New ‘Suburban Jungle’ service helps homebuyers find the perfect town
When buying a house, it is easy to get caught up searching for the perfect specs on a listing: How many bedrooms? How many bathrooms? What’s the square footage?
But Suburban Jungle, which just launched in the Boston area, thinks home searching should be more than just numbers.
“The company is based on a few principles,” Alison Bernstein, the founder of Suburban Jungle, told Boston.com. “Including really understanding the actual town versus just the real estate before you buy.”
Suburban Jungle’s service is free for potential homebuyers. To start, you take an online survey asking questions that a realtor might not otherwise ask, ranging from “How did you live growing up?” to “How is your family life currently?” to “What type of childcare do you need?”
After the survey you schedule an appointment with a strategist to do a conference call that generally lasts 45 minutes to an hour.
“They are an advisor throughout the process,” Bernstein said. “They are not [real estate] agents. The first step is an initial conference call to get to know the family and ask the more intangible questions, such as what do you like to do over the summer?”
After the call, the strategist works with the rest of the Suburban Jungle team to come up with a home strategy for the family, including some initial towns they should look in.
Then the Suburban Jungle team works to schedule the family meetings with real estate agents in the town, which are not employed by Suburban Jungle.
“We become more like a therapist than a real estate agent,” Bernstein said. “After they dwindle down towns, we bring in locals, people that live in town.”
The locals are not real estate agents, but regular citizens meant to give an unbiased assessment of their town.
The Suburban Jungle service doesn’t end once you’ve bought a house, as they will help you find local places in town to get your nails done, to eat brunch, or to go to the doctor. In January, Suburban Jungle will launch a service where an in-house interior designer will assist you in getting your new home set up once you move in.
“After they have accepted an offer, we get them situated,” Bernstein said. “All this stuff would take someone years to accumulate and we give it right to them.”
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