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Buying a home is a symbol of the American dream. It represents a strong commitment and a sense of stability. By owning a home, you find yourself more in control of your surroundings. You can change things, decorate to suit your taste and not be limited by the limitations of a landlord. You don’t have to seek someone else’s approval to remodel or alter anything. Your home truly is your castle.

Benefits of buying a home

  • Accumulate equity in your own wealth-building asset instead of paying down someone else’s mortgage.
  • Quality for tax deductions. Take advantage of the mortgage interest deduction and write off your real estate taxes. Here’s a rundown of tax benefits from Realtor.com.
  • You prove to yourself that you can achieve monumental goals and can give your family the security it needs to move forward in life. Once you have built up equity in your first home, you can leverage your equity to purchase a nicer home later.
  • Pride of ownership – make improvements to your home, upgrade appliances and equipment as you’re able, and truly make it your own.

Benefits of working with me


When you hire me to buy a home, you’ll be served, not sold. As my client, your interests become my interests. And you’ll be working with someone who has gone the extra mile by completing specialized training in delivering best-in-class service. I’m a REALTOR® who also has an established track record with proven experience representing the concerns of homebuyer clients.
crs (certified residential specialist) designation logoAs someone who’s earned the Certified Residential Specialist (CRS) designation, I represent the top 2% of real estate agents in the U.S.—4% in Oklahoma, and just over 2% in Shawnee. Only four of the approximately 145 REALTORS® in the Shawnee area have reached this achievement. The CRS designation is the highest credential awarded to residential sales agents, managers and brokers.

Whether you’re buying a $100,000 home or a $1 million home, my buyer clients receive my full attention, extended availability, access to top service providers as well as my expert and honest advice. I believe it’s my job to not only find you the perfect home but also educate you throughout the entire process. It’s important to me you know you’re making the best short- and long-term financial decisions.

For most people, buying a home is the most expensive purchase they’ll ever make, and it’s my job to make sure you not only get a great home, you get it for a great price and at the best terms. I go above and beyond for every client from helping you find movers and home insurance to delivering pizza on moving day!

Next steps

  1. Decide if you wish to be a client or a customer. My standard operating procedure is to represent buyers in a client relationship, but you do have a choice. Here’s an article and video explaining the differences.
  2. Complete my online buyer questionnaire. It gives me a starting point from which to begin the search for your dream home.
  3. Download my buyer checklist
  4. Send an email to steve@soldonshawnee.com to let me know you’d like to start looking so we can prepare a personalized search for you on the MLS and begin sending you homes that fit your search criteria
  5. Take a look at this estimate of buyer’s closing costs. This is the approximate amount of cash you will need to have available on the day of closing in addition to your down payment.

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Steps to Buying a Home