakes in a joint home search are higher. We’ve seen many groups fail to structure their search and drop out.

Understand RE Platform Limitations‍

The major real estate platforms aggregate home data through different means, including connecting to many of the 560+ Multiple Listing Services across the US and direct feeds from brokers and agents.

Practically, the information on these platforms is not always up-to-date, accurate, or complete. This is because of how the data is obtained from the original sources and the fact that not all real estate agents and brokers provide direct feeds to each platform.

In most cases, the best real-time data source on homes for sale in your geography is your local MLS. Your real estate agent has direct access and can set up automatic notifications to alert you via email when a new home that fits your criteria is listed for sale.

Errors & Omissions‍

Sometimes, a listing is inaccurate. Listing agents can get things wrong, exaggerate, or have technical difficulties when creating a home listing on the local MLS. This happens all the time. MLS software isn’t always top-notch, and there’s plenty of scope for human error. Of course, some agents just flat-out lie about the characteristics of the home they list. Ambiguous adjectives and vague language are usually red flags. If it sounds too good to be true, or details in the property description don’t add up, it’s a red flag.

ℹ️ Note: An experienced agent will recognize red flags from a mile away. We highlight these issues so you know as you conduct your search via online platforms.

Logistics

In the home search, you must be prepared to move fast. Efficiency and speed are competitive advantages. You will have to coordinate and manage a range of activities internally and externally:

• Identifying properties as they come on the market
• Scheduling viewings and other interactions
• Making internal decisions as co-buyer(s)
• Preparing and submitting offers
• Negotiating and interacting with the seller (through their listing agent)
• Tackling obstacles as they arise

Logistically, these tasks are harder as co-buyers compared to a single person or a married couple.

Get ahead of these headwinds by starting out with a strong communication plan and by designating a group leader. If your circumstances or preferences change, communicate these clearly and quickly with anyone who needs to know—your co-buyer(s), Loan Officer, RE agent, and anyone else who should be looped-in.