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Hi all! How many homes did you look at before you found "the one" or put an offer in on a house you had seen previously? Also, when did you buy? Was it a buyer's/seller's market?
I looked at about...6-7 condos/townhouses before I settled on the one I purchased. Mind you, this is a starter home, so I wouldn't classify it as the one, but I liked it a helluva lot better than the others one I had seen. Had everything I was looking for in terms of the area, amenities, etc. I'd say it's a buyer's market. They had dropped the price of the condo I purchased by about $22K.
May i refine the question, or add another dimension to it?
When you were looking for a home, did you have a specific list of things which you wanted in your new home, and did you share this up front with the realtor? When you went out to look at homes, were the homes selected to visit representative of your criteria...such that, for instance, if you wanted a two car garage, did the realtor take you to any homes with a one car garage because 'this place is just SO cute'?
Six or seven homes seems about right...what with all of the descriptive material and pictures which abound with each listing.
But i get a sense that people are looking at more...like a LOT more, and quite frankly, i don't get it. Are agents bored? Are buyers being fickle? Is viewing homes just turning into an interesting way to spend a day?
approx 10-15 houses I would say this current home. 5 yrs ago. We would have more choices now and they would cost less money for the same home or I could pay the same and get a bigger house!
I probably looked at 100's online!
Our 1st home 10 yrs ago I looked 2 diff times about 2 months apart and probably saw 15-20 but we considered a wider geographic area so that opened up the avail. properties to consider.
Like another poster stated, do you have a list of "must haves", things you could live without and narrow down the location?
I made my list and looked at least 20 and almost gave up until our real estate man found a listing in his office that they just had signed.. the seller sold their house within 6 hours of signing the contract with the realtor... fell in love with it. almost 21 and 1/2 years later still love it. I have a pond behind my house and I'm right in the city of Madison.
Must try to sell it though because I am planning a relocation... any one looking for a well maintained home with a great garden and a pond with sand hill crane, deer and many different kind of birds?? LOL ...
We're those crazy people who looked at about 70 houses in person over the course of 5 months or so before finding "the one". Hard to say whether it's a buyers or sellers market here. On the one hand, there are plenty of listings that have been on the market for a long, long time. On the other hand, anything "good" gets snapped up within a week. We made offers on three houses. We were outbid on the first two.
When we first started looking, we went to see basically everything in our price range that met most of the basic criteria we were looking for. As we learned about the market, we started visiting fewer and fewer homes. We learned how to use all the tools at our disposal to eliminate listings without having to see them (online photos, floorplans, and google street view were the most important).
We are hoping that this is our home for at least 15 years, so we were admittedly very, very picky. But when we found what we wanted, we weren't wishy-washy at all.
One reason for the large number of homes we visited might be due to the type of housing stock we have in the Boston area. Many of the homes are very old. Many haven't been updated. Many have been partially updated. Lots and lots of places are "quirky". Some of this is apparent from the floorplans and photos, and some isn't.
I looked at 5-6 both this time and the last time. I told my realtors what I was looking for and they did a good job of pre-selecting for me. I bought this one in 2001 and the previous one in 1996.
May i refine the question, or add another dimension to it?
When you were looking for a home, did you have a specific list of things which you wanted in your new home, and did you share this up front with the realtor? When you went out to look at homes, were the homes selected to visit representative of your criteria...such that, for instance, if you wanted a two car garage, did the realtor take you to any homes with a one car garage because 'this place is just SO cute'?
Six or seven homes seems about right...what with all of the descriptive material and pictures which abound with each listing.
But i get a sense that people are looking at more...like a LOT more, and quite frankly, i don't get it. Are agents bored? Are buyers being fickle? Is viewing homes just turning into an interesting way to spend a day?
Would love to hear your experience and opinions.
I know in my situation, public transportation and being near it was a must for me since I didn't have a car, as was affordability. DC is very expensive so its not like I had a lot of options to begin with, with my certain criteria, the options dwindled even further. So yeah, my realtor sent me stuff that catered to my needs. I saw about 7 properties/units, and he sent me a few dozen via e-mail. The entire process took about a month and a half or so, almost 2 months.
The condo I have is a spacious studio, but its 2 minutes away from the train, supermarket, pharmacy, cleaners and a couple of restaurants, and my commute may actually be shorter than it is now. So yeah, I got what I was looking for, but by no means is this "the one." This is something I want to live in for 5-7 years and see what my options are then.
My current average over the past 18 months is 6.4 homes (yes, I keep track) before someone buys, and that's with working mostly relocation buyers who don't know the areas well, but education and figuring out what they need and want is key.
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