How do you Find Your Home in Sequim? If you’re a buyer in a state other than Washington, and you’re looking at Sequim as your retirement destination, you probably could use a checklist that will help you find your ideal retirement home. Guess what? I have your checklist. What’s my credibility in offering you a checklist that will help you find your home in Sequim? I moved to Sequim 25 years ago, got in real estate 40 years, was a real estate attorney for 20 years, and have been running my own Sequim Real Estate Brokerage for over a decade. I’ve written thousands of articles to help buyers, many books on Sequim real estate for buyers, produced many videos for buyers, and became the Number 1 buyer’s agent for seven consecutive years. Why did I share all this with you now? So you could see that if I create a checklist for you as a buyer to help you find your ideal home in Sequim, I definitely know what should be on that checklist. And I’m offering it to you free anyway. I know, I’m a nice guy. So let’s get to the list.
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- Know precisely what kind of area you want, whether in Sequim or in the mountains or near the beach, surrounded by trees, open to the sun, a small lot, or acreage for privacy.
- Describe your idea of your ideal home. Is it single level? Stairs or no stairs? Square feet, number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, size of master suite and master bath, floor plan parameters, open living room/kitchen/dining? Kitchen countertops and cabinets, flooring in kitchen, living room and throughout, size of garage, den or office required?
- How much yard to you want to mow and maintain? Low maintenance? Trees, shrubs, flowers, grass, fake grass?
- Do you want privacy?
- Do you want a quiet and peaceful neighborhood where you can’t hear noisy traffic?
- Are you okay with a home on a busy street or Highway 101?
- What is your price range?
- Do you have any pet peeves or hobbies that must be accommodated, like golf or horses?
- Identify which online MLS sites you will use, and it’s okay to use more than one, but for accuracy with the information, be sure to add Sequim-Homes.com to one of your sites. Zillow has some good information, but Sequim-Homes.com has 100% accurate information, and you can save your searches and your favorite list of homes for viewing. Sequim-Homes.com is also a direct connection to Chuck Marunde as your Sequim Buyer’s Agent.
- Since the inventory of ideal retirement homes in Sequim is very low, you may have to broaden your search parameters to bring up potential homes to view when you arrive in Sequim.
- Have no more than 8 homes to view when you come to Sequim. You may only have 2 or 3 if you have very specific requirements, but don’t have too long a list to view in one or two days with your buyer’s agent.
- If you start searching and saving homes online on Sequim-Homes.com three to six months before you plan to arrive to view the homes, just realize that some of them are likely to get sold before you get to Sequim, and if you are saving the best homes in the best areas, they may all be sold before you arrive.
- Not all listings in the MLS have great photos, and some are even misleading. Some have virtual tours, and the really good virtual tours are the 3D interactive virtual tours. Some luxury homes have drone videos, too.
- Don’t forget another great research tool is Google Satellite, and you can use that to look at the area around a home, and see if there is a gravel pit nearby or busy roads or wetlands or junk vehicles.
- Combine your searching and viewing of homes online with texts, phone calls, or emails with Chuck Marunde as your buyer’s agent so you can get quick answers to your questions about an area, a home, or local real estate issues. Chuck will also go out and preview homes for you to help you filter your list down to the short list of homes you want to see when you come. Put Chuck’s phone number in your cell phone so you will have it handy, 360-775-5424.
- Learn how to search for and identify accurate information for your Sequim research. SequimBlog.com has over 2,200 articles written specifically to answer every question buyers have been asking for over two decades, and there is a nice search tool on that home page. You can search nearly any phrase you want to know more about, i.e. “Sequim private wells”, “Sequim well inspections”, “Sequim irrigation districts”, “Sequim septic systems”, “negotiating price in Sequim”, “horse property in Sequim”, “Sequim guest homes”, and hundreds of other phrases. You’ll recognize immediately if the article is on our blog if you see the domain “sequim-real-estate-blog.com”. For many of the phrases you search, we will be at the top of the first page of the search results as we dominate the Internet in the Sequim area, and for many searches you will get multiple articles that Chuck has written over the years.
- You’ll want to watch our video on how to use the real estate blog, which you’ll find on the home page of SequimBlog.com when you scroll down the page.
- Learn to use our Buyer Videos, a great resource for buyers, which you’ll find on Youtube or through the blog. On Youtube our videos can be found by searching Sequim Real Estate Videos, or simply search “Chuck Marunde”.
- If you want to look outside the Sequim and Port Angeles market, you can use another online MLS site that is also 100% accurate at LuxuryWaterViewHomes.com. This includes all Northwest MLS listings, which includes Port Townsend, Port Ludlow, Port Hadlock, Quilcene, and all the islands between Sequim and Seattle.
- Between the online MLS sites, the SequimBlog.com, our Youtube videos, and Chuck’s help to preview and help you filter, you will be ready when you come to Sequim to view your short list of ideal homes, and you’ll be very well prepared in terms of knowledge and information, what is available, prices, the paperwork, due diligence, and exactly how everything works in this market.
- Bonus: You don’t have to do this, but if you want to read some of the books on buying a home in Sequim that Chuck has written, you’ll find them on Amazon in ebook or paperback versions at Sequim Real Estate Books.
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I hope you find this checklist helpful. Of course, I’m here to help you personally as your buyer’s agent, but as you can see, I’ve put a ton of resources online for you absolutely free and with no requirements that you register your personal information. I hope I’ll have the privilege of meeting you and working with you.
Last Updated on October 2, 2019 by Chuck Marunde
