I enjoy building rapport that’s why I love connecting with my clients. Getting to know them has become my biggest strength. Thus, as your real estate agent, the greatest value I can give is to understand what you’re looking for and help you find that perfect home. It all starts with a meaningful conversation.

Usually, I begin by asking questions about experiences in buying, selling, or renting real estate. Even the time where you might have lived or traveled somewhere new is an apt place to start. This allows me to understand who you are at your core and what are the sources of your motivation. We can now see how collectively, we can create a result that’s aligned with that.

To show what this looks like, I’ll use a real-life example discussed last week. This is an inside look at how a 1-hour conversation reveals the characteristics of a perfect home. It will also help you understand the value I deliver as a real estate agent – all before you hire me.

Our Meaningful Real Estate Conversation

Just like any other relationships, it’s important to get to know each other. It’s kind of pointless to share all my past accomplishments and years of experience without taking the time to also know you. Imagine going on a date and the person talked for the first 20 minutes just sharing every highlight of their life, convincing you with reasons why you should date them. It would be a TOTAL DISASTER, right?

At the end of the day, choosing to work with a real estate agent happens when you’re comfortable and confident in that person’s abilities to understand your true desires. That relationship is created through a meaningful conversation.

I appreciate meeting with potential clients who have already had meaningful real estate conversations with family, friends, or a significant other. After tapping into the knowledge of those closest to and influential in their lives, they’re able to have a clearer understanding of what resonates with them. Thus, they’ve come prepared to uncover what is possible.

For example…

Below are the notes from an actual meeting with a buyer about the things that she loved from her previous homes. We completed the Perfect Home Exercise then I was able to highlight the key points that make a real estate property perfect for her. With all these information, we were able to create her Top 3 Must Have List that guided our whole home search process.

Mind Map Floor Plan and Layout in Real Estate — Here we discovered that certain floorplans and layouts excites her.

Mind Map Buying and Selling Experience in Real Estate — We learned that buying a single family house wasn’t a fit and a house that requires a lot of fix-up is a no go.

Mind Map Location Real Estate — We found out that location was the deal breaker and must have.

Mind Map Specs Like Beds and Baths, and Budget — My notes on the property specs and filters for the home search.

Notice how conversationally I discovered the most important things about her real estate experiences and what truly resonates with her. You can learn by doing this on your own but I also want to invite you to do it with me. This is something I take a lot of pride in and I’d really appreciate the opportunity to do this with you!

The Perfect Home Exercise

After creating the space and talking about your real estate experiences, it’s time to do the Perfect Home Exercise. Completing the activity with me will help you decide if you should work with me going forward. But if you have done this on your own, it’s OK too!

Doing this exercise together helps you understand what ideas and thoughts inspire me. This allows us to create the characteristics of your next home. Most importantly, it will help you as the buyer to decide if the vision I want to bring to the table is the right fit for you before hiring me as your real estate agent.

As discussed in the previous example, you can see the ideas that emerged within 4 minutes of doing a mind-map together. Those written on the green post-it notes were the buyer’s and the yellow ones were mine. Observing it, we were able to derive patterns and themes.

Top 3 Must-Have List

After discussing the patterns and themes that surfaced, we’ve picked our top 3 and created a Home Must Have List. This became our guiding principle as we began to choose which real properties to look at.

Downtown Denver Location near local drivers (Deal Breaker)
Open Floorplan with “Everything” & a Modern Layout
Newer Interior Updates and Level of Finish

Choosing Homes for Sale & Testing Outcomes

Going into this, we knew the property specs had to be 1-2 bedrooms, 1-2 bath condo, and less than $325,000. We determined any type of parking was acceptable and the unit needed to have washer and dryer hookups. To keep things within an initial budget, the HOA was capped at $250/month. All driven by location.

These property specs, coupled with the Top 3 Must Have List, gave us several possibilities from the Highland to Capitol Hill and City Park. It was now time to test the relationship between beds/baths/price and location while only touring real properties in popular neighborhoods. As we walked into each unit, we were testing the #2 and #3 on her list if it fits what she was looking for.

New Characteristics that Emerged

While touring properties, a modern layout and open floorplan were still number 2. However, the level of finishes was still unclear. I wasn’t sure if she wanted the best of the best or up to what extent she was willing to go down to. We walked into a real estate property which had no laundry at all but had top-of-the-line finishes. There she realized that she needs a laundry room and didn’t need too much of the finishes. So she was willing to go down a little bit just to have that space for laundry. The look and style of mid-2000’s gave her what she wanted today, and also the opportunity to do her own updates long term.

One of the most important things that surfaced was the importance of keeping her monthly payment low. That conversation allowed us to focus on a certain price point especially since 2 beds/2 baths and 2 beds/1 bath options were all at the top of her price point and in locations that didn’t speak to her. The bottom line is, location was not going to be sacrificed for property specs.

These real insights help you see the relationship between property specs and location while also showing the importance of a powerful Must Have List to create purpose and clarity in your home search.

