Don’t be one of “those” – 6 things all real estate buyers should know
If you want to be taken seriously and want to actually buy a real estate property without getting the dreaded “stigma” – please read ahead. These are 6 simple factors you should pay attention if interested in buying a Miami Beach home:
1. What is the most you will pay for a property? (whether in perfect condition or not)
- Biggest mistakes buyers today make is to tell themselves….”depends on the condition” (move in I’ll pay this much, if it needs work, I’ll pay that much). Your Realtor will be able to give you comparable sales of properties in similar condition, just because you want to add a 2,000 square foot master suite doesn’t take away from the actual value of that property. Be objective and don’t harass the market. We see buyers looking for 2 years and wonder why they have not been able to find the perfect property: answer…..the perfect property doesn’t exist, you will make it perfect if you are objective.
2 – Identify your needs and wants
- Be able to separate what you need in a home from what you would “want” it to have – this will make it easier to identify potential properties. Getting your “wants” will be a nice bonus.
3 – It’s not about you – there are other parties involved in a transaction.
- Think of time lines and the human side of buying a house. This will make the experience so much easier for you, especially if you have last minute requests from the other parties. Animosity in a real estate transaction will make everyone’s lives miserable.
4 – Not all sellers are desperate – drill this into your brain.
- Everyone is motivated by different circumstances and no matter how much you want to make sellers think that your offer is the ultimate best, it is up to them to accept or turn you down.
5 – Make strong offers –
- The further you are from market price, the stronger the offer needs to be – more down payment, short closing dates, less requests from seller.
6 – work with a Miami Beach Realtor you trust and will look out for your best interest
- Don’t assume that going directly to a listing agent will get you a better price on a property or that they will reduce their commission.
CRYSTAL?
**originally published Oct/18/2009**
“Not all sellers are desperate” is a hard thing to get buyers to comprehend because of all of the media attention our industry has received. That is such an important point-thanks for reiterating it!
Heather – maybe I should have made that number 1 – it’s insane what some buyers offer and then get offended when sellers don’t even respond. At least we are seeing a change with stronger seller confidence.
I added your blog to bookmarks. And i’ll read your articles more often!
Hey, congratulations on making the 10 ten on Technorati for real estate blogs. Have to agree with Heather. Not all sellers are desperate and not all listing agents care whether the property sells fast or not.
Thanks Charles! one of my favorite questions from buyers is “how long has it been on the market”….I always want to respond “and how relevant do you think that question is?” 🙂
The relevance of how long a property has been on the market goes directly to the sellers profit or loss. If the seller understands what the current days (months) on market is for like properties at his/her price-point then they will recognize that a lower price that reflects current market conditions allows them to free up assets and gain some peace of mind by putting this behind them.
Does relisting an unsold property in this extreme economic era really help the seller? Given the inherant conflict-of-interest, it will call into question the validity of traditional real estate professionals and force the growth of less expensive alternatives. Good BLOG Ines!
The relevance of how long a property has been on the market and the seller’s profit or loss involves many factors that cannot be taken out of context. One thing is for a buyer to ask the question about a stale overpriced property, and totally different to a property that is underpriced where the seller has come to terms with the market.
The reference above has to do with buyers asking the question just to ask without taking the relevant factors into consideration. Example: we had a listing where the seller overpriced by $100k and had it listed with a non-local Realtor that did not know the area. When he called us to relist, he placed it $100k UNDER comparable properties – it had already been on the market for over 10 months – the question of “how long has it been on the market” would have been irrelevant, since it was priced to fly (and it did).
Thanks for your comment
I like your blog, but some of your posts have an attitude that is condescending. Almost as if your “advice” is really to just make your job easier. Well, I hate to tell you this but real estate agents are just paper pushers with a key to unlock a door…especially in South Florida. The simple fact is that if you don’t want to entertain clients that aren’t in the final stage of buying or selling then turn those clients down if you want. Real estate agents were a major contributing factor to the real estate mess that we are currently in so if they have to “work” a bit more now to “earn” a living….tough.
Sammy, funny thing is that I completely agree with you because the real estate industry doesn’t just have a reputation of ineptness, most live and reinforce it. The condescending tone is one of frustration and hopefully you can interpret it that way because most of the time I do the job of the listing agent AND buyer’s agent. And have to make sure everyone involved in the transaction is paying attention and doing their job – it’s like a glorified babysitter’s job.
I have not closed a simple deal in a few years, not even the cash ones, and for the record, we do turn away clients that don’t appreciate our time and effort. It’s a 2-way street and if we feel the client doesn’t find value in what we offer, then they should not work with us. It’s a relationship business and both parties need to feel good about the outcome and I need to sleep well at night.
It seems like the agent that represents the client’s best interest is a dying breed.