Current seller’s market requires patience
Roseville, Calif. – Home buyers who have been out in the current seller’s market are finding it takes time and patience you find the perfect home.
In a recent survey of home buyers, more than half say it has taken more than 3 months to find and get into contract to buy. What the survey does not say is many of these buyers have multiple offers before they get one accepted. For many, the process of finding a home, making an offer and not getting it accepted is a valuable learning experience. It may take a few disappointments to figure out how to structure an offer where almost every home is getting multiple offers.
What is interesting in this process, is buyer disappointments seem to always lead to buying the perfect home. In the past month we have buyers who have lost out on up to six homes before having success. Not one of our buyers, during that time, had their first offer accepted. In each case, when they were in contract, they were happy they didn’t get one of the previous homes. This is not easy for buyers and on occasion we have had clients who have given up. It is also hard on agents who take clients out, find a home, make an offer and when not accepted, start again.
For new listing, we are advising clients to look at prices up to 85 or 90% of their maximum price. This is so they can submit an over asking price offer if the situation warrants, which in Rocklin and Roseville, is almost always the case. For home which have been on the market for two weeks or longer we can look at houses priced closer to the client’s maximum price.
What we are seeing is strong buyers who do not need seller assistance with closing costs or have a buying contingency, such as a home to sell, are successful if they have patience and are willing to learn from offers which are not accepted. Yes, the inventory of available homes is low and sellers are getting multiple offers but there are some great homes and buyers can still get a “good deal.”
