Find the Right Home in a Tight Market

No matter your motivations or timeline for buying a home - whether you're a first-time buyer, need more space, or are relocating - you may be faced with the challenge of looking for a home in a low inventory market. Here are tips to help you navigate the search process and achieve success in finding the right home for you. 

Be patient. Today's home buying timelines may require a great deal of perseverance on your part. What's helpful is to start off with realistic expectations. Understand the average days on market and prepare yourself to work diligently during the home search.

Consider all the options. You have your list of desired features in a home, but you may need to identify which ones are deal breakers and which ones allow room for compromise. Look at every listing that comes on the market and consider whether it has enough of the features you need. As you identify options, plan to take a property tour with your buyer's agent. A listing that may not look like a perfect match online could be more appealing in person.

Don't skip overpriced listings. These properties are often the listings with less buyer activity, and more room to negotiate. Underpriced listings will attract higher buyer demand. And where there's high demand, there's buyer competition - and bidding wars.

Make sure your agent is a price expert. No buyer wants to overpay for their home. In certain multiple offer situations, you don't want to end up paying a speculative price. Talk with your agent about every listing that fits your needs, and get information about recent comparable sales and how many offers were submitted.

Gain access to what's not on the market yet. Real estate agents are often in-the-know about pre-market and off-market properties - or pocket listings - which for one reason or another are kept private or are about to hit the MLS. A well-connected agent can get you access to these buying opportunities.

Ask your agent to target expired or withdrawn listings. Listings that have gone off the market without selling are often the perfect place to start a home search. The property may have been overpriced or not well-marketed. Your buyer's agent can contact the owner about purchasing the property and show you're a serious buyer.

As a Carrington Real Estate Services professional, I am a local price expert who is trained to work with buyers in today's tight markets. Contact me today.