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Health & Fitness

Home Buying in the 2013 Marin Seller's Market

The 2013 Marin Real Estate market can be characterized by intense competition between buyers and few sellers. Here's a few thing buyers can do to get an edge.

There are lots of home buyers in today’s Marin market who are having a very hard time finding and purchasing a house.  With very still relatively low inventories, for some it’s a challenge just finding a place they want to purchase.  Once prospective buyers have found what they feel is the right home they discover that they aren’t the only buyers attracted to the same wonderful house, and they are faced with dates when offers are being reviewed and multiple offer situations.  While this process is daunting, buyers are getting their offers accepted and there are several things that buyers should consider when putting their best foot forward.

One thing that buyers are tempted to do is waive their inspections upfront.  No broker or Realtor should recommend such a strategy, as there just too many very costly things that a buyer might be blindly accepting that only a competent home inspector will catch in the course of their 3-4 hour inspection.  How about not realizing the foundation on your new home is obsolete?  Or you’re buying the home in the summer and in the winter your new parcel becomes a swamp because of a drainage system that no longer functions and is very expensive to fix?  The point is, give yourself a little time to get inspections.  You likely don’t need all 17 days the contract defaults to, so tighten that up a bit and ask for more time down the line if you need it.

Paragraph 28 of the CAR Purchase Agreement states that, “Time is of the Essence.”  Some of the most successful home buyers are the first to preview properties as they come on the market and they try to make offers before a date is set, or they make offers on properties even before they come on the market.  Lots of homes are sold before they can come onto the market because many sellers like the ease and security of a sale at their price without having the hassle of public showings.  Call this real estate’s version of first mover advantage.

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Some buyers are waiving appraisals.  Would you pay more than an appraiser says your prospective home is worth?  I’m not a big fan of this strategy, but there are buyers doing it in multiple offer situations.  If an offer is all cash it’s not subject to a bank’s appraisal anyway, so that’s probably the only time I’d recommend not having an appraisal contingency because the cash buyer likely won’t get an appraisal.

Write a letter to the sellers!  I don’t encourage my buyers to do this as much as I should, but most offers should come with a letter about the buyers.  When all things are equal sellers can be swayed by a beautifully crafted story from a family that will love and appreciate their home.  Yes, most of the time a transaction comes down to the money, but you don’t want to miss out because you didn’t write a nice letter.

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Realize that purchasing a home in the 2013 Marin real estate market is a competitive process.  Get competitive.  Just don’t write an offer that you might later regret.

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