First Visit Tips and a Few Things to Know (click to view)
Your contact information is very valuable, and one of my responsibilities and goals is to help protect it. I will never share or sell your contact information, but lots of places will, especially real estate search sites. To prevent this and be better prepared for your home search, sign up at these three sites at least a week before making a call to a lender.
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Opt out of pre-screened loan offers, OptOutPrescreen.com
Prevents your info from being sold to competing firms when you inquire about a home loan, for five years.
- For a permanent opt-out, start the request there and return the signed Permanent Opt-Out Election form.
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National Do Not Call List, DoNotCall.gov
Not super effective and takes at least 30 days to implement, but worthwhile.
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Pull your credit report, AnnualCreditReport.com
Take a look at your credit for free, once a year, from every reporting agency. Tip: pull one agency every four months and monitor your credit all year long.
Search Smart, Not Just Wide
You can do a lot of productive house-hunting before you leave your home. Homes.com, Zillow, Realtor.com and Redfin are all useful and provide different data in different formats, but each is primarily a marketing platform and a search tool second. Here's how to use them efficiently, how to keep from turning your search into a lead that gets sold to agents who make your phone ring incessantly, and how to narrow your search from your couch before you spend a minute visiting homes in person, saving you time and frustration.
Know Your Budget
Before you start looking at homes, get clear on what a comfortable monthly payment looks like. A lender can help you understand what you may qualify to borrow, but your financial comfort level matters just as much. Your total monthly housing cost includes more than the loan payment:
- Principal and interest
- Property taxes
- Homeowners insurance
- Mortgage insurance, if applicable
- HOA or condominium fees
- Flood insurance, if needed
- Utility differences between homes
- Expected maintenance and repair costs
A good goal is to keep money available beyond the down payment and closing costs. Homes will need repairs and maintenance, moving expenses, furniture, window treatments, tools, appliances, or utility deposits soon after closing.
Financing readiness checklist
- Talk with a lender early and understand your loan options and programs
i
There are an amazing number of loan programs and options out there. Not all buyers qualify for all loan programs, and not all loans are suitable for all homes. A great lender will guide you through which ones actually apply to you. - Focus on the monthly payment estimate, this is what you're responsible for on a regular basis. The purchase price is a useful search criterion, but it's too big a number to realistically break down (and you might get genuinely depressed seeing the full amount paid after interest over the life of the loan)
- Compare estimated monthly payments at different price points, know what your payment looks like in $20,000–$50,000 increments
- Be sure to include taxes, insurance, HOA/condo fees, and mortgage insurance (if needed) to get the best picture of your monthly payment
- Decide how much cash you want to keep after closing for repairs, moving, and emergencies
- Avoid major financial changes while you're preparing to buy, new debt, large purchases, job changes, or unexplained account transfers. See Freeze Your Financial Picture for the full list.
Search From the Comfort of Home
Start with all four major search sites. No one site is perfect or all-inclusive, the way a home is presented may look different on each one, and content updates at a different pace across each. This is the fun part.
The search sites work the same way. They are marketing platforms first and search tools second. Your contact information is the product, sold to the highest bidder, and often to several at once, real estate agents and mortgage lenders both. They do not give up easily.
So skip “Get More Info,” “Contact Agent,” “Request a Tour,” “Ask a Question” and “I’m Interested” until you actually want to talk to someone.
Do this instead:
- Make an account if you want saved searches, or somewhere to keep what you find and share it, but read what you are agreeing to
- Save the listing link, or send it to a friend or to 804-Michael
- Keep your own notes while the homes are still fresh in your mind
One difference worth knowing. A car salesperson may never see you again, so the pressure makes sense for them. I am hoping to help you buy and sell homes for the next twenty years, and nobody gets that by chasing people.
So here is my promise. I will not hound you. I am not going to call you over and over. I do not even ask for a phone number on most of my forms. Take it from someone who gets dozens of spam calls a day, I have no interest in bugging you. I will be here when you are ready and send you something useful in the meantime. You might get a small nudge by email, or a text if you choose to give me your number, but I will not fill your phone with calls.
And I will never sell your information. Not to a lender, not to a warranty company, not to anyone. There is real money in handing over buyer details and plenty of people take it. I do not, and anyone who tells you I passed your information along for a fee is not telling you the truth. Your details go to someone else in exactly two situations: you asked me to send them, or you are closing on a home and the people working on that sale need them to do their jobs.
