07/14/21

Buying & Selling Tips

The Top Buyer Obstacle in Today’s Market—and 5 Tips to Avoid It

Succeeding in today’s real estate market requires confidence and speed.

Yet, all too often, we see buyers losing out on perfect properties because they’re not ready to strike when an opportunity presents itself.

To avoid this, you should prepare yourself before starting the search for a new property. That way, you will be ready to submit a strong offer as soon as you lay eyes on your dream home.

Here are our top tips for prepping yourself to buy:

Meet with a real estate agent that you trust right away 

A knowledgeable realtor won’t cost you anything as a buyer, but will be crucial to your success. If you don’t know someone, ask around for recommendations, scour reviews, or interview a few people to make sure you are working with someone who has experience.  

Your agent will:

• set you up with tools to notify you of new properties immediately,
• reach out to colleagues to get the inside scoop on upcoming listings,
• provide you with quick access to homes, and 
• help you react quickly and competitively when an opportunity comes up.  

He or she will also have an arsenal of professional resources to help you submit a confident, pre-approved offer and suggest terms you can use to stand out in your negotiation.  

Meet with a lender  

A good lender is just as important as a good realtor.  Use someone local to your market, someone who your agent recommends and who has a good track record. A lender will provide you with a pre-approval letter that will help you make a confident offer. And working with a local who is well-recognized in your community could even bump your offer to the top of the pile in a competitive market. 

Have a sales plan for existing property

If you already own a home that you will be selling, get a listing plan in place with an agent.  If you need to sell before you buy, get the house on the market.  Even if you are able to move forward without a home sale contingency, it will still be helpful to have a general idea of the value of your home and the preparation that will be needed to sell it.

Always put your best foot forward

We work with many buyers who regret not having been more aggressive early in the process.

Don’t let that happen to you. 

Often, it takes people a few tries submitting offers before they finally realize what they need to do to secure a home. You can shorten this process by trusting your agent’s experience and submitting your offer at your best price and with terms that you would feel comfortable losing the property at. This also reduces the number of regrets you’ll have down the road.

We don’t have a crystal ball, but our best bet is that the same homes you are looking at now will be more expensive a year from, and rates may not be as low.

Stop second-guessing yourself

Of course, this is hard, especially if you haven’t been looking that long. But there will always be something else, no matter how long you wait. You can sit around and wait for the perfect house that has everything—and drive yourself crazy in the process. Or you can objectively evaluate what is available, and find that it is actually a great choice for you now.

The keys to success

We have helped many people buy and sell properties for a decade.  We have also personally bought and sold many homes and investment properties during that same period.  With experience comes confidence and the ability to identify a good value—or a crummy deal.  In our experience, the people who have the most success in the real estate industry for personal and investment purchases are the ones who don’t overthink things, trust the professionals, take action, and submit their best offer up front.

Interested in learning to submit an offer with confidence and speed? Get in touch with our team today!