Pre-approval. Every time. No exceptions.

I know that is not the exciting answer. Touring homes is fun. Pre-approval involves paperwork and a conversation about your finances with a lender. But here is why it has to come first. Without a pre-approval letter you cannot make an offer, and in the Gig Harbor market well-priced homes move fast. If you fall in love with a property before you know what you can actually spend, you are setting yourself up for disappointment at best and a missed opportunity at worst.

Pre-approval also does something equally important: it clarifies your actual budget rather than your estimated budget. Those two numbers are frequently different, and knowing the real one shapes every decision that follows, which neighborhoods to focus on, what price range makes sense, and whether your timeline is realistic.

For right-sizing homeowners who are selling and buying simultaneously, this conversation gets more nuanced because your purchasing power is often tied to your sale proceeds. That is exactly the kind of sequencing conversation we have early so your strategy is built on accurate numbers from the start.

Get pre-approved first. Then we go find you the right home.

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Following the 2024 NAR settlement, the rules around Buyer Broker Agreements changed and buyers deserve a clear explanation of how this actually works now.

A Buyer Brokerage Agreement is a written contract between you and your broker that defines the scope of representation, the length of the agreement, and the compensation your broker is seeking. Washington State now requires this agreement to be signed before I can show you a home. It is not something to be afraid of, it is actually a good thing because it creates clarity on both sides about what you are getting and what is expected.

On compensation: through our local NWMLS, what a seller is offering to a Buyer Broker is still published and visible both in the MLS and through IDX property searches. This means you can see upfront what compensation a seller has offered before you ever make an offer on a property. In cases where the seller's offered compensation does not cover what we have agreed to in our Buyer Brokerage Agreement, we discuss your options clearly before you make any offer so there are no surprises.

The bottom line is that working with a buyer broker still makes enormous sense, you have a professional negotiating on your behalf, managing the transaction, and protecting your interests through closing. I walk every buyer through this clearly at our first meeting so you understand exactly where you stand before we ever look at a home.

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More than most buyers expect and knowing the full picture upfront prevents some very unpleasant surprises later.

Here is what to budget for beyond your down payment when buying a home in Gig Harbor:

Earnest money: typically 1% to 3% of the purchase price, paid when your offer is accepted. This is applied toward your down payment at closing but needs to be liquid and available immediately when you go under contract.

Inspection costs: a general home inspection typically runs $400 to $600 depending on property size. On Peninsula properties you may also want a sewer scope, septic inspection, well water test, or specialized inspections for older systems. Budget $600 to $1,200 total depending on the property.

Closing costs: typically 2% to 3% of the purchase price for buyers. This includes lender fees, title insurance, escrow fees, prepaid property taxes, and homeowners insurance. Your lender will provide a Loan Estimate early in the process that itemizes these specifically.

Moving costs: easy to forget until you are staring at a full house that needs to move somewhere.

Immediate reserves: I always recommend buyers have cash reserves available after closing for any immediate needs the inspection revealed or unexpected items that come up in the first few months of ownership.

For right-sizing homeowners using equity from a sale to fund the purchase, understanding the full cost picture on both sides of the transaction is essential to making sure the numbers work the way you expect them to.

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Smart strategy beats reckless strategy every time and in the Gig Harbor market you do not need to throw caution out the window to win.

Here is what actually works when competition heats up on a property you want:

Be fully prepared before you fall in love. Pre-approval in hand, finances clear, decision-makers aligned. When the right property comes along you need to be able to move within hours, not days. Buyers who are not ready lose to buyers who are, regardless of price.

Know your number before you see the property. In a competitive situation emotions run high and it is easy to keep stretching your offer beyond what makes sense. Decide your ceiling before you walk in the door and stick to it. I will give you the data to set that number intelligently.

Write a clean offer. Fewer contingencies, reasonable timelines, and a pre-approval letter from a reputable local lender carry real weight with sellers. A slightly lower offer that is clean and certain often beats a higher offer that looks risky.

Escalation clauses used strategically. In the right situation an escalation clause, where your offer automatically increases above competing offers up to a defined ceiling, can win a home without wildly overpaying. Used correctly it is a smart tool, not a reckless one.

Understand what the seller actually needs. Sometimes it is the highest price. Sometimes it is a specific closing date, a rent-back period, or certainty that the deal will close. Understanding what matters most to the seller and addressing it directly in your offer is often more powerful than simply adding dollars.

Winning in a competitive situation is about preparation, strategy, and local knowledge, not desperation. That is exactly what 17 years in this market is for.

This is the question I love most because it means you are thinking about your next chapter and it is exactly what I specialize in.

The honest answer is that you start with a conversation, not a Zillow search. Here is why. Before you can make smart decisions about buying, you need to know what your current home is worth in today's Gig Harbor market, what your net proceeds will realistically look like after closing costs and any remaining mortgage balance, and whether those proceeds give you the purchasing power to buy what you actually want next. Those numbers have to come first. Everything else is built on top of them.

From there we figure out the sequence. Do you sell first and buy after? Buy first and sell after? Use a bridge strategy to overlap both? The right answer depends entirely on your financial position, your timeline, your risk tolerance, and what the current market is doing on both sides of your transaction. There is no universal playbook here. There is only your situation, and a strategy built specifically around it.

What I can tell you is that coordinating a sale and a purchase simultaneously is one of the most complex things you can do in real estate and also one of the most rewarding when it is planned correctly. Clients who go through this process with a clear strategy feel confident at every step. Clients who wing it feel panicked at every step.

You do not have to have it all figured out before we talk. You just have to be curious enough to start the conversation.

Ready to map out your right-sizing plan? →