Just to let you know this is a continuation of the real estate saga that I have been going through here in Vancouver. Check out my first VIPBDS blog to get the background story.

Chapter 2 “The Work and the Glory”

I cannot emphasize enough how good it felt to finally have an agent working for me.  My agent would email me listings based on the criteria I had given him and then all I would have to do is reply and let him know which ones I wanted to see and when. After that, he would make all the calls and schedule an effective and efficient block of appointments in a row so that I could get the most out of my time. For more info about how having an agent helps check out: www.howrealtorshelp.ca

 When we visited units, the agents that were selling them didn't treat me like they were hawks anymore because my agent now served as a mediator. I was able to gain more reliable information as my agent asked the right questions and noticed problems with the unit, its location or the price that I would have had no idea about before.

This honeymoon of having an agent quickly dissipated as the agent began asking me questions like “how much do you really want to spend?”, “what location do you want?” and “when are you looking to buy?” Yes, I know that these are very basic questions but you have to understand that my parents called me and told me that they were “looking to buy” and while I had a general idea of what they wanted, it was never easy for me to answer these questions.

Rule  #3

Know what you want! I thought that by looking at lots of properties I would get to know what it was that we needed. This worked in the end because it gave me an idea for the market but it was frustrating when I realized that the four bedroom houses that I was looking at for a month weren’t the right choice for us. I do not recommend doing things backwards like I did.

Instead, talk to your parents and tell them you would be happy to help them find a place but that they need to sit down together and agree on price, general location, size and time period. Ask them to do some calculations in relation to finance so that you have a general idea of what your family can handle realistically. Also tell them to contact the bank and begin a pre-approval process for a mortgage in the price you have discussed. Trust me, if you know what you want it will make a world of difference in fighting off VIPBDS and save you hours!

Finally, two months after that first phone call with my parents, I started the real estate search. Can you imagine how frustrating it was for me to look back at two months and hundreds of hours that I had spent on places that didn’t even suit our family’s needs? Don’t let VIPBDS get the best of you like it did to me because for those months it consumed my mind, my time and my life. I even neglected the girlfriend I had at that time (forgive me babe).

Finally, I found a place that I liked and met our needs. It was the right size and had this “wow factor” view of the north shore mountains (oh how I love BC). So we decided to make an offer but it was rejected as there were many offers and the seller wanted an unreasonable amount of money. Despite this I was still tempted to buy the place at the higher price.

Rule #4

Don’t get emotionally attached! You must always remember that you are buying the place for investment and part of VIPBDS is getting distracted by emotions and buying without thinking. Although I say this, one must take into account that if I felt that way about the apartment and got emotionally attached, maybe someone else will too and it will be easy to sell or rent.

Despite all of this frustration that I was experiencing it was manageable because I knew I was closer to obtaining my goal. Eventually, we did find a place and I felt an enormous amount of relief. What I didn’t know was that perhaps the most trying part of VIPBDS would be the actual purchase of the property itself. The saga continues...