Broad view of active listings & local inventory
Saved searches, map browsing, estimated values
Widely used portal, closest to real MLS data
Map-based search & tools for comparing homes
If you need a lender, I can point you to good ones
I am not paid for it. No fee, no kickback, nothing changes hands. I recommend the handful of people I do because they are honest, they work hard, and they do not sell your information on. If a lender you have never spoken to starts calling you, it is usually because somebody sold your details. That is not how I work, and it is not how the people I send you to work either.
A few things worth knowing before you shop:
- Your rate is not locked until you are under contract. Anything quoted before that is an estimate, and estimates move.
- Find someone who answers in the evening and at the weekend. That is when offers get written. A lender you cannot reach on a Saturday can cost you the house.
- A broker who shops several lenders usually beats a single bank, because they are comparing on your behalf rather than selling one product.
I know just enough about lending to be dangerous, so I am not going to sit here and quote you numbers. What I will do is give you the questions worth asking and the programs worth looking into, then put you with someone who can fit them to your situation. It is a bit like sizing clothes. I am not the tailor, but I know some very good ones. There is more on protecting your financing once you have it in Freeze Your Finances.
Size Your Search
Begin broad enough that you don't accidentally hide a good match, and don't use too many criteria to limit your options. You're also relying on agents or sellers entering data about a home correctly, and some make errors or omit information, don't let a lack of data unnecessarily limit your search.
Starting filters
- Maximum purchase price or monthly payment (recommend adding about $10,000–$20,000 above your comfort price to catch homes that might be priced too high)
- Minimum bedrooms and bathrooms
- Your location, either based on proximity to important schools or work
Secondary refinement, if you're coming up with too many options, use these to narrow your search:
Secondary refinement
- Minimum or maximum finished square footage
- Specific school zone
- Lot size, if outdoor space matters
- Property type, single-family, townhouse, condo, manufactured
- Parking needs, driveway, garage, number of spaces
- Must-haves, first-floor bedroom, home office, basement, fenced yard, no HOA, public water/sewer, accessibility
- Listing status, active first, then review pending and recently sold to understand competition and pricing
Everything else narrows it far faster than you expect, and the damage compounds when you combine them. Pick at most one of these:
- First-floor bedroom
- Garage of any size
- Basement
Two things a search will never do for you
- Some things have no box at all. A wooded lot. An open feel. Good afternoon light. A kitchen you actually want to cook in. A yard your dog would love. None of it is a filter, and the home that has all of it will not surface because you searched harder.
- A search is only as good as what someone typed in. Every field is filled by hand by the listing agent, and fields get skipped, boxes get missed, and the wrong option gets picked more often than anyone would like. A home with a full basement whose agent never ticked that box will not appear in your basement search, however carefully you set it up.
And a search never shows you what it filtered out. It reports what is left, not the sixty homes it just hid, so a search can feel thorough while quietly holding back the one you would have liked. And if a search comes back with nothing at all, the site is not broken. That is almost always criteria that are too tight. Take one thing off and look again.
Two things the portals cannot do for you
- I can set up an automatic search for you. New listings reach you within minutes of going live, or as a single digest each morning or afternoon if you would rather not be pinged all day. Your choice, and you can change it whenever you like. The portals pull from the MLS but not always promptly and not always completely, so a search set at the source gets to you first. It costs nothing, and asking commits you to nothing.
- You can draw the area yourself. Our Draw My Search map lets you outline the exact streets and neighborhoods you care about instead of settling for a radius or a zip code, which rarely match how anyone actually thinks about where they want to live.
- Then share what you drew. Send it to whoever else is deciding, a partner, a parent, or me. Getting everyone looking at the same map early saves a surprising number of arguments later, and it tells me more in one picture than a paragraph of description would.
