Step 6 to Buying a Home: Choose a Home
When you start looking at homes during the homebuying process, it may seem daunting to figure out how you're going to choose the right one.
Some of our clients ask us, how many homes does the average buyer look at before they choose one or before they find the right one? This article says that the average buyer reported (in 2014) that they viewed 10 homes before choosing one. Is that an outdated statistic? Maybe. Is it still true today? Perhaps.
Mainly because it also states that the buyers "know immediately when they've found their ideal house" and that's been our experience, too.
There is no magic number of the "right number" of homes to look at. Some of our buyers over the years only tour one home, and they know right away that it's The One. Others look at dozens, tweaking their home criteria along the way (the buyer who thought they "couldn't possibly" buy a home without a basement who did just that or the buyer who "had to have" a renovated kitchen who spent a little less and then created their own dream kitchen with the money they saved).
We will, of course, look at the practical things and help you to make smart decisions: is the home priced right for the neighborhood? is it in good condition? do the repairs that we can see the seller has done appear to have been done in a professional manner? are there any things about the home that are an inherent negative that cannot be changed (is it on a busy road, backing up to electrical wires or a retention pond) and that may affect your investment later? We will discuss things that we see that may show up in the home inspection (click here to read more about the home inspection process); we will help you to look at the comparable sales and discuss whether we think the home will pass the appraisal (click here to read more about the appraisal process).
You can also keep an eye out for visual cues that make you a more savvy buyer. You definitely should plan to have a professional home inspection, but there are things you can keep an eye out for while home shopping, too (click here to read more about what defects to look for while home shopping).
However, aside from all of the practical pieces, if you're buying a home to live in it (in other words, you're not buying an "investment property" to rent out), then the way the home feels to you will be very important, and that's not criteria we can put into the MLS. That's why we spend time with you, not only in your initial buyer consultation, but also on every showing, asking you how the home feels...
...because most of the time, you'll just know.
ONE LAST NOTE: In our current Atlanta-area real estate market, you may be hearing terms like "low inventory" or "multiple offers" or even "bidding war." With very little supply and a lot of demand, you may end up liking a house that already has an offer (or maybe even a contract on it). A great REALTOR will have a lot of tricks up their sleeve for helping you to understand and navigate these scenarios. Click here to read more of Maura and Ben's thoughts on this multiple offers, bidding wars, and back-up offers.
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