What are Today's Buyers Looking For?

In today's market there are so many homes on the market and not enough buyers. But there are buyers out there and the key is to appeal to what they really want.

Buyers are finding it harder to obtain loans to buy a home. This is good and bad. The bad news is decent home buyers that just don't have a lot of money to put down but would be diligent in paying their loan are in the same boat as those with bad credit, no money and won't pay back loans. The government has issued USDA loans in which the homes must meet certain guidelines and fall into rural areas. This is also  100% financing meaning the buyers don't need a down payment to purchase.

I recently sat down with a young couple ready to start their family looking for a home. They were trying to save for a down payment but with emergency issues popping up all the time were unable to obtain a substantial sum. The USDA loan was perfect for them and they qualified with average to good credit.

As they looked for homes, the only homes in their price range seemed to be bank owned. But they still encountered sellers that were unwilling to budge on price, even in this market. Most of the time they offered full price with seller to cover closing costs. This would only be $5 - 7K off the purchase price but sellers still came back with unrealistic expectations and demands. This was frustrating the buyers as they thought this was a good market in which to buy.

Eventually they found a seller that was actually interested in selling and willing to be flexible and negotiate with the USDA loan and comply with simple contingencies. This should prove that there are buyers out there but with unwilling and inflexible sellers, it keeps the homes in the inventory longer and prices painfully low.

As a seller, buyers want a clean home, not a lot of major repairs, and something they can see themselves in. If a buyer wants a few issues fixed during a repair consider the cost verses the loss of a sale. If you are a serious seller, you should be flexible and negotiable to buyers in this market.

For more information on how to price, stage and properly negotiate the sale of your home, please give me a call. I specialize in the Everett WA real estate area but can service any property in Western Washington.

ADDITIONAL CONNECTIONS IN REAL ESTATE:  . High Desert Realtors serving all Idaho Falls real estate with offices in Idaho Falls, Swan Valley and Island Park.  We help buyers and sellers of all Idaho real estate including Idaho Falls homes and surrounding counties. Search and save all Tacoma homes and Puyallup real estate in the entire Pierce County real estate area by Alliance Real Estate.