Make Your Lists
Create separate saved lists or folders as you go:
| List | What belongs there | Goal |
|---|---|---|
| Top Contenders | Homes to tour | Keep this short and current |
| Maybe / Compare | Homes with tradeoffs or unanswered questions | Identify what matters most |
| No-Go Examples | Homes that reveal a deal-breaker | Refine your search criteria |
| Notes | What you liked, and what put you off, home by home | Remember why you felt that way, and tell 804-Michael what is a no |
| Recently Sold & Pending | Similar homes nearby that sold, and ones now under contract | Learn what homes are really worth here, and what is selling right now |
Write the notes while the home is fresh. They matter more than you expect once five houses blur together. And send me the no-go list too, not just the favourites. Knowing what put you off tells me more about what you actually want than a list of likes does, and it stops me showing you three more of the same thing.
What to Look For in Every Listing
Before falling in love with the photos, review the listing details carefully.
Green Flags
- Clear photos of the kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, yard, exterior, and mechanical areas
- A floor plan or room dimensions
- Specific ages or replacement dates for the roof, HVAC, windows, water heater, and appliances
- Clear notes about utilities, HOA, parking, lot size, and included features
- Listing history that makes sense
- Exterior photos that show the home from multiple angles
- Details about renovations, permits, maintenance, and improvements
Slow-Down Signals
- Few or missing photos of bathrooms, basement, backyard, utility areas, or exterior
- Photos that seem overly edited, heavily cropped, dark, or unusually wide-angle
- "As-is," "cash only," "investor special," "needs TLC," "buyer to verify," or "seller makes no representations"
- A home repeatedly returning to the market
- Large price changes without an obvious explanation
- Vague language such as "newer," "updated," or "recently replaced" without dates
- Square footage that may combine finished and unfinished areas
- A low price that seems out of line with nearby homes
A listing photographs a bit like a dating profile. The pictures are real, but they are the best possible version, on the best possible day, from the best possible angle. Plenty of homes that look ordinary online are lovely to stand in, and a few that look perfect are a let-down the moment you walk through the door. Try not to fall in love, or rule anything out, before you have been inside.
Explore the Area, Virtually
Once a home looks promising, open its address in Google Maps and switch between standard map view, satellite view, Street View, and directions. This helps you begin evaluating the property and its context, not merely the home's staged photos.
Satellite view checklist
- Lot shape, driveway access, parking layout, turning space, and shared-driveway concerns
- Distance to neighboring homes and backyard privacy
- Whether the yard is flat, sloped, wooded, heavily shaded, or hard to maintain
- Nearby commercial or industrial uses, rail lines, highways, power lines, retention ponds, or apartment complexes
- Rear-lot neighbors, easements, drainage paths, visible water features
- Pools, sheds, fences, decks, detached garages, and accessory buildings
- Tree coverage close to the house, especially large limbs over the roof or driveway
- Whether the property backs to woods, another neighborhood, a busy road, or undeveloped land
- Adjacent fields or vacant parcels that could change in the future
Street View checklist
- Road width, traffic patterns, on-street parking, sidewalks, curbs, streetlights
- The condition and style of nearby homes
- Visible drainage ditches, steep driveways, blind curves, or difficult entrances
- Signs of neighborhood upkeep, yards, roofs, vehicles, exterior maintenance, vacant homes
- Proximity to a fire station, school, church, shopping center, rail line, highway, or commercial property
- How close the home sits to the road, and whether the front approach feels safe and practical
- Mailboxes, utility poles, shared driveways, or access issues photos may not reveal
- Nearby airport or flight-path considerations, where relevant
Check the Real-World Fit
A house can be attractive online and still be wrong for your daily life. Before scheduling a visit, check:
- Commute, run directions to work, school, family, and frequent destinations during the times you'd normally travel, not Maps' default estimate.
- Daily errands, grocery stores, pharmacies, fuel, restaurants, medical care, parks, and child-care needs.
- Internet and cell service, especially important in rural or edge-of-service pockets of Hanover, Goochland, Powhatan, and Caroline counties.
- Utilities, public water and sewer versus private well and septic; propane, oil, electric, or natural-gas heat; HOA fees and what they actually cover.
- Flood and drainage, flood-risk resources, nearby creeks, low areas, drainage ditches, and the home's relationship to the surrounding terrain.
- Schools, verify the current attendance zone and enrollment information directly with the applicable school division, not just a portal's estimate. See the Schools section of the Due Diligence guide for direct links.
- Future change, vacant land, large fields, old commercial buildings, or road projects nearby that could change the immediate area.
Questions about any of this?