Are You Ready to Look?

So you’ve been looking online and thinking about buying… This is perfect, let’s connect! I love it when buyers do their homework and have a range of possibilities when we meet. Text, email, or call and let’s schedule our first appointment.

Up Next…

Are you all about the process? Over the next month, I’ll share what to do once we find the perfect home. Covering the real estate home buying process from making an offers all the way to closing. See you next week!

“What makes it a perfect home and why do you absolutely love it?” It’s a simple question I ask when having conversation with home buyers. I enjoy seeing people light up when they share past moments that have brought them great joy. In real estate, it comes from experiences like renting a place in a new city or living with roommates for the first time. Emotion is the very essence of a great Home Must Have List. Today, I want to help you create yours by selecting the characteristics that makes a home perfect for you and let those become your guiding principles going forward. Are you ready?

Create Clarity

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to create a home must have list before searching for the perfect home. Imagine starting this journey without it especially in today’s real estate market where you need to find houses and make offers quickly. All of that pressure will probably lead to a decision that may not be the best. Looking forward, we want to change that, right? So that when you walk into a house, you know exactly what you’re looking for.

Over the past 2 weeks, we designed meaningful real estate conversations with those most important to you. Then we coupled it with divergent thinking to allow your best ideas to rise to the surface. Armed with all of these amazing ideas and themes, it’s time to get clear on what property you want to purchase!

Meaningful Conversation + Divergent Thinking = “Must Have List”

Your Home Must Have List acts as your guiding principle during the buying process. It starts with your #1 deal breaker which is something you won’t compromise on at all. It’s very binary and should be either a YES or a NO. Synthesize this by looking at the themes you discovered during the perfect home exercise. Pick one that moves you emotionally and brings the most excitement to you.

Design a Hierarchy

After finding out your #1 deal breaker, it’s time to choose your top 2 and 3 for your home must have list. These 2 priorities can interchange with one another and remain as characteristics that you’ll confirm during home tours. It’s important to keep #2 & #3 top-of-mind from the moment you walk into a prospective real estate property. This creates a frame of reference when comparing homes and deciding what’s the best for you.

How to Test, Test, Test

By discovering what moves and excites you, it’s easy to exclude the deal breakers and confirm how important #2 and #3 are when looking at homes. Having that clarity from your Home Must Have List quickly eliminates properties that fall short and allows you to seek out those that have the characteristics of your perfect home. This eliminates trial and error because you know exactly what to look for!

While testing, it’s important to have commitment to the guiding principles given by your Home Must Have List. If for any reason this isn’t the case… that’s OK! Review the themes you created during the perfect home exercise and re-examine your #1 deal breaker and all other themes that excite you. If anything has changed, recalibrate with a new top 3 and tour homes with those characteristics. This becomes a never-ending process until you find the right home.

A Home Must Have List Example

Let’s take a look at a real life Home Must Have List example from one of my clients. Check out the themes that emerged in the photo below from the Perfect Home Exercise we did. In this case, the location became the #1 guiding principle and an absolute deal breaker. To the client, this meant the property had to be located in downtown Denver, Colorado – near restaurants, bars, parks, and other local drivers.

Next, floor plan and layout emerged as top #2 . The buyer described this as having the right flow from the moment you walked in and having windows that’s letting in plenty of light. This layout had to have “everything”, including closet space, a kitchen to cook, and a laundry space.

Top #3 in her home must have list became the overall level of finish. This wasn’t initially clear initially and became something we had to test during our home tours. So the buyer and I selected several homes with “brand new” upgrades aligned with the current trends and others with upgrades from the mid-to-late 2000’s style. We decided to scrap anything with a 90’s feel or older.

These 3 priorities were not fully clear until we have met and gone through this process. It felt like she wanted something nice but wasn’t really sure what it looked like before creating a Home Must Have List.

Why Not Price, Beds, Baths, or Square Footage?

Price is always assumed in buying real estate and should not be in your Top 3 Home Must Have List. Price is determined by your budget and will boil down to a comfortable payment. The same is true for beds, baths, and square footage specification since those are all driven by price.

When looking at homes online or in person, you will quickly see the relationship between beds, baths, square footage and how those all relate to price. So go deeper! Get clear on the characteristics of a home that excites you. That will always take precedence over the property specs.

If you absolutely would love to have 2 bedrooms, create the context for what that means to you. For example, “Additional room for our future child” or “Place for my sister to come stay during the holidays.” That carries more meaning and possibilities for you to consider.

Pulling it ALL Together…

Thanks for taking ownership of the things you absolutely love! Creating a Home Must Have List is a critical step in finding the right home. It offers clarity and purpose in your search. Most importantly this is your creation and simply a reflection of who you are and why.

Next week…

I want to share why I use the Perfect Home Exercise with all potential homebuyers and how quickly a client can choose to work with me or leave the conversation having a better understanding of what they truly want.

Until next time!

Why I Love Meaningful Real Estate Conversations