The market is still moving relatively quickly in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.

As such, once we walk inside of a house, and you decide you like it enough to make an offer, the clock may be ticking and you may need to make a decision about an offer AND offer terms rather quickly.

We'll have a limited amount of time for you to make a few big decisions...

[1]  What price do you want to offer?

[2]  Do you want to include an escalation clause?

[3]  How high will that escalation clause go?

[4]  Do you want to include a home inspection contingency?

[5]  Do you want to include an appraisal contingency?

Some of these questions are certainly property specific -- and your answer will be different when asked about different properties.

But some questions can be made somewhat more generic...

[1]  Will there ever be a time when you are comfortable making an offer without an inspection contingency?

[2]  Are you comfortable paying more than the appraised value for a house?

Including a home inspection or appraisal contingency (or both) will definitely make your offer less competitive if there are multiple offers and if one (or more) of the other offers does not include either or both of those contingencies.

So... before you go see a house that you then might discover that you love... think about...

[1]  Would you be comfortable buying a home that you love without doing an inspection?

[2]  Would you be comfortable paying more than the appraised value for a house that you love?

Thinking about these questions generically will prepare you for when I ask you to think about your answer to that question when we're inside of one specific home.