This is exactly what a buyer consultation is for. Bring the homes you have saved and whatever is worrying you. It is free, there is no obligation, and you are not signing anything. Sit down with me or meet virtually, your call.
Virginia Buyer Reminder: An Omission Is Not an All-Clear
In Virginia, the Residential Property Disclosure Act generally emphasizes buyer due diligence. The seller's residential property disclosure statement says owners make no representations or warranties about the property's condition or improvements, and it specifically advises buyers to obtain whatever due diligence they consider necessary, including inspections and other appropriate evaluations, during any inspection period that may be in the Purchase Agreement.
This part trips up a lot of buyers, and it is worth understanding before you write an offer rather than after. I am happy to go through it in detail with you, line by line if that helps.
That means you shouldn't assume a seller has confirmed:
- The overall condition of the house
- Lot lines, setback rules, lot coverage, or whether an addition can be built
- Adjacent parcels, zoning, or future uses next door
- Flood risk or flood-insurance requirements, or dam-break inundation zones
- Conservation easements or other easements
- Septic-system type, size, condition, maintenance needs, or pump-out requirements
- Radon risk, marine clay or soil concerns, or lead-pipe concerns
- Airport or aircraft noise, or military-installation impacts
- Historic-district or resource-protection-area restrictions
- Registered sexual-offender information
Virginia's current disclosure statement also highlights items sellers must affirmatively disclose in writing, including pending building-code or zoning violations, lis pendens, prior methamphetamine manufacturing, privately owned stormwater-management facilities, repetitive-risk-loss status, and septic-system operating-permit validity.
A listing may not tell you everything you need to know, and under Virginia's disclosure framework, it may not have to. Ask questions, review documents, investigate the land and surrounding area, and use the appropriate contingencies and inspections before removing protections or moving forward to closing.
This is educational information, not legal advice. The exact disclosures and protections that apply can depend on the property, transaction, contract, and circumstances. Source: Virginia DPOR, Residential Property Disclosures.
Build a Shortlist
For each home, capture the same information so you can compare homes fairly:
Shortlist fields
- Address and listing link
- Asking price and estimated monthly payment
- Beds, baths, finished square footage, lot size, and year built
- Water, sewer, heating fuel, and internet notes
- Top three advantages
- Top three concerns
- What needs verification
- HOA amount and key restrictions
- Whether you'd tour it, yes, no, or maybe
- Your "gut score" from 1–10
Not sure where to start? Let us talk it through.
A buyer consultation is a conversation, not a commitment. No obligation and no pressure. We go over what you are looking for, what it costs here, and how buying actually works, so nothing surprises you later. In person or virtual, whichever is easier.
Red Flag vs. Verify
Buyers often panic at normal wear, or overlook a sign that actually matters. Use this as a gut check, not a verdict.
| What you see | What it may mean | Best next step |
|---|---|---|
| Small hairline drywall crack | Normal settling or cosmetic movement | Note it; compare with other signs |
| Water stain on ceiling | Old repair or an active moisture issue | Ask for history; inspect carefully, use an IR camera or moisture meter to check |
| Musty basement smell | Humidity, drainage, or mold. Water problems are often hidden, and they are usually the expensive kind | Ask questions and budget more days than you think. A specialist has to be scheduled on top of the general inspection, and any samples taken have to grow in a lab first, which takes days almost nobody plans for |
| Fresh paint in one area | Routine refresh or a concealed repair | Look for context and documentation |
| Uneven floor | Older-home character or a structural issue | Note the location and severity; investigate |
| Seller is an LLC, or never lived there | Often an investor sale or a flip | Inspect harder than usual. Ask what was replaced, who did the work, and whether it was permitted |
| Photos that look perfect | A wide lens, good light and good staging | Nothing replaces standing in the rooms |
| Missing listing photos | May be harmless, or hiding a weak area | Tour carefully and ask why |
You Don't Have to Figure It Out Alone
The best home-buying decisions come from combining your priorities with good information, not from rushing, guessing, or relying on listing photos. When you're ready to tour, text me the addresses you like in Ashland, Hanover, Henrico, Richmond, or the surrounding Central Virginia area. I'll help you compare them, spot the questions worth asking, and decide which homes deserve a closer look. Text me the listings you're watching before you click "Request a Tour."