Wondering if there are any specifics to keep in mind when home shopping? There are a few things that are helpful to know beforehand, to best support your client.
Understand your client’s budget
Before you go out home shopping, it’s important to understand your client’s needs, then it’s time to get familiar with your client’s budget! There are two parts to a budget, and both are important to consider:
- Their maximum monthly payment—this is the maximum monthly cost we’ve approved them for. Check in with your client to see if they’re comfortable with their maximum monthly payment. If not, adjust your search to look for homes with monthly payments that fit their budget
- Their total home budget—the total purchase price of the home
It’s important to know not all homes with the same purchase price will have the same monthly price. This is because different neighborhoods, home types, and school districts can affect the fair market rent of the property. We always recommend looking at each home your client is interested in individually. You can use our calculator tool to find the monthly price for any listing, tailored to your client’s budget and approval.
Get familiar with Divvy’s home requirements
To best support your client during the shopping process, take a look through our home eligibility requirements. Here are a few top-level things to keep in mind while looking at properties:
- Single-family and townhomes are great for Divvy
- New builds are eligible, as long as they are completely built
- The home’s deed must be “Fee Simple”
- The home must be on less than 2 acres of land
- All our homes need to pass a rigorous inspection, so look out for listings with terms like “sold as-is”, “fixer-upper”, or “not habitable”
There are also ineligible home types:
- Condos
- Foreclosures
- Pre-foreclosures
- Short sales
- Bank-owned / county-owned
- Fannie / Freddie-owned
- Assignee contracts from wholesalers
- Manufactured or mobile homes
It’s a good idea to get familiar with our metro minimum and maximum prices. Your client should be aware of these before home shopping, to make sure our prices will work for their budget.
We do have a rigorous inspection process, so it’s important to help your client identify homes that may struggle to pass to avoid any disappointment during closing. If you’re not sure about a home’s eligibility, you can always speak with our team for guidance.
We use our own trusted inspectors for all our inspections, and always recommend you and your client attend. Here are a few things to look for while home shopping—these characteristics usually mean a home has a better chance of passing an inspection:
- Homes built in the last 15 years
- Furnaces/heat sources, and air conditioners that are less than 15 years old
- Water heaters that are less than 8 years old
- Good roof appearance—no patches or deformities
Be prepared to submit an offer request
We know—it’s a competitive market out there! So when you and your client are ready to make an offer, use your agent portal to submit an offer request. We’ll review your request ASAP (typically within the same day) and get back to you with an approved offer price you can put forward to the seller. Our team are experts at pricing homes in our metro areas and are able to look at wider trends in the area to come up with the most competitive offer price. Stay tuned for a blog covering the entire offer process!
Remember—Divvy makes all-cash offers, and we can close in as little as 17 days!
Want to get your clients home shopping with Divvy? Sign up today!