How To Buy Your Dream Home In The "Seller's Market?"
05/10/2002

Since the Federal bank announced the rising of our economy, the fiery real estate market became sizzled with new sellers and buyers. At moments like this, prices-rocketing seller’s market, buyers should take many precautions before they make the decision to purchase their homes. 

With the APR still around 7%, economy still rising, buyers tend to feel more secure to invest in real estate. To take advantage of low interest rates, buyers rushed to the market. A house on the market right now gets many offers a week. Some houses with reasonable asking prices and good conditions can even get up to ten offers in a day or two.

To find your dream home in a seller’s market is not an easy task, but it’s not mission impossible either. 

To choose the right agent is the first and most important thing into buying a property. Your agent has to possess the basic knowledge of real estate law, kind attitude, and also be familiar with the area that you are interested in so he or she can give you the first hand tips on the house you want to buy.

To buy a house you should find a buyer’s agent. Some might think that if the buyer goes directly to the listing agent (seller’s agent) one can get the house cheaper by cutting out the middle man. 

This concept is very wrong in real estate transactions. A listing agent, who signed the contract with the seller, will have to be loyal to the seller (it is the seller who pays the listing agent). When a buyer goes directly to the listing agent to buy his client’s house, the agent became dual agent. In this double role, it’s hard for the agent to be fair or to seek benefits for both parties. Therefore, to hire a buyer’s agent who is guaranteed to seek your full benefits in the deal is the most profitable decision for buyers.

Have a good understanding of the current local market, consult with your buyer’s agent, and then once you find a property that is up to your standard, make up your mind and be decisive. It’s more beneficial for you to make an offer before anybody else sees the property and start competing with you on the price.  Make sure that you find a reliable, honest agent who will guide you through every step of the way.

Buying a house is not buying a piece of green onion in an open market—DO NOT BARGAIN TOO MUCH. A reasonable price is a reasonable price, as your agent will advise you on the market value of the property you are looking at, so you can make a reasonable offer. At the current rate of selling right now, it’s easy to miss out on your dream home if you don’t act on it quick enough. 

For instance, I had customer who wrote 15 offers within two months. 12 out of the 15 offers had no counter offer at all because the sellers had gotten other offers that exceeds their asking prices. The other 3 times, the sellers had made counter offers, but this buyer missed the opportunity because he wanted to bargain down a couple hundred more. The next time, this buyer want to look at the similar houses, the current value of the area went up even more than the first time he made the offers.

More preparation is better. Make sure that you get a pre-qualification letter from a lender, get your credit rating ready, and get a proof of your down payment. This way, when you make the offer, the seller will take your proposal more seriously than the other buyers.

Except for the price that you offer, how much you can down is also a factor to the sellers. In general, 20% of the total price of the house as the down payment will ensure that you get your loan approved. Sometimes, a good house will attract many buyers. There might be a time that you have to add a thousand, or two thousand dollars to lure the seller to you. Think about it this way, a couple of thousand dollars means you only pay six or seven dollars more each month on a thirty-year loan. Following these conditions diligently will help the sellers trust you more, believing in that you are a serious buyer, then the better chance you have competing with other buyers on the market.

Last tip of the day will be: do not change your buyer agent too often. All agents in the area get their information from the same source. There really is no point of you going to this agent one day, and the one tomorrow. They all get the same information from the MRMLS web site. Find a good agent, who is familiar with the area, and he or she will show the houses best suits your needs. 

Another source will be the www.Bobohomes.com. We update our site everyday so you can find your dream house today!

Good luck shopping for your home.

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