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Buying A Vacation Home at the Jersey Shore

When purchasing a property at the Jersey Shore, whether it be your primary residence, second home, or investment property, the process can either be extremely stressful or a pleasant experience depending on how you handle the situation and who you are working with. I’m going to give you a summary of the process involved when buying a property and this may help you on your journey to owning real estate at the Jersey Shore.

Meeting the Customer: Getting to Know Your Specific Needs

Once I am contacted by a potential customer who is interested in purchasing a property, I ask a few questions to find out how much this customer knows about this area. I get informed on several scenarios. Do they currently own a property and are they looking to upgrade? Have they been coming down to the Jersey shore for years with friends and relatives and know the area well? Have they only been here once or twice and fell in love with our “Paradise” and want to be a part of a great community? Or have they read about the potential investment properties with appreciation that make investing at the Jersey Shore a great opportunity? Every scenario has a different approach as to how to educate the customer and make the process go smoothly.

Starting the Loan Process: Pre-Qualification

After establishing my customer’s agenda, I encourage a “Pre-Qualification”. This process introduces my customer to a lending agent, or they may have an agent they feel comfortable with. This lending institution will take pertinent information from the customer and within the banking rules and regulations, give my customer an estimated monetary amount that they will be able to afford when purchasing a property. This process saves a lot of time when I start to evaluate my customer’s wants and needs. Without the knowledge of my customers buying power, I may waste my time and theirs showing properties that are not feasible to purchase, which will lead to frustration and stress. The time spent establishing a comfortable price range also shows sellers that the customer is serious about purchasing a property, and there will be less chance of problems once the contracts are signed.

Creating a Customer Profile

While I am having my customer get pre-qualified, I continue to ask questions to find out what kind of property they are interested in. Do they want to be close to the ocean, or do they have a boat and want to be on the bay. Are they looking for new construction? Do they need many rooms, or would they prefer a condominium. I establish the customer’s wants and needs and then we sort them out according to what my customer can afford. This allows me to create a profile for my customer and narrow a search for their dream property.

Seeing Properties of Interest

The showing of properties may occur immediately upon meeting a customer, or it may be after establishing the criteria mentioned above. I may get a call from a potential customer who is sitting in front of a property and wants to take a look, or I may get E-mailed from a referral that has interest and wants to know what is available. Every situation is different. When showing properties, I educate my customers along the way. I offer them a brochure on the property with all the important information they may need. It covers everything from the number of bedrooms and baths, to the amenities, and the approximate real estate taxes that will be paid. Since we will most likely be seeing several properties on the first showing, this information will help the customer remember the facts from one property to the other.

Narrowing Down the Options

In normal situations, after showing several properties, one of two things occurs. The customer will either narrow down the property to one or two options, or they will not find one particular property that they really like. Either way, they will usually walk away from the situation so they can think, talk, and come to some conclusion on the day. I never pressure a customer to make a decision on the first showing, unless they have the personality where they know what they want and have the confidence to do so.

Backup Plan: E-mail Notification

If a customer realizes that there was not one particular property that interests them, I then offer to put them on an E-mail notification. An E-mail notification allows the customer to receive information on new properties that go on the market, the day they go on the market. I send them only potential properties that fall within the criteria of what they are looking for. This allows them to see properties, hassle free, with no obligations and when they find something that interests them, they will make contact with me. If the customer wants, I will contact them occasionally if I see something I think is a good deal that fits their needs. Once the customer finds something that looks interesting to them, I offer to show them the property and we go from there. This allows the customer to view properties as they become available in the relaxed setting of their own home or office, without any sales pressure to purchase.

Once You've Found the Perfect Vacation Home...

A customer who finds a property that interests them will then go to the next step of putting in an offer. The customer, and how much of an offer they want to make, and my experience as an agent knowing what the value of the property is, help determine what the offer will be. We will discuss all options and come up with a price that will make the initial offer to purchase. If my customer is considering a property that is not listed with the agency I am working for, I am a “Buyers Agent”. This means I am working solely for my customer and I’m only looking out for his best interests. If my customer is looking at a property that is listed in the agency I work for, I am then a “Dual Agent”, which means I have privilege to information on the seller’s side and I have to be working for both parties. By law I must make all customers aware of the possibility of a “Duel Agent” arising.

Putting In An Offer

Submitting an offer to purchase a property is fairly simple. I fill out a standard form for my customer, which includes the address in question, the amount of the offer, and a “Good Faith” deposit, which is fully refundable if an agreement of sale, is not met. I also like to include when my customer would like to go to settlement and how he will be financing the purchase if we know this. Adding more information makes the seller aware that you are prepared to act on this property in a timely manner. I present this offer to the seller’s agent and it is then presented to the seller.

Once the offer is submitted, I will normally wait twenty-four hours before I contact the seller’s agent to see how the offer was received. The seller can accept, reject, or counter offer the proposal. If the seller accepts the proposal, I will then create the contracts. If the offer is rejected or a counter offer is made, I will then contact my customer and explain the situation. My customer then has an option of putting in another offer, or walking away from the proposal and starting to look again.

Re-Negotiating An Offer

Going back and forth with the buyer and seller is not unusual in real estate. Once an agreement of sale is acceptable by both parties, contracts are made. The contracts list all the information necessary for the sale. Normally there is a standard contract that is completed, with addendums added for any information that is not included in the standard form. Once the contracts are completed, they are given to the buyer and seller to review. At this time we recommend that both parties take the contracts to their lawyers to review before signing. It is not absolutely necessary to have a lawyer review the contracts, but we highly recommend it. If the lawyers find any errors or changes that need to be made, we notify the other party and make the changes if acceptable.

Signing the Contract and Preparing for Settlement

If everything is acceptable by both parties, the contracts are signed and then both the buyer and seller have a seventy-two hour period in which either party can change their mind and back out of the contract. This is required by law to protect both parties involved.

Now that the contracts are signed and the seventy-two hour period has expired, we start to get ready for settlement. This requires ordering title insurance on the property, securing financing for the buyer, having a termite & fire inspection, securing a date and time for closing, and other small tasks that I as the buyers agent must perform. I spend time answering questions from my buyer and reassuring them that everything will run smoothly. A good agent on both sides of a contract will have everything prepared for the closing.

The closing day has arrived and the buyer will now do a final inspection before we go to closing. During this walk through, the buyer will check everything to make sure it works satisfactory as in the contracts. Sometimes a buyer will purchase a property “as is”, which means there may be defects or minor problems that they will have to take care of. If everything in the property is satisfactory, we proceed to closing without hesitation.

The Last Step: Closing

Closing takes approximately one to two hours and involves the signing of papers required by law when a property transaction occurs. Under normal circumstances, this is a very calm, lighthearted occasion with a sigh of relief and a smile at the end. Both parties are happy with the outcome, and my buyers own a new property at the Jersey Shore.