Buying With Me: What It Looks Like, Step by Step
Buying a house is one process. Buying on the water is two. When you buy a waterfront home in Punta Gorda or Charlotte County with Thomas Forte, every property is screened as a house and as a waterfront property before you see it. These are the eight steps, from the first call to closing day.
Home Buying Journey
Step 1: The First Conversation
We talk for 20 to 30 minutes. No pitch, no pressure. I want to understand your timeline, your budget, whether you are pre-approved, and what "on the water" means to you. Some buyers want a dock out back for a 30-foot center console. Others just want a canal view with their coffee. Those are completely different searches, and this conversation keeps us from wasting weeks on the wrong one.
Step 2: Defining your Waterfront Criteria
This is the step most agents skip, and it is the most important one. Zillow can filter bedrooms and price. It cannot filter the things that actually determine whether a waterfront property works for you:
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Water depth at the dock, and how it changes with the seasons
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Bridge clearance between the property and open water
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Whether the seawall, dock, and lift are sound or a negotiation point
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Run time to open water at real-world speeds
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Whether the waterway fits your boat, not just a boat
We build this list together before we look at a single house. It becomes the filter every property has to pass.
Step 3: The Search
I send you homes that pass both filters: the house criteria and the waterfront criteria. You will not get an automated MLS drip of everything within 20 miles. Every property I send, I have already screened for the waterfront factors that matter to your situation. That applies whether the home is in Punta Gorda Isles, Burnt Store Isles, Port Charlotte, or anywhere else on the water in Charlotte County.
Step 4: Showings and the Waterfront Evaluation
We walk the property, and then I evaluate the waterfront the way I do for every buyer: seawall condition, dock and lift, water depth, bridge route to open water, and any red flags in the shoreline or permitting history. You get the full picture before you ever write an offer, not after you are already emotionally attached to the kitchen.
Step 5: Making an Offer
We talk price, earnest money, contingencies, and timeline. On waterfront properties, the offer also has to account for what the evaluation found. A seawall with five years of life left is a negotiation point, and I will tell you exactly how I would play it. You decide. I advise.
Step 6: Inspections and Due Diligence
Beyond the standard home inspection, waterfront purchases often need a closer look at the seawall, dock, and lift by the right eyes, plus confirmation on flood insurance and any permit history for waterfront structures. I coordinate the timeline and make sure nothing falls through the cracks during the inspection period.
Step 7: Closing
The week before closing, we do a final walkthrough to confirm the property is in the agreed condition. On closing day, you sign, funds move, and the keys are yours. I am there for all of it.
Step 8: After Closing
My job does not end at the closing table. Waterfront homes come with ongoing questions: maintaining the seawall, servicing the lift, understanding your waterway. When something comes up, you call me. That is the whole point of working with a specialist instead of a generalist.
