Have you heard that homes are selling rather quickly? Especially in the City of Harrisonburg? During the first two months of 2017, homes went under contract in around (median of) 67 days. In the first two months of 2018 -- it is only taking (a median of) 20 days!?!
So -- if you are a buyer, entering into the fray of trying to buy a home in a fast moving, low inventory, housing market -- you must know your rights....
- If you schedule a showing before a house is under contract, the seller will be certain to let you see the house before responding to or accepting another offer.
- If you tell the seller you are thinking about making an offer, they will give you at least 24 hours to make a decision about making an offer before they decide to move forward with another offer they have received.
- If you make an offer, and there are multiple offers, the seller will give all buyers the chance to amend their offer (based on the fact that they are competing with other buyers) before the seller makes a decision about which offer to pursue.
- If you are the first buyer to make an offer in a multiple offer scenario, the seller is likely to try to work out contract terms with you before moving on to other buyers who have made an offer.
- If your offer has the highest price, the seller is certain to respond to your offer.
- If your offer is not accepted, the seller will provide a thorough explanation of why it was not accepted.
WAIT -- HOLD ON -- don't print this and hang it on the refrigerator yet -- absolutely NONE Of the above are true, even though many buyers think that they are or wish that they were.
Revised for accuracy, you can hang these on the refrigerator....
- A seller might accept another offer, or counter to another offer, even if you have a showing scheduled in the next day or two.
- A seller might accept another offer or counter to another offer, even if you told them you would likely be making an offer in the near future.
- A seller might ask all buyers (in a multiple offer scenario) for their highest and best offer, but they might just reply to the most favorable offer without giving all buyers a chance to revise their offer.
- Being the first offer of many can, sometimes, be helpful -- but usually it is the offer terms that will dictate which offer receives a response from the seller.
- Being the highest offer in no way guarantees that the seller will respond to your offer.
- If your offer is not accepted, don't expect an explanation from the seller as to why it was not accepted.
Indeed -- these are at least moderately crazy times for buyers trying to secure a home to purchase, especially in the City of Harrisonburg. Prepare yourself by....
- Already having a loan pre-approval letter in hand.
- Knowing the market so that you can quickly make a decision about whether to make an offer, and at what price.
- Go see houses QUICKLY when they come on the market.
Let me know if you want to chat about your plans for buying a home this Spring.
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