| Back to Articles |
| Back to
Articles |
Buying a house, whether your first or your fiftieth, can be an exhilarating process. A house must stand on it's 'own two feet' in a marketplace that is always competing for customers. You make a house a home. Unless your plan is to build a house designed for you, there will be tradeoffs or concessions you'll make in the house you purchase.
In the almost two decades I've been marketing and 'selling' real property in Johnson County, the marketplace has almost always been a 'buyer's market'. A buyer's market is one where there are more products available than there are customers to buy. The opposite market is a seller's market where there are more buyers than products available. In most price ranges today we are in a sellers market. As a seller you should have multiple offers on your property. As a buyer you must be totally prepared to enter the marketplace.
The marketplace is always competing for buyers. Therefore sellers who offer their products at the most competitive price compared to other similar products usually sell quicker and closer to the asking price. If you have a product to sell before you can buy, you are both a seller and a buyer.
Most sellers in today's marketplace are reluctant to accept contingency offers. A contingency offer is an offer where something must happen before something else can happen. Most generally, this 'something' is a house must sell before a buyer can buy. Most of us can't afford to own two residences. A buyer making an offer to purchase subject to the sale of their residence has no negotiating strength. Even if we find a seller willing to accept a contingency offer, the seller almost always insists on the right to continue to show the property to other buyers while you try to sell yours. If the seller finds another buyer whose offer is not subject to the sale of a house you generally are given one to three days to remove the contingency or the other buyer buys the property.
Whether you’re thinking about buying or selling or merely seeking information, rely on me to provide accurate up to date information about the marketplace today.
Send me an e-mail message and ask to be added to my Real Estate Matters e-mail mailing list. Every two weeks, you'll receive a copy of my most recent issue automatically in your e-mail.
| Back to Articles |