The Williamsburg-style house with the highly polished hardwood floors saw three prospects in one recent week. All were interested but wanted to look on. After all, they thought to themselves, ”It`s a buyer`s market. We`ll take our time.”
Then one Saturday a decisive attorney spotted the lovely Williamsburg home with the honey-colored floors and she immediately snapped it up. ”Boo-hoo,” wailed the three prospects, who all still thought fondly of the property. ”We wanted it ourselves.”
The moral of this true story? ”Even in a tepid market, you can still lose a house. That`s because a house perfect for you could also be perfect for someone else,” cautions Gary Suggars, the Coldwell Banker agent who listed the property.
Buyers these days are very picky. They look at 20 or 30 houses before they buy, rather than the five or six homes that most prospects used to see on a home tour in the 1980s, realty specialists say. Buyers` market conditions that prevail in many neighborhoods allow you to be more pokey. But, even now, indecision can sometimes extract its penalty.
Waiting and losing
”Many buyers are under the sleepy myth that the market will just wait for them until they wake up and buy,” Suggars says.
If the home is a prime property in immaculate condition with lots of upgrades-what`s known as a ”cream puff”-you could be vulnerable to disappointment. You could also be sorry if the house you`ve seen closely fits your description of the ideal and is well-priced.
” `Let`s just think about it over the weekend` could be the phrase that leads to your loss,” says Mike Brodie, president of the Residential Sales Council, a real estate education group tied to the National Association of Realtors.
”Buyers have to be very careful not to be overconfident a house is going to remain on the market until they get back to it,” agrees Dan Freedman, broker-owner of an office in the ERA realty chain.
What you want to do is exercise extreme care in your home selection and yet snare the right property. To accomplish both objectives, real estate professionals offer these suggestions:
– Know what you want before you head out to shop for a home.
”Spend a lot of time figuring out what would make a house special for you,” recommends Suggars, the Coldwell Banker agent.
Is a gourmet kitchen a prime concern? Do you want the kind of garage that would let you pursue your passion for woodworking? Do you want plenty of yard space for an English garden? Or is proximity to work your No. 1 requirement?
All too often, buyers believe that the only vehicle for making headway toward a home purchase is to actively pick through a number of properties. But ”quiet time” spent before your search is even started can also provide real momentum. Organizing your own thoughts in a calm setting can help you focus your search so that it`s more effective.
Your quiet time should be spent creating a list of the ”must have” and
”like to have” qualities you`re seeking in a home. Give a copy of this list to the agent showing you property and refer to it during your search when you sense yourself veering off course and wasting energy.
– Step up your home search if you think you may have found the ”right house” at the beginning of the process.
”We`ve had occasions when people really fall in love with a home but then say, `This is only the fifth house we`ve seen. We want to see many more before we decide,` ” recalls Freedman of ERA.
To be sure, it`s wise to check out several choices and be certain you don`t overpay. A good realty agent will almost always caution you against buying the very first home you see-until you`ve surveyed at least a few others. This advice is especially important for inexperienced buyers, who may be naive about the market.
Still, there`s no logical reason why the first, third or fifth home you see couldn`t prove to be the right one. Rather than risk the chance of losing the right place while you meander through the market, why not step up your search and allow yourself to quickly see other options?
– Don`t wrangle over small numbers once you`ve made up your mind.
With home prices fluctuating, this is hardly the time to be cavalier about housing values. With the help of your agent, you need to study comparable homes that have sold in your area to be certain that you bid no more than the place is reasonably worth.
Even so, once you`re focused on the right property and know neighborhood values cold, it may be a mistake to squabble with the seller over a few hundred dollars. If the seller becomes annoyed and happens to have another viable buyer in the wings, you could lose out.
Stresses Suggars of Coldwell Banker: ”While people are bickering over very low numbers, reasonable offers will come in.”
