It's A Buyer's Market BUT Homes Are Not Free!

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Buyer’s Market?

Many real estate professionals have been saying for years that we are in a Buyer’s Market.  And we ARE!  But what exactly does that mean?  Does it mean that every home on the market is over priced?  Or that every seller will replace or repair things to make the home appear brand new?  Does a buyer’s market mean that there is a set percentage a buyer should consider making an offer for?  The answer is NO!

A fellow Real Estate Blogger said it perfectly!

You Can Buy a Home, but You Will Never Ever Steal One – Katherine wrote a great post to help buyers in her area understand that although prices are low, you need an agent to help you determine what a great deal truly is.  After reading her post it became apparent that buyers in her area have some of the same thoughts as home buyers in Bend do.

An agent that is knowledgeable in the area can tell you if a home is priced well.  Katherine shows this great example;

Some sellers, the smart ones, will price their homes accordingly.  Maybe their home in great condition would be worth $250,000, but because their carpet is trashed, and the new buyer would have to buy some new appliances, and maybe touch up some paint, they’ll drop the list price to $245,000.

A Lesson Learned?

While reading Katherine’s post I could not help but think of a couple I was working with, they knew exactly what they wanted in a second home.  The perfect home came on the market and they made plans to visit the area and see the property. On the Friday prior to their arrival the home had a major price reduction, one that I knew as their agent would most likely bring multiple offers.  This did not worry me as I knew the buyer was well informed of the market and since this was a river front property priced well below any other river front properties I knew they would see the value and make a respectable offer.

The buyer arrived, and they did love the home.  We were writing an offer, and the listing agent called to let me know that another offer had been received and that they were giving us the opportunity to submit our offer and have both offers presented at the same time, still I was not worried after all my buyers knew exactly what the market was and they were well educated in the process, we had talked multiple times about when a home hits the sweet spot on pricing it is time to move swiftly and as cleanly as possible.  This home had hit the sweet spot.

My buyers ran to grab some lunch while I prepared the paperwork.  When they came back I had everything in order, all the necessary documents a current Comparative Market Analysis (CMA in Real Estate Lingo) just a couple blanks to complete some signatures and they would be ready for acceptance.  This is when they told me what their offer price was, and all that education, all the time we had spent searching for the perfect home in the sweet spot went out the window.

Multiple Offers!!! They Really Do Happen!

Knowing they were in a multiple offer situation, knowing the house now listed about $30,000 under value they wrote their offer for $15,000 under list price.  No matter what the numbers showed, no matter what they already knew they were determined this was a good offer.

Sadly they did not get the house, and sadly 3 years later even in this decline they have not found the perfect home in the perfect sweet spot.  In almost every correspondence I have with them these same words can be found… if only we had listened.

Buyers it is a buyer’s market out there, but what that means is there are a lot of things that can go your way, not that you get to have your cake and eat it to.  There is a lot of inventory, prices are low, interest rates are low and often times there can be some heavy negotiating to get you a lot more for your dollar.  But when a home is priced well, and is in a price range or area that creates good movement you really need to investigate the situation, and listen to your agent.