Neighborhood of the Week: Local broker publishes guide for homebuyers and agents
Kelly Hanson wants to help people avoid the common mistakes that are made when buying a home.
Hanson, an associate broker for Keller Williams Realty Coeur d’Alene and a veteran of the local real estate market for more than 30 years, recently published the book, “Be Smart in Real Estate: 999+ Questions Buyers Should Ask Before They Buy a Home and Where to Get the Answers.”
It’s a resource book filled with all sorts of information about what to look for in a property, as well as how to identify potential issues that may not be apparent on first or even multiple impressions.
While there’s plenty of how-to books on real estate, Hanson said few dive into the questions people should ask when considering a specific property.
“It’s not a book about how to buy a house,” Hanson said. “It’s about how to buy a house and not regret it.”
Hanson cited a recent poll by Bankrate.com and featured on CNBC that found nearly two-thirds of millennial homeowners had regrets about buying (the same poll cited 44 percent of overall buyers).
Many of those regrets stem from not knowing certain details about a property before contracts are signed. Hanson’s book provides an exhaustive checklist of things to consider, from broad questions about funding or how to determine if a neighborhood is a good match for your lifestyle (proximity of services, schools, traffic patterns, etc.), to more specific questions about the quality of building materials in the home, unseen hazards, hidden issues with ventilation, insulation, plumbing and electrical work and more. There’s even considerations on how sunlight and shade might affect your snow shoveling regime, as well as what to ask about foul smells.
It’s a book full of things that makes you think, “I never thought to ask about that, but I wish I did.”
“As a buyer specialist, you take on more responsibility for the buyer, so I literally started making a list… and it just grew and grew,” Hanson said.
About three years ago, he decided all these considerations could be a book. After a self-described “brain dump,” Kelly began to research and reach out to other agents in all 50 states in order to incorporate region and state specific questions. That research helped to make the book a much more universal resource.
“For example, I’d never been around fracking or underground mining, and we don’t have rattlesnakes and scorpions in North Idaho,” Hanson said.
The book is filled with checklists and information on where to find answers about the property in question. Often, that starts with working with a knowledgeable Realtor, and Hanson’s book is a valuable resource for agents to make sure they’re doing all they can for their clients.
Hanson has a long history as a certified real estate instructor and mentor, and part of his plans for the book is the potential to develop education programs and workshops for agents. There will also be revised and updated versions of the book too, because new questions always arise.
Hanson knows the red hot local real estate market is also forcing buyers to bypass a period of due diligence.
“There are so few homes available… People are buying homes sight unseen,” he said.
All the more reason to have an easy-to-use guide at your fingertips.
Get your copy of “Be Smart in Real Estate” at Besmartinrealestate.com/. Kelly Hanson is an associate broker at Keller Williams Realty Coeur d’Alene (KellyHanson@kw.com).
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Let us know about the standout neighborhoods around North Idaho you want to see featured in Neighborhood of the Week. Realtors! Reach out to us with updates on new developments and established neighborhoods in Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, Hayden, Rathdrum and beyond. Contact Tyler Wilson at twilson@cdapress.com.
