The Home Buying Process
I have often already been inside the house you are asking about
I have been selling homes since 2011, which means most of what comes to market in Fairfield County I have already walked through. When you send me a listing, you get a real answer rather than a first impression.
That matters most for the houses you never see advertised. I watch coming soon and Compass Private Exclusive inventory that never reaches the open market, and I often hear about a listing before it lists, which in a tight market is a real advantage.
Start Your Home Search
Start with the number, not the listings
Before we look at a single house, we work out what you want to spend rather than what you could spend. Those are different numbers, and the distance between them is where people get uncomfortable later. Once we have it, a lender turns it into something a seller can rely on.
Then search from here, on any device. Save what you like, and send me anything you want a real opinion on before you spend a Sunday on it.
Start Searching
Sign Up for Listing Alerts
Straight from the MLS, not from a portal
These alerts come off the MLS directly, so they reach you before the big portals refresh and without the listings that have already gone under contract. Tell me your criteria and I will build them around what you are actually looking for rather than a price band and a bedroom count. The listings that never reach the open market at all, I send you myself.
Get Set UpCommon questions
Buying a home in Fairfield County
Do I need to be pre-approved before I start looking?
Yes, and I would go further than most agents do. A standard pre-approval is a lender’s opinion based on what you have told them. A full underwriting is a decision based on documents they have already verified. The second one is what makes a seller believe your financing will actually close, and in a competitive offer that belief is worth more to them than a small difference in price. If you are paying cash, the equivalent is a current proof of funds, ready before we write anything.
Who pays my agent now that the rules have changed?
Technically there are three possibilities, and we establish which one applies before we write an offer. The seller pays my fee in full, which is still the most common. The seller pays part of it, and the difference is handled inside your offer. Or the seller pays nothing, and the fee is covered at closing. What changed in August 2024 is that buyer’s agent commissions are no longer published in the listing.
When do I sign a buyer agency agreement?
Generally before we tour our first house together. That is the standard in Connecticut now. The agreement sets out what I am doing for you, how long I am doing it for, and what my fee is. Putting it in place early on ensures everyone is on the same page.
How much is the deposit, and when do I pay it?
Customarily ten percent of the purchase price, paid in two parts. One percent goes in when your offer is accepted. The remaining nine percent follows when the contract is signed. The money is held in escrow by the seller’s attorney. It is not paid to the seller. Those amounts are customary rather than fixed. The deposit is a negotiated term like any other, and there are deals where a different structure is the right approach.
How do I see homes before they hit the market?
Three ways. Coming soon listings, which are in the MLS but not yet available to show. Compass Private Exclusives, which are visible to Compass agents and their clients and nowhere else. And houses that are not for sale yet at all, which come from knowing which owners are thinking about it. The first two I can set up for you this week. The third is why I spend as much time talking to other agents as I do to buyers.
