Four things you need to do if you looking to buy a home.

If you have been looking for a home or are considering looking for a home in the District and most close-in Maryland communities you need to be prepared for a seller's market. This is especially true in DC, downtown Silver Spring and Bethesda where home inventory has been low for over a year now. We simply have too many buyers chasing too few homes. The result has been a steady increase in values and a lot of multiple contracts. There is no reason not to expect the same situation for the coming year. For home buyers this means difficult times ahead.

Many purchasers are losing out on homes because they are not prepared. They are either not getting into see the home in a timely manner or are not writing the best or winning offers. This can be very frustrating. If you are a buyer here are some suggestions that might help you.

1. Find an experienced Realtor and set up a buyer's consultation.
2. Select a lender and make your loan application now.
3. Find a good mobile real estate search app and download it onto your phone and pad.
4. Commit yourself to the process.

When I hold open houses, I am surprised at the number of potential buyers that are out looking at a home but have no affiliation with a Realtor. It tells me one of two things.  Either some of these prospective clients are not seriously looking or they do not understand agency and the importance of having their own advocate who will look out for their interests. A good buyer's agent will not only be there to advise you about the home and surrounding neighborhood but will be ready to act in your interest when you are ready and the need for speed is urgent. Find a good agent and put him or her to work for you.

You must have your ducks in a row as far as the loan process goes. As a listing agent, whenever there are multiple offers, the first thing I do is look for offers that can be weeded out of the process. This serves to help me and the sellers as well. The first offers to get rejected are those that are not perfect financially. To protect my sellers, I need to know with confidence that your loan will get approved. You the buyer must be working with a reliable local lender (forget about getting a loan over the Internet) and have already made application.  Along with your offer, you need to submit a signed financial information sheet, a solid lender's commitment letter and the name of a contact with the mortgage company that I can actually reach by phone. It is important that your lender and loan officer are available for questions from the listing agent. Sometimes a quick phone discussion about a minor detail will make the difference between acceptance and rejection.

If you have been looking at homes on Trulia and Zillow  now it is time to wean yourself off of these web sites and get a good mobile search app that is linked to the local MLS service. I get frequent complaints from clients about how out of date these large web sites can be. In a competitive market you need an app that works all the time and is completely up to date. We live in a world of instant information. In a hot market the quicker you know the better.  Why not start with Keller Williams new mobile app? Click here to download it. Then ask your agent to set you up with a listing alert that will send you new listings as soon as they are placed in the Multiple Listing Service.

This is not a time to be indecisive. Either you have a need to find a new home or you don't. I have seen so many times when a casual buyer walks into my open house on a Sunday and all of a sudden finds themselves in the home of their dreams. However so frequently this sort of buyer is just not prepared to act quickly and as a result they lose out on a home that the should have had.  Don't waste your time and set yourself up for heartbreak. Take the leap and commit to finding your home. Then give me a call. I will make sure that you will get the home that is the right fit for you.