How to Create an Ideal Property Profile

Once you’ve decided that you’re ready to buy a home in San Jose, it’s time to figure out exactly what you want– your must-haves, your nice-to-haves, and your dealbreakers. What neighborhood? How many bedrooms? What square footage is right for your family?

When you cast a wide net, looking at whatever properties hit the market, it’s hard to assess whether a home is a truly good fit. That’s why we recommend working with your agent to create an Ideal Property Profile.

Having an Ideal Property Profile will guide you through your home buying process so that you reduce stress, maximize your time, and ultimately end up in a home you love.

What is an Ideal Property Profile?

An Ideal Property Profile is a description of your ideal property. It includes information about:

• Neighborhood (we recommend refining to 1-3 potential neighborhoods– you can even be specific about the streets)
• Square footage
• Number of bedrooms
• Number of bathrooms
• Features such as garage or large yard

Remember that your Ideal Property Profile is just that– ideal. As you go through the home buying process, you may need to adjust your Ideal Property Profile to accommodate what’s on the market and what fits your budget. 

Why is creating an Ideal Property Profile a good idea?

Most go into the home buying process with a sense of what they want. Perhaps you know you want four bedrooms or that a small condo would be great for your current lifestyle. Taking the extra step to define exactly what you want in an Ideal Property Profile will make your home buying process a lot smoother– you’ll reduce stress and save time.

When a buyer goes into the process without a good idea of what they want, they often get overwhelmed. There are so many properties that come on to the market in Santa Clara County each week. Without a specific ideal in mind, you may end up seeing a lot of duds that don’t fit your needs which wastes a ton of time.

When you go into the process with a defined Ideal Property Profile, you’re setting yourself up for success.

How to to create an Ideal Property Profile

Now that you understand what an Ideal Property Profile is and why it’s worth having one, it’s time to make one. Here’s the steps we recommend you take to do so.

Talk to your agent about your priorities

Your San Jose real estate agent should be extremely knowledgeable about the local neighborhoods and the state of the market. Start by having a conversation with them about what you’re looking for, how much you’d like to spend, and what is most realistic. It's also critical to be upfront about absolute deal breakers. For example, if you won't consider a busy street with a speed limit over 30mph, your agent needs to know.

Your agent will help you suss out the “must haves” from the “nice to haves.” Together, you can build an Ideal Property Profile– you can start out fairly broad with a few different neighborhoods or go as granular as wanting to buy in a specific enclave.

Match your budget to what’s available

San Jose real estate is extremely competitive with limited inventory and it’s important to not only set a budget, but match it to what’s available. With houses often going over asking price, it can be hard to search based on your exact budget. For example, if your budget is $1.3M and you search on Redfin for homes listed at that price, they may be out of reach. It’s better to search for homes at a lesser price so you have wiggle room to make a more competitive offer.

Your San Jose real estate agent can help here too, making sure that the budget you’ve set is realistic for what you are looking for. They can help you understand the tradeoffs– for example, maybe you sacrifice a little bit of square feet in order to buy in your neighborhood of choice.

Look at prospective homes

Once you’ve matched your budget to what’s available, it’s time to look at some homes. This will help you see what’s out there to make sure that your expectations meet the reality. You’ll be able to get a feel for the different neighborhoods, styles of homes, and the tradeoffs you may be faced with.

Insider Tip:  We always recommend driving through the neighborhood and by the house before actually looking at it– it might look great online but not be in a very appealing spot. We recommend going at a couple of different times of day, such as at night or during peak commute times.

Further refine and adjust expectations if needed

It’s now time to further refine your Ideal Property Profile. Now that you’ve seen some homes, you may be able to rule out certain types of properties or certain neighborhoods. The more you can refine, the more targeted your search will be, ultimately making it easier to zero in on the right home.

At this stage, you may have to adjust your expectations as well. Maybe you hoped for a move-in ready home with 4 bedrooms and a garage, but may find that 3 bedrooms or a fixer-upper is more realistic for your budget (yes, San Jose is expensive!).

Find an ideal property and make an offer

Now that you have an Ideal Property Profile, you’ll be able to find the properties that meet your criteria. Once you find an ideal property that you love, it’s time to make an offer. Your agent will guide you through this process to help you ensure you snag the perfect home– you can read about this step in Phase 4 of our San Jose home buying guide.

Think you’re ready to buy a house in San Jose and create an Ideal Property Profile? Read our guide to buying a house in San Jose and schedule your buyer consultation today so we can talk more about your home-buying goals.