This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic (permanent link):
If you’ve finally found your dream home — don’t dawdle
Here’s a paradox for the ages: It’s been a strong buyers market for more than two years — and yet buyers still can’t afford to be lax about the houses they love.
How’s that? In our recent seller’s market, sellers were completely indifferent to home-buyers — as a matter of studied strategy. “We might consider your offer,” they seemed to say, “but not today. We’re letting the offers pile up until Monday or Tuesday, then we’ll take a look at them all at the same time.”
Why can’t buyers in this market approach sellers with the same bland indifference?
They can — provided they’re willing to buy just any home.
In a seller’s market, qualified buyers are essentially a fungible quantity. Each one is simply a pile of money in the seller’s eyes — some larger, some smaller, some sooner, some later. Allowing for risks and opportunities, one is as good as another.
Not so for buyers. Houses are inherently non-fungible — each one is unique in location, appearance, construction, condition, amenities and lifestyle factors. Even with so many homes for sale right now, it can be a challenge for buyers to find even one house they are completely committed to buying.
My take: If you want to get the best possible deal, pick three homes, not one, and pit the sellers against each other.
But buyers don’t do this. Instead, they look at dozens of sub-standard offerings, and then focus all of their attention on the one house they can find that is priced right, repaired and staged right, marketed right.
And guess what? Of all the houses these buyers will have seen, this is the one for which there is competition. The factors that appeal to them also appeal to the other folks out there looking for homes right now. The dirty or neglected or over-priced houses attract no offers, where the few that are truly market-ready can draw multiple contracts within a few days of being listed.
The lesson to take away: If you really love the home, don’t dawdle. Chances are, someone else loves it, too.
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Missy Caulk says:
Greg, this is so true, if you like it; someone else will too. Another paradox, sellers wait for a better offer, none come in, months later is reduced BELOW what your buyer offered but they have moved on.
Any offer needs to be seriously considered.
February 1, 2008 — 7:29 am
Dru Bloomfield says:
Yes, Greg, your commentary mirrors my experience also. In recent months, I’ve watched buyers lose out on homes by being overly cautious (or unrealistic about home values), and been involved in multiple offer situations, too. A buyer even went so far as to write a backup offer for home he lost out on, resulting in one very happy seller. With all the press on what’s going wrong, people are still buying houses, and time is of the essence in making a decision and moving forward.
February 1, 2008 — 9:00 am
Spencer Barron says:
Great post. It’s a running theme these days. A Buyer wants something but doesn’t want to pay the price for it. The best home available for the best price will always have other interested parties. I even learned a new word.
February 1, 2008 — 9:20 am
Jennifer Kirby says:
Here in the Twin Cities, the homes that show great get swept up in a heart beat, and as always, those are the ones multiple buyers want. However many buyers hear from the media to low ball everything since it is a Buyer’s Market, so it is hard to convince them that a house they love is going to get snatched up by someone else all because they want to put in a low offer. They think I am just trying to get them to pay more….well, it’s nice to come back to them and say “I told you so”, when another buyer takes the property from them.
What I hate is that the long hard search starts all over again. 🙁
February 1, 2008 — 7:53 pm
Ken Smith says:
No question that buyers need to act when they find the home they like. Even in a buyers market I had one buyer end up in 3 back to back multiple offer situations and lost all three. He refused to make a quick offer that and wanted to see more homes. Each time he ended up waiting just long enough that there was another offer on the table and he lost 3 in a row.
After wasting a LOT of time we found a nice home (not as nice as the other 3 IMO) and we closed on it. Such a waste of emotions and time for the buyer.
February 4, 2008 — 10:39 am
Thesa Chambers, Broker John L Scott La Pine says:
Oh how true it is – I have been marketing to the buyers market we have right now – and it amazes me how many sellers are upset with me about it… this is exactly what the truth is.
February 4, 2008 — 2:20 pm
Brett says:
Buyers seem to be able to tune into the market pretty quickly (especially the ones with access to the internet). By the time they think they have found a good deal, they are probably right!
February 4, 2008 — 9:00 pm