Creative Ways To Prepare To Buy A Home In A Market That Heavily Favors Sellers


Creative Ways To Prepare To Buy A Home In A Market That Heavily Favors Sellers
By Scott Rogers • June 14, 2021
My constant refrain to buyers in this market has been... Go see a house on the first day or two it hits the market, be ready to make an offer that same day, be prepared to potentially make an offer above the asking price and consider waiving contract contingencies you would normally include. Sort of overwhelming, right? Especially for first time buyers, or buyers moving into the area, or buyers who also need to sell in order to buy. If you're feeling a bit stressed about what the home buying experience is going to look like given our current market dynamics, here are a variety of ways to help you prepare for what lies ahead... [1] Talk To A Lender This one is rather obvious -- but please talk to a mortgage lender sooner rather than later. When the house of your dreams comes on the market on a Tuesday morning and we see it Tuesday lunchtime and you decide you want to make an offer, you don't want to be scrambling all Tuesday afternoon to try to get prequalified for a loan. Even if we haven't found a house for you to buy -- go ahead and talk to a lender to get prequalified, to understand the payment that will accompany a variety of prices of homes, etc. Having this information in hand will allow you to make a more informed decision about what you are willing to pay for a particular house once it comes on the market. [2] Go See Houses In a low inventory market (yes, we're in one) you might look around and find very few houses for sale that are of interest to you. Furthermore, you might not see many new listings of interest come on the market in the first few days or weeks that you're paying attention to new listings. Let's just start going to see houses. If a house comes on the market that is relatively close to what you're looking for in a new home -- even if it's not an exact match -- let's go see it. Starting to see houses, in person, will help you clarify what you want to buy and will help you better understand the market as to what prices are reasonable for what types of houses. [3] Explore Neighborhoods Of Interest Start driving around neighborhoods where you think you might want to buy a house to better familiarize yourself with those neighborhoods. Don't just explore neighborhoods where new listings are located - explore other neighborhoods too, since new listings very well may pop up there in the near future. You can explore many of our area's neighborhoods here. [4] Proactively Review Contract Documents When we have a matter of a few hours in which to make an offer, and you're really excited about the house, and you don't want to miss out on buying it, and I email you a 15 - 20 page document to review, are you going to feel like you have the time to thoughtfully review the offer documents and ask all of the questions you might have about what you are committing to in the offer? Probably not. So, let's review a fake offer on a fake house ahead of time. We can spend 30 - 60 minutes together (in person, via Zoom, etc.) reviewing the main contract documents that we will likely be using when preparing an offer on a house you want to buy. This will give you a chance to better understand the contract documents and ask questions about how the buying process and contract contingency works without feeling the stress of needing to just sign the documents to make the offer to not miss out on the house. [5] Study Sales Data These days, particularly, just watching the list prices of new listings is not enough to truly understand our local housing market. Many houses are selling above asking price with multiple offers. As such, it can be helpful to take a look at the actual sales prices of homes of interest -- or homes in neighborhoods of interest. You can follow sales prices of all homes selling through our local MLS here. It can certainly be a hurried and stressful time to buy a house -- but there are ways to prepare and plan ahead to take some of the stress out of the process! If you have questions about the buying process or if you're looking for a reputable local lender, email me (scott@hhtdy.com) or call/text me at 540-578-0102. Receive Updates by Email Recent Articles: There Are Plenty Of Types Of Houses That Exist That Just Are Not Available To Purchase Home Sales By Price Range In The City Of Harrisonburg Are You Compromising On Aspects Of Your Next Home That You Can Or Cannot Change Later? How Much Slower Are The Winter Months In Our Local Housing Market? Rockingham County and New Home Sales Drive Surge in Area Housing Market Find The Balance Between Optimistic And Realistic Home Pricing Room Size Is Difficult To Understand Solely From Real Estate Photos How Much Would You Value Not Having To Prepare Your Home For Showings? One Out Of Four Homes Is Taking Longer Than A Month To Sell Consider The Cost Of Your Planned Renovations When Planning Your Offer
Have any questions? Contact Scott Rogers at 540-578-0102 or scott@funkhousergroup.com
Based on information from the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Association of REALTORS® or its MLS, for the period Jan 1, 2000 through Nov 22, 2024 (unless otherwise noted).
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