perfect homes to buy don't exist...The closest to "perfect" will happen after you buy and make changes that will get you close to your concept of "perfect"

Not very helpful. Perhaps I should be more precise. My perfect home is both a combination of a type of house (ranch with a basement) after that I could care less. The rest of the perfect part is the location and lot. You know, I really don't want to type a huge entry on that part.

Go ahead and send out the e-mail, telling them that you are not interested in anything that does not meet your specific qualifications. Tell them the specifics. Try to be as specific as possible.

You might mention that you would consider buying ONLY if something meets the following requirements..... be specific. Tell them that you are not going to buy anything that does not fit those requirements. And ask for the addresses to do a "drive by" of any houses they suggest. Many can be dismissed simply by looking at the outside. Especially if you are looking for a specific type of house.

I would also call a realtor and aks them if they have a VA list. The VA (Department of Veteran's Affairs) guarentees loans for the military and when a loan would go into forclosure steps in and pays the loan off, then resells the house for the payoff amount. There's a bit more involved than that, but.... they are not on the MLS and unless specifically asked, I have not had a realtor mention a VA home. They also may not even have a realtor sign outside. Generally only a 8x11 sheet of paper in a front window.

Is it worth a shot? Definately. The realtors make their money on rentals each month and a larger amount the first month they rent it, so they may be willing to flip through their listings to see what would fit your requirements.

Personally, I feel that the realtor is working for you. If they are not willing to work with you, and your needs, then I don't think that they need the $$ for a commission. We have only signed with a realtor when they have found a house that we wanted to buy. I made it clear that I had contacted other realtors, and if they found a house and contacted us first, that we would go with them. I'm not playing around. I'm not willing to go to every inappropiate house in town. I'm also not looking to waste their time, which is why I ask for the addresses and check out the house first.

Perfect is relative. Knowing what you want and those things on which you are willing to compromise is essential.

I have never sent out an e-mail, but I have made the phone calls. IMO it is fairly easy to ignore an e-mail, harder for someone on the telephone, and almost impossible in person.

Rentals, as far as I know, are handled by individual companies, and are not shared between different offices. The owner of the house is under contract with a specific office, and there is no incentive for others offices to rent their houses out for them. No $$ to the realtor who rents another office's house.

Good luck.
Mil

Have you signed up at all of the major sites? I would start with that. Some sites are better then others. I just signed with caldwell banker and dislike the save feature. Most times I copy listings to my agents remax site.

Mary, I don't know what *your* description of perfect might be, since we all think so differently.

A resonably nice home in FL, WITH a pool, would be the only type to consider. Unless the home is in a neighborhood with a lot of older people who wouldn't want the responsibility, and the liability.

Is it a possibility to purchase a spec home, not necessarily where you live? Since the market is on the downswing, you could pick something up at a great price as builders want to dump sitting homes and get their money.

Perfect might also have a price, in which case you might have to appreciate something a bit imperfect.

"Mary, I don't know what *your* description of perfect might be, since we all think so differently."

Exactly. You can't find it for me. I don't want this to get into what my perfect house is. Its immaterial other than I know (please just freaking trust me on this) its very hard to find and may not be out there at all. Which is why I built the last time and I don't want to do it again.

Really, this about techniquest for me to kdetermine if and possibly find the perfect house or rental.
Thanks Mil, that VA thing is new to me.

Instead of emailing realtors I'd do drive-by's of the houses in the location you are interested in. Get addresses of said properties, look them up on local assessor site which should give you assessed value, bedroom, bath count, etc. and then directly solicit the owner's.

My parents have received similar letters in the mail from realtors saying "houses in this area are in demand, if you consider selling, I'd list your house at $X". If you don't want to engage a realtor I would do on your own. I'm assuming this is a legal thing to do!

Good idea whenicit. I can maybe use zillow or google earth first to find the streets I want to drive around on. Meanwhile I'm thinking about sending out two separate emails, one for buying, one for renting, each on which will mention the other emal.
roselvr - I'm wondering about the sign up at agents websites, havent looked yet - what would I be getting from that?

Thanks,

First 10 years down the road is a bit long. Rentals do require alot of work for the landlord. If you have a managment corp do the work it may or may not be tax ded. Also after renting 10 years or even 5 you probably will have to repaint, etc everything especially if you rent to a family, or with pets, or smoke. You cannot deny rentals to these people--federal discrimation laws, and yes we had rentals on the west coast and it was a nightmare.
Also in 10 years cities, or neighborhoods may change completly, Personally I would not even think about buying for at least 5 years, but I would start looking.

roselvr - I'm wondering about the sign up at agents websites, havent looked yet - what would I be getting from that?

The sites are all different. From what I understand, realtor.com pulls the most info, but with the listings that aren't enhanced you'd be better copying the MLS # into their search, then saving it if you have interest in it. Signing up will allow you to personalize searches as well as allowing you to see what site you will use for your main favorites. It will give you the option to be emailed daily, weekly when new listings go up.

I signed up at a few sites. I received one email from an actual agent out of 4 sites. I expected to get an email from every one welcoming me, then an email from an agent letting me know they were there if I needed help. Email is very important to me as I'm not good on the phone as the day goes on and my pain gets worst. With email I can type everything out and ask questions at 5am if I want. I was disappointed with the lack of response.

If email & the web is important to you, finding an agent with a good site is something to consider. While I haven't looked to see what sites have rental searches, I do see that Remax does