This is Part 2 to our Post of June 9 on what we do to help people buy good homes in Seattle
We also go back and look at all the Expired and Cancelled Listings that fit our client’s requirements. At some point these people wanted to sell their homes. The home didn’t sell for some reason; usually it was priced too high. We talk with these homeowners and let them know that we may have a client that could be interested in their home and would they be interested in letting us take a look at it. If they are interested we’ll go and look at the home and at that time talk to them about why they thought it didn’t sell and try to determine how motivated they might be to sell. By looking at it we would then also know ourselves why it didn’t sell. If they are still interested is selling it and are motivated and realistic about the price and it’s a good home in a good location then we would set up a time to show it to our client. We would also expect to buy the home for a little under market value as well, and one of the incentives to the seller would be that only one real estate commission would have to be paid so that additional saving should be passed on to our client, the Buyer.
The next thing that we do for our clients is to call other homeowners in various neighborhoods that our buyers would be interested in. We ask them if they know of anyone in the neighborhood thinking of selling. We often find very good homes for our clients this way. We just don’t sit and wait for homes to come on the market and show up the NWMLS. We believe that we need to be very proactive to fully help our clients. But it just doesn’t stop here either.
We think it’s very important to look at the big picture when buying a home. We are very concerned with good resale value and that is determined by several factors. First of all, are you paying the right price for the home? Is the style, location, and quality of home such that when you go to sell, will it sell for a good price and sell quickly given the current market conditions? One of the “tests” we use is how many buyers out of 10 potential buyers would be interested in the home if it were on the market? If the home would only appeal to 2 or 3 out of 10 then it may not be the right home to buy, but if 7 or 8 out of the 10 would buy the home, then it’s usually a good home to buy. What we have found over the past 20 years however is that only about 2 or 3 homes out of every 20 listed homes are in fact good homes to buy in the Seattle Real Estate market.
We analyze the appreciation potential of a home and that’s a function of several things as well. There are homes with good bones (quality of original construction) and homes with OK bones, and then homes with just plain bad bones, chicken bones. Original building quality is very important. Many homes that were built at the turn of the century (1900’s) were really good and some were really bad, with pillar and post foundations for example. The good homes hold up very well but the bad ones are very expensive to fix and consequently worth a lot less. When the market slows people just won’t buy homes with bad bones. Homes that were built in the 1920’s to 1950’s in many cases have very good bones. Quality of materials used, the finish work, the plumbing and electrical systems all have their differences and challenges, but some are much easier to fix than other. We understand building quality and what the ramifications and cost might be for fixing poor construction or bad plumbing and every situation is different.
Finally, we look very closely at the location of a home. Remember what they say…the three most important things is buying real estate is location, location and location. It’s true! There are good parts of good neighborhoods and bad parts of that same good neighborhood. If the home is in the good part of that good neighborhood it will appreciate faster than if it is in the bad section of the good neighborhood. Now if it’s in the better section of a bad location it may not be as good as the bad part of a good area. Here is when it can get complicated and we have to take every case individually but an informed buyer should have an agent that knows how to evaluate all this. The agent really need to know the city and the all the neighborhoods. They need to know the history of the neighborhoods and where that neighborhood is going. Many of the people that are upside down today with their home is a direct result of making a poor buying decision. Getting caught up in a “hot sellers” market and paying way too much for a home in a bidding war or buying a home in a bad location that will only sell in a white hot market. Buying a home can be very emotional for many people but we make sure our clients have at least one foot firmly planted in Reality!
So in conclusion, experience, knowledge, and honesty are critical attributes in any Seattle Real Estate Agent you may hire. If your not are represented and represented well you could make a buying decision that could cost you 10’s or even 100’s of thousand of dollars in just a few years. One of the main reasons so many people are in financial problems today and can’t sell their home for what they paid for it is a bad buying decision…don’t let that happen to you!
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