story home, as well as features such as basements, yards, garages, and, overall, how the home is designed. Homeowners who are downsizing are often looking for smaller homes that are on one level (without stairs), and are less concerned with basements, yards, and garages. In fact, these latter elements might be a detriment for Baby Boomer buyers. Design matters! Don’t ignore this significant detail when looking at and choosing your next home as you continue the downsizing process. The overall design of the home, and everything it contains (or doesn’t) should meet all of your needs.
Step #7: Hire an Agent
You’ve probably noticed that I’ve brought this up a number of times throughout this book so far, but I need to include it as one of the steps in the home-buying process. A bit later on in the book, in Part 5, we will go into more detail and reasons about why hiring a real estate agent is important and beneficial to you, but I will present an overview here. You might have heard success stories of buyers who have managed to find a good home at a good price and go through most of the steps successfully — without a professional buyer’s agent — but you need to understand and remember that these stories are the exception, rather than the rule. There are many risks and pitfalls involved with going it solo, and hiring an agent can help you not only avoid these, but can also make the entire home-selling and home-buying process while downsizing go as smoothly and stress-free as possible. “But there’s that pesky commission fee!” you might protest. While that’s true, hiring an agent can save you time, energy, stress, and even money, since professional, qualified, and experienced real estate agents know the ins and outs of the real estate market as
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