Buying In A Sellers Market? Real Estate Experts Offer Their #1 Tips

It’s no secret: the pandemic changed the real estate industry. With businesses nationwide rushing to digitalize, real estate teams were no exception. Open houses were prohibited and home tours restricted, so agents needed to adapt to survive.

Zillow reported an 188% increase in the amount of virtual 3D tours being uploaded by realtors — to meet a demand from buyers still wanting to view houses during lockdown. The administrative process of selling a home suddenly went virtual as Docusign replaced stacks of paper.

And throughout all this, we saw a sellers market like we’ve never seen before. Home prices shot through the roof (no pun intended 😉) and desperate buyers felt pressure to spend more than they’d planned, or act impulsively (like waiving home inspections).

Despite the market cooling off significantly across the country, South Jersey still remains in favor of sellers. We’re here to provide you with some guidance on how to deal with buying a home during this time. There are some obvious things we could advise, like:

…but we want to delve deeper than that and raise some less-talked about aspects of homebuying. Our team of experts have digged deep into their industry knowledge and listed their #1 homebuying tips to support your next purchase.

“Don’t wait for the unicorn. Finding the perfect property is like finding a needle in a haystack. This can actually hinder your search. If you focus on finding the perfect house you will discount properties that could be the best fit or you might actually over pay for the “perfect” home. Perfect doesn’t exist in real estate. Keep an open mind about what’s on the market and don’t be afraid to put in some sweat equity.”

So what does this mean for you? It means that you may have to think outside the box a bit and, importantly, be willing to compromise. It doesn’t necessarily mean lowering your standards, but it will help to focus on the bigger picture rather than getting obsessed over the details.

If a house you’ve viewed meets your needs in many ways but it doesn’t feel ‘perfect’ because of an old bathroom or poor kitchen layout, use your creative vision to think about how it could look. You may even want a contractor to join you on your second viewing, so you’re aware upfront of how much renovations could cost (this is the aforementioned “sweat equity” Mel is talking about!).

Make use of your realtor — sit down with them to create an inventory of Needs versus Wants to aid your search, especially if you’re first time buyers.

“If you can go non-contingent, do. There is high demand for homes, and many buyers are presenting an offer that is not contingent upon the sale of their current home, which is a much stronger offer. If you have to go contingent, make sure your home has been listed and is under contract, and preferably through home inspections and appraisal.”

So what does this mean in real terms? The offer you make for a house that is contingent on the sale of your existing home can be unattractive to sellers. A contingent offer comes with the risk that your current home may not sell, or may not sell quickly enough, drawing out the entire process by weeks or months.

It’s all about being competitive. In the current market that is favoring sellers, a non-contingent offer is highly attractive, as there is reduced risk of bottlenecks or barriers if the seller accepts. This is where being a first-time home buyer actually gives you an advantage; you’re not depending on a sale yourself.

Of course, if you’re not in a position to make a non-contingent offer, hope is not lost. There are still many ways your realtor can craft a highly attractive ‘bid’ to ensure you don’t miss out on your dream home.

“Act fast! We are seeing homes sell faster than we’ve ever seen before. If a home pops on the market that meets your needs/criteria, see it ASAP, and if it is a home you like, put in an offer that same day. We’ve seen well priced, desirable homes go under contract in under 36 hours. Speed is everything right now.”

How is it possible to act so quickly? It might seem unbelievable that properties are flying off the market within a matter of days. If you’re determined that now is the best time to buy, you need to be flexible so that you can work with the market, no matter what it’s doing. Here’s what you can do to be in the best place to buy quickly:

This is definitely the place where you can lean on your real estate agent to do the work for you. A good agent will have in place an attractive offer strategy to give you a real advantage.

“When crafting an offer to purchase your new home there are many variables your agent will help you with. Price is not the only thing. Closing date, deposit check, and mortgage type are all considerations. And if your real estate agent is smart, they’ll use an offer presentation tool like HighNote which will make your offer stand out.”

So why is this so important? As we’ve just seen from Justin’s top tip, the market is moving very quickly right now. Particularly if you cannot go non-contingent, amping up your offer can really go a long way if there are several buyers interested. There are many ways you can stand out from the crowd, and a HighNote presentation from your real estate agent can really help. Their presentation could include:

Building an attractive offer package should be in the toolkit of every good real estate agent — speak to yours now to see what they recommend.

One important thing to remember if you’re looking to buy a home is that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all process. Every situation, home, family and lender is different. For some, starting the home search through to getting the keys can take a matter of weeks. For others, 12 months, or longer.

Using the steps our expert team has provided can aid in speeding up the process and, hopefully, remove some of the headaches. If you’re thinking of jumping on the housing ladder right now, you can message The JFKLiving Team right here.