Ask Our Agent with Compass Real Estate Agent Karin Diana, Founder of The Home Collective
Grab Diana’s free worksheet that lays out the pros and cons to renovating or selling your home — with numbers! Email her Karin.Diana@compass.com.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Engage a lender as early as possible. Early conversations help you understand your borrowing power, clarify down payment needs, and identify any credit or debt issues that may take months to resolve before pre-approval.
- Work with hyper-local agents. Choose agents who truly understand each community you’re considering.
- Review all documents early. Don’t wait until offer time to read contracts, disclosures, and agency agreements.
In this week’s Ask Our Agent, real estate agent Karin Diana breaks down the steps needed for prospective Montclair buyers to have a leg up in the towns competitive market.
As we know, the Montclair market is cut throat & Diana shares “The market in Montclair usually moves within one weekend. You have typically 30 minutes to look at a property and offers are due two days later.”
The steps below will help you get your ducks in a row to purchase your dream Montclair home before the 2026 school year begins.
step one: meet with your lender
Diana stresses that it’s never too early for buyers to begin speaking with a local lender, however any trusted bank or lending partner is sufficient in the early stages. The primary goal of this initial conversation is to understand your true borrowing power.
“It’s really difficult to scroll through Zillow, fall in love with homes, and get excited about the possibilities when you don’t yet know what you’re actually able to spend,” Diana explains. Connecting with a lender early helps anchor your search in reality from the start.
During these early discussions, buyers can also clarify what their down payment options look like and whether they need to address any financial issues. This may include paying down existing debt, improving credit scores, or resolving past red flags on a credit report.
Diana notes that this step is crucial because uncovering any issues early gives buyers the necessary runway to resolve them before applying for a pre-approval. “Those factors can directly impact your interest rate,” she says, “so the sooner you identify and address them, the stronger your position will be when you’re ready to buy.”
Step two: find your agent
Diana’s second key recommendation for buyers is to build a relationship with a hyper-local real estate agent in each community you’re considering. If you’re exploring multiple New Jersey towns, she advises choosing one trusted agent per area; someone who genuinely “lives and breathes” that specific market.
According to Diana, Montclair is not a town you can understand from the outside. A hyper-local agent brings deep knowledge of neighborhood dynamics, community culture, and the subtle patterns that shape how homes are priced and sold.
Beyond general familiarity, Diana notes that local agents often have access to off-market opportunities and understand the unique pricing behavior that defines the area. “They know how their fellow agents operate, what strategies they use, and what to expect from different neighborhoods,” she explains. In a fast-moving, highly nuanced market like Montclair, that level of insight is invaluable.
Step three: read your contracts
Diana emphasizes that one of the most important steps for new buyers is reviewing all required documents (contracts, agency agreements, disclosures, etc) before they submit an offer.
Due to of Montclair’s fast paced nature, Diana advises buyers to take the time upfront to thoroughly understand the paperwork. She recommends walking through every document in advance and getting all questions answered as early as possible to so you’re not frantically signing forms the night before an offer deadline and missing key details.
A high-touch agent known for her extensive market expertise and her unmatched devotion to clients, Karin’s success is based almost exclusively on referrals. Specializing in residential real estate in the New Jersey suburbs of New York City, she makes the experience of buying or selling property simple by combining her keen instincts, impeccable client service, and attention to market trends. Throughout the process, Karin offers a common-sense approach with sharp negotiating skills honed over the past three decades. Work with Karin | karin.diana@compass.com
