Williamsburgs Real Estate Blog and more!

In today's market, here in Williamsburg and James City County Virginia as well as the rest of the country there are many homes on the market. That is reality. However, many of those homes may not be what a buyer may be looking for. Homes are unique, every single one is unique. Even in identical units there are subtle differences in colors, materials, views etc. The trick is to have the most appealing home, with the best views, in the best condition for the best price. Hardly an easy task for a buyer or seller!

When I start my conversation with a buyer prior to getting in my car and driving all over town, I simply ask what a buyer wants in their next home-what are their expectations. I try not to let price enter too much in the decision until I find out their needs, then their wants, then their price. A buyer needing five bedrooms shouldn't look at homes with three. A buyer needing three can certainly look at homes with five.

The list of things a buyer may actually NEED in a home are fairly limited. They might include:

• Bedroom count
• Proximity to public transportation
• Bathroom count
• Bedroom location,ie needs a 1st floor master bedroom
• handicap accessibility-could be a need now or want available for later
• Price limit

However the list of wants is almost endless. Wants are only limited by price and availability. I want a brand new 2010 cadillac CTS, but I only have $10,000 to spend. I can get the Cadillac CTS, but it might have to be a 2006 model with 50,000 miles on it! But, I don't NEED a car, my old one is perfectly fine. Will the car dealer cave in and sell me a car at my unrealistic offer of $10,000 just because they have lots of cars to sell-hardly!

Going back to homes for sale-sorry.....when I look at over 1700 homes for sale in my local MLS, and start whittling it down to certain criteria:

• Five Bedrooms
• First floor master
• Three bathrooms
• 1/2 acre
• no more than five years old
• in the Jamestown high school district

Now I only have THREE homes to choose from. Now I can look at price to see where my options are. These 3 homes are $539,000, $579,000, and a whopping $2,250,000. A buyer limited by a $300,000 price range is completely out of luck. Now they have to work backwards on their criteria. Sacrificing their needs-we haven't even touched on the wants at this point! So you can't do less than 5 bedrooms-you've got 6 kids and two adults to hide in the house. You can live with an older house, in a different high school district so start there. Working your way back to your price limitation. Options do open up for you as long as you are realistic and understand your needs vs wants.

All too often, agents eagerly jump in their car to start showing buyer homes without ever having a "reality check". I don't think I am doing a buyer any favors and possibly doing a disservice by not knowing what they need and what there threshold for disappointment will be. I hear agents showing buyers 50 and 60 homes. Only then to find out they can't find what they are looking for and they. Not surprising, they never had the conversation first.

Going back to my reality check with my buyer scenario above, these are the buyers NEEDS and available options today (08/04/2009):

• Five bedrooms
• James City County somewhere
• First floor master
• three bathrooms
• under $375,000

How many homes do we have available now? Do we have fewer choices or more? We have 0 homes now-back to the drawing board with criteria! 

The point is, this particular seller has little competition. So are they still in the same "buyers market"? Hardly-they are in a sellers market. Low supply, high demand. Do they have to negotiate the same as a seller that has 20 homes competing with them? Hardly. Are they motivated-most likely and they will negotiate. But don't show them an offer $125,000 low thinking you have the upper hand because the market in general is a buyers market.

I hope this exercise in reality helps you in selecting an agent truly looking to save you time and aggravation, and best represent you as a true Buyers Agent!