How to Shop for Homes in a Crazy Real Estate Market

The real estate market is changing rapidly. Literally each hour something changes it feels like and as agents and homebuyers or sellers how do we keep up? In this article I want to explore how buyers can adjust and properly shop for homes in this market.

First, you need to answer a few questions before you go shopping:

1.      Do I have a good real estate agent to guide me? (remember, it’s free to have a real estate professional help you purchase a home – the seller pays their commission)

2.      Do I need help with some closing costs or paying down of the interest rate?

3.      How quickly do I need to move?

4.      Do I want to potentially compete on a house for sale with other buyers?

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Once you have the answer to these questions you know if you are, what we call, a weekend shopper or a Tuesday shopper. A weekend shopper is someone who is willing to compete against other buyers on the same house, has some extra cash they can use to compete and need to move rather quickly. These are the buyers that should go look at a house as soon as it hits the market. A Tuesday shopper is the buyer who needs some help financially from the seller, has some time to find a home and does not wish to compete against other buyers.

Why a Tuesday shopper? If a home for sale makes it through the first weekend of being on the market it tends to make a seller a little more willing to negotiate and pitch in to help you as a buyer make the deal work. My team wants to help protect buyers from falling in love with a house on a Saturday only to lose out on it Sunday because someone had more cash on hand to beat your offer. That’s why we wait until Tuesday for these buyers to see what survived the weekend.

Ultimately, as a buyer you need to know what you are willing to do, how hard you are willing to compete and how much help you need from the seller. Then, find a great agent to represent you and set out on your purchase path in search of a new home!

If you want to learn more about how to position yourself well to buy a home in Hampton Roads, Virginia reach out to us at www.maroongroupva.com/contact-team