The housing market continues to be filled with more buyers than sellers who are willing to move. That means buyers and their Realtors must sometimes get creative in the home search process. Priorities must be well-defined so that when a listing meets top criteria, buyers are ready to move on it fast.
Your Realtor should of course have your criteria set up online so that you receive new listing alerts every day. Buyers can also make additional searches with modified criteria throughout each day to ensure they’re getting the full picture of what is new to market. Always communicate with your Realtor if your criteria changes. But if daily new listing checks aren’t turning up enough desirable results, consider one of these less traditional ways that exhausted buyers are using to find home sweet home.
1. Realtors Can Look for Leads from the Pre-Housing Crisis Era. Realtors with a healthy database of clients may know someone who bought right before the housing downturn. Many home owners from that era delayed moving to make up the difference in value loss. If your Realtor sold to a client in a neighborhood you’re desperately eyeing, he can give them an updated view of their position as it may have dramatically improved. It could be a longshot, but you won’t know unless you try.
2. Letter Writing. When a buyer has a very specific neighborhood that they desire, or even a particular street, a Realtor can mail letters to those residents who don’t have their home up for sale. Allowing them to give some information about you helps owners know the Realtor is sincere and not just trying to drum up new business. Some of the better targets for letters are home owners with expired listings. This means they once had their home on the market but could not get their price and stayed put. Getting contacted by an agent with proof of a serious buyer could spark their interest.
3. Keep Your Options Open to a Different Location or Style of Home. Sometimes buyers think they must have a specific location and type of home without compromise. People should of course shoot for their number one desires in an affordable home. However, when waiting on that dream, or running into obstacles because of finances or competition, it’s common for the same people to realize they can easily be happy with something different once they see it. If your Realtor has a good idea about your lifestyle, let him show you some options that are a little different than what you first imagined. You could be pleasantly surprised.
4. Make Me Move “Listings.” Zillow and other popular online resources on housing provide a way for home owners to enter their own home online (not the same as being on the market) and set a price that would be high enough to make them move out of their current home. These are typically owners who are not in a hurry to move but have been thinking about a change. The problem with these listings is that the prices are often far above the market value of the home. Also, Make Me Move owners are selling on their own and might not be willing to work with your Realtor, meaning that you do not have an expert protecting your best interests. Occasionally, however, you will find educated sellers who are willing to work with your agent as well as negotiate on price.