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I fail to understand how someone can "seriously" look for even more than a couple of months. Serious request here-explain why you're having such a hard time finding something?
we have been very seriously looking. usually we'd check out the house/surroundings/property assessment/info/photos first before even arranging for a viewing.
i don't understand why wouldn't serious buyers take more than a few months? property options can be limited in some areas/locations and obviously i wouldn't want to just jump at any house that's on the market. and sometimes, good houses might not be priced right - asking for too much in the current market. sometimes, the house might be right and in the right location...but the condition is too bad and repairs/remodeling too costly?
u mean it's so easy for a SERIOUS buyer to find the right house at the right price at the right location????!
how do you define SERIOUS? or do you mean DESPERATE buyer who die-die need to buy something - good or bad within the shortest period of time 'cos of some needs?
I was a very serious buyer. Most of my problem was that most sellers weren't serious and were asking way over what comps were saying the house was worth or were underwater and didn't have any wiggle room. A few of the houses I made offers on I was just legitimately outbid and with the exception of one, I had no regrets. They were willing to pay more than I was and I was good with that.
Also, I was very particular about what I wanted and it just wasn't that easy to find. Wooded backyard or on a lake that wasn't all sports in a particular area. I wasn't willing to settle as I was renting month to month and had no reason to settle. The market wasn't going anywhere but down. Most foreclosures were brutally beaten up not having been winterized through a Michigan winter.
I only say I was embarrassed because I put my realtor though endless showings. She wasn't even a little mad or frustrated, I was and started considering making offers on homes I really didn't want just to get it over with. She stopped me more than once. At the closing my realtor was as happy as I was that the one I bought was soooooo worth the wait.
I didn't have any unrealistic expectations, most sellers did and their houses never did sell.
So yes, I was serious and yes I knew exactly what I wanted and ended up getting it.
In some cases, maybe. In other cases, (for instance Seattle area) sellers often price at bubble levels (still!) and a smart buyer is not suckered by this. In this case it is sellers with unrealistic expectations, and to make a hasty buying decision in this case is to make their problem yours.
The flipside to the "dozens and dozens of homes" buyer is the one that buys the first one they see, at list price of course. I'd rather be the "dozens and dozens" guy than the "first one" guy. It's too important of a decision to rush.
To answer the op, we looked for about 2 years, found a short sale after about 20 months and closed it 5 months later. I don't know why anyone would be embarrassed about looking for a house for a long time as someone mentioned... I'd be embarrassed to say that I bought the first house I saw.
I don't think it's a matter of embarrassment. I think that if it is taking someone YEARS to find the perfect home, surely there is something that they are missing.
There are lots of reasons that people look for years. However, most of them boil down to some sort of mismatch between the buyer's expectations and the market.
I think it's ok to take as long as you need to find a home, but if it is taking years it should signal to the buyer that there is some sort of mismatch between what they are looking for and what they are likely to get. They should then work hard to figure out their "must haves" at their price point and work toward resolution or to increase their price point to get what they want (not always possible).
In my personal situation we began looking in a lower price range and we were not seeing the thing we really wanted (a real home theater). Many of the homes we saw had places where a real home theater could be built. Many homes had big screen tvs with surround sound in the family room. A few people had taken an extra bedroom and tried to make it into a home theater. But a real home theater was not available in our price range in the two cities where we were looking. I looked at dozens of houses but this feature did not exist in our price range.
We had to decide whether to live with a makeshift home theater or to move up to a higher price range. Looking for years would not have solved the problem. I think people who look for years need to really analyze the issue in order to resolve it. IMO that is not something that anyone should be embarrassed to admit. But the sooner they go through the process the better.
I wasn't "missing" anything. Our market tanked so badly that unless you have to sell, you don't. The leftovers were either suitable but seriously overpriced or would require too much work to make it livable. Couple that with my "wooded lot" requirement and yes, it was a tough find.
Although I looked for years, I wasn't out weekly looking at houses. After the initial couple months of seeing what was out there, every other month or so we'd go out, take a look at a about a dozen houses that might have potential and go from there. Sometimes I made offers, sometimes I didn't. Sellers got insulted and ended up selling for less than my offer or pulling it off the market. Two I really liked are still for sale and have been listed for over two years!
I sold a house a couple of years ago and am very aware of what I can get for my money, so I didn't have unrealistic expectations nor was I in denial about anything. I know the area I was interested in as I have lived there for 20 + years. I just didn't have any motivation to settle or overpay. It paid off.
I fail to understand how someone can "seriously" look for even more than a couple of months. Serious request here-explain why you're having such a hard time finding something?
In this market, why should I have to settle on a house for my family when there are so many to choose from? So, yes, we were picky and took over 4 months to find a house we liked.
When we were looking, it took a month just to decide on the county and then the general area to search. Then, there were over 500 homes matching our search criteria that we had to weed through. Add in the new listings, and it was almost a full time job for me to keep track of everything we liked, didn't like, research surrounding land, developer, etc. Plus, prices were still falling fast, making us leary of jumping into a declining market for less than ideal.
Looking for years would not have solved the problem.
I agree with most everything you are saying, but in a falling market, looking for years can solve quite a bit! I think that is the main difference here. If your market is stable then yes the buyer is probably expecting too much and may never find it. If it's not stable, then there's no reason to rush because the next batch of houses will be better and cheaper. If I compare what I could have bought when I moved to Seattle area in spring 2008, to what I got now in spring 2010, it's not even close. 25% drop in prices since summer 2007 + short sale price = so glad I did not rush.
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I think that is the main difference here. If your market is stable then yes the buyer is probably expecting too much and may never find it. If it's not stable, then there's no reason to rush because the next batch of houses will be better and cheaper. If I compare what I could have bought when I moved to Seattle area in spring 2008, to what I got now in spring 2010, it's not even close. 25% drop in prices since summer 2007 + short sale price = so glad I did not rush.
