Pushing Yourself Through the Home Buying Process

1. Break It Down

The larger a task is the more impossible it seems, but if you break it down into several smaller elements, you’ll find each part of the process more manageable. In this case, your ultimate goal is to close on a property. When you divide that into smaller steps, you may have sub-goals like “create new budget” or “see every house in this neighborhood.” Eventually all the little pieces will add up to a major accomplishment.

2. Set a Schedule

Creating your own deadlines can help you stay on task, especially if you set a schedule that will help you reach them. For example, “review 15 listings by Friday” is a good goal, but it’ll be easier to get there if you set aside enough time to review three listings each day of the week. When you’re planning your home search schedule, be realistic—make sure the time commitment fits with your other obligations, and avoid rushing yourself, or you may burn out quickly.

3. Find an Accountability Ally

For many of us, meeting someone else’s expectations feels more urgent than meeting our own. Get a partner who will commit to discussing your home search with you frequently and hold you accountable for meeting goals along the way. This person can be your spouse, a friend, or even your Envoy loan officer.

4. Reflect and Correct

Every journey has bumps in the road, some of our own making. If you aren’t hitting the goals you set or a plan isn’t working out so well, don’t beat yourself up. Take some time to think about the problem, be honest with yourself about where things went wrong, and identify how you can improve.

Very few Envoy customers found their ideal house right away, but the ones who didn’t give up are all happy homeowners now. Stay the course and let your loan officer know when you need a boost.