Think It’s A Great Deal? You’re Not Alone So Be Prepared

Every home buyer and investor in Loudoun County as well as the rest of the world is looking for one thing – the best possible deal. Whether it’s an appreciating or declining market, the goal of every home buyer and investor is to buy a property that fits their needs for less than any other comparable property currently for sale or that has sold in the area.

But what if there were more home buyers and investors than great deals? This creates more demand than supply and translates to multiple buyers and multiple offers on the same property.

Think I’m crazy for making these claims in this market? Well, let’s look at my personal experiences over the last few weeks as an agent working with buyers and investors in Loudoun County…

Out of the eight offers I’ve written for home buyers and investors in Loudoun County so far this month, seven of them were competing against at least one, if not up to four other offers.

In addition, I ended up not writing two other offers because the properties that my clients were interested in went under contract inbetween the time they saw them and when they decided to present an offer.

I’m not saying that you should be foolish and make any decisions you’re not really ready to make. Nor am I saying that you should get wrapped up in the emotions of a competing offer situation and pay more for the property that you set out to spend.

What I am saying is, be prepared.

• Be prepared to be in a competing offer situation and have the highest price you’re willing to pay for the property in the forefront of your mind prior to presenting any offer.
• Be prepared when your agent contacts you asking for your "best and final offer". Your agent is simply doing their job by passing on the question they were posed by the seller.
• Be ready to walk away and move on to another property when the other offers go above your "best and final offer" and you get the call or email saying that the seller accepted another offer.

And don’t take it personal.

The moral of the story? Understand that there will be other buyers who will also think that the property is a great deal and be prepared for what comes along with that. If you’re prepared and have a game plan in place ahead of time, you will be able to keep a cool head and make smart and timely decisions should this type of situation present itself.

D

Sellers – How Do Buyers Search For And Find YOUR Home?

Most sellers in Loudoun County, as well as neighboring counties and everywhere else in the world, wonder how and where today’s buyers search for and find their new home. Why? Because they want to know how today’s buyers will find their home (and buy it, of course). If you do not market in the places where today’s buyers search for homes, you will lose very valuable exposure and have a very tough time selling your home. Savvy sellers and real estate agents will know the answer to this million-dollar question and will focus their marketing so that it’s appropriate to today’s buyer’s search methodology.

So how and where do today’s buyers, in general and specifically in Loudoun County, Virginia, search for and find their new home? Here are some stats based on our research and that from other sources:

• 85% of home buyers used a real estate agent to search for a home
• 80% used the Internet to search for a home (up from 77% in 2005 and steadily growing)
• 22% used the Internet to get neighborhood information (a key component in a home search)
• 47% found the home they purchased through a real estate agent (we still have some value)
• 25% found the home they purchased through the Internet (and rising)
• Two of the most important features while browsing for homes on the Internet are photos and property information (why it baffles me that some listings still have no pictures or incorrect/incomplete information)
• 72% actually drove by or looked at a home they found online (they weren’t stalkers after all)
• 46% walked through a home they found online (Internet marketing actually works)
• Only 47% of buyers found a virtual tour helpful (mental note – "make virtual tours better")
• Less than 15% found their home through a sign in the yard (and the number is declining)
• Less than 5% found their home in print media (and the number is declining as well)

(Check out "Related Articles" at the end of the post for the full set of stats)

As you can see, the majority of today’s buyers utilize the Internet to search for and find information on properties as well as to research neighborhoods.  And a growing number found the home they ultimately purchased online. If your home does not have adequate Internet/web exposure, you may lose potential buyers to your competition.

And just placing your home on the local MLS, Realtor.com and Homesdatabase.com no longer works. There are a growing number of listing sites such as Trulia, Zillow, Google Base and others that buyers are using to search for homes. If you’ve never heard of these names, you should start checking around. Trulia already has over 1 million listings, Zillow’s listings are growing daily and Google Base has tons of listings and is expected to release their Google Real Estate beta site shortly.

And if you think that just listing you property on those sites will do the trick, think again. Make sure that you and/or your agent focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your/their personal real estate site/blog as well as their listings. Where your property comes up in a search for homes with your county, city, zip code, community, street and actual address as a key word makes a huge difference. There are many ways to achieve SEO, but that’s a lengthy discussion for another day. 

Now let’s not forget the stats about how only 47% of buyers are happy with the virtual tours and that the top two things that make a difference to them are photos and property information. Make sure that you have as many pictures up as allowed by each site, that the pictures are of decent quality, that the information on the property is complete and accurate (buyers hate sellers and agents who lie or stretch the truth) and that you have a good virtual tour and/or video tour of your property. There’s nothing worse for a seller than having a buyer find their home online, but click right past it because some or all of these things are lacking.

So now that you know how today’s buyers are searching for and finding their new home, analyze what you’re doing to get in front of them and get their attention.

1. How does your marketing plan stack up against that of other properties/your competition?
2. If you’re using an agent, what are they doing to get maximum Internet/web exposure for your property?
3. Does your agent have your home uploaded on all the currently available sites such as Trulia, Zillow, Google Base and the twenty-some others?
4. Does their site/blog rank anywhere on the first page of results if not the very top 3 to 5 results for real estate property searches in your area/community?
5. How do your pictures, information and virtual tour stack up against your competition?

If you’re a seller with a home currently on the market, you’ll either be patting yourself on the back and/or applauding your real estate agent for being on top of all these items or your scrambling around to do them or you’ll be calling your agent as soon as you finish reading this sentence. Hopefully, it’s the former…

For the full set of buyer and seller statistics, check out – Statistics About Home Buyers, Sellers, Blog Readers and Bloggers

Related Articles: Just How Important Are Property Pictures