I’m visiting homes but not finding anything that I like. What can I do?

 Understanding the Real Estate Process from A – Z – A Buyer’s Guide to Real Estate – Part 5

This is the fifth post of a series in an FAQ format that I hope will help would be buyers better understand the real estate process that they are about to go through. There is a follow-on series to the posts for real estate sellers.

FAQ – I’m visiting homes but not finding anything that I like. What can I do?

First, let me ask what it is about the homes that you are visiting that you don’t like? Obviously, they meet the criteria that you currently have your Realtor® using to search for you or you wouldn’t be visiting them. It’s time to stop and think about your search criteria. Try to put into words what it is

about the homes that you are seeing that just doesn’t appeal to you, so that your Realtor can try to make adjustments in the search criteria. The least helpful thing you can tell your Realtor is “I’ll know it when I see it.” How is he/she supposed to use that to select homes to show you. Sometimes it is helpful just oit sit with your Realtor and go over the homes that you have seen, so that he/she can hear what you are saying about each one.

Perhaps it is time to re-evaluate your search price range. A limited price range or an upper limit that is too low, will severely restrict what you get to see. Many times looking slightly above the upper limit that you have currently set with your Realtor will open up a whole new range of options. Sometimes there is even enough negotiation room in those higher prices to get them down close to where your old limit was anyway. Setting an upper limit that is too low also means that you may only see homes that are in less than good condition. That can be especially frustrating, if you are looking for a move-in ready condition house.

The local market in southeastern Michigan is currently not favorable for buyers. It is a “sellers’ market” because there is very low inventory and more people looking to buy that there are houses available. That means that sellers are asking for, and getting, higher prices that they would normally and that properties are selling more quickly than normal. Buyers are at a disadvantage in negotiations and have less to choose from on the market. That is certainly a receipt for buyer frustration. It means that buyers need to be ready to quickly make an offer on any properties that they find that suit their needs.  

The key to that last statement is the word “needs”. In this type of market, you have to focus more on what you need in a house that what you may want in a house. Many of the things that fall into the category of wants can be added later. That means that you should take a hard look at your search criteria and adjust the “must haves” to reflect your real needs. Just taking a desire like granite counter tops out of the criteria can open up lots more choices for you. Also expanding your search area, which may add to your daily commute a bit, can greatly expand the candidates for visits.

Some search criteria have a very big impact. Adding things like “fenced back yard” because you have a dog that you’d like to be able to let out in the yard can cut your choices by more than half. Desiring more than an acre of land with the house has the same impact, since most modern site condo complexes have been built on smaller lots. Asking for a three-car garage, instead of the more standard two-car garage also limits your choices. The majority of houses were built with three bedrooms, so demanding four or more also cuts down the list. Ask you Realtor what he/she thinks are the most restrictive things on your criteria list and then discuss with him/her what the options might be if you change or eliminate that criteria.

Sometimes you may actually be visiting the ideal home that meets your criteria, but you get blinded to it by things in the home that can easily be fixed or changed. You have to ignore things like paint colors and even the clutter that the current owners have grown used to living with. Maybe the current owners have re-purposed a room or two and you can’t see those rooms as you might use them.

Perhaps there is great unused space in the basement that could be finished to become the missing elements that you desire. Perhaps you can’t see beyond the overgrown and neglected current landscaping and envision how the house might look if you corrected the mess that it currently looks like. Or maybe you can’t get past the obvious repairs that will be needed. Fight through those things and use your imagination. You are holding yourself back from having your dream house because you can’t dream enough.

So, step back and reevaluate two things – your criteria for a new home and your approach and attitude about evaluating what you see on visits. Both may need to be adjusted. Sit and have another frank talk with your Realtor about what he/she has been showing you and what you’d like to see now. You might also review your notes from all of the houses that you’ve already visited and see if any might now be worth a second look (assuming that they haven’t already sold) with your new evaluation criteria in mind. Your new home is out there and now you are better equipped to find it.

As an alternative to continuing to look at used homes,perhaps you should add new-build homes to your search. The lack of enough new-build homes on the market has contributed to the "tight" inventory situation, but there are new build developments in all markets. New build developments are not normally in the lower end of the market and usually occupy the mid- to upper-end of the move up market, so that probably won't fit for the first-time buyer; however, if you are ready to move up, or maybe even if you are downsizing from your McMansion, these mid-market developments can be just the thing for you. Obviously, they will be move-in ready when completed and unlikely to need anything for several years. 

OK, I’ve got a short list of homes that I want to visit. What’s next?

This is the third in a series of ten posts that have been taken from a section of my web site – www.themilfordteam.com that answer Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) of buyers.

Answer - Let your Realtor set up appointments for you at each of the houses. If you haven't had a good chance to see the house and neighborhood in the daytime, I recommend going during the day, probably on a weekend. Remember to take your HUD criteria worksheet, so that you can take notes for comparing houses that you’ve visited later. It can all turn into a blur in your memory if you visit more than three houses.

Here are some tips for the actual visits:

If the house is not in the best shape when you visit; you need to be able to look beyond what you see when d up or if the clutter was gone. It is amazing the condition that some people leave their houses in for showings, but It happens, so you have to learn to deal with it. You also need to look beyond the current decorating scheme and "see" the house as you would decorate/paint/wall paper it.

you visit some homes and envision how the house would look if it were cleane

• You should be looking for the condition of the house. Does the structure look and feel sound? Are the walls and doorways and windows straight? Is the floor level or is it slanted or "bouncy"? Is there significant damage that would need to be repaired? Would the carpeting or other floor covering need to be replaced right away? Is there visual or smell evidence of mold? Is there any visual evidence of infestation by bugs or critters? Is there evidence of water damage on the walls, ceiling and around or under sinks and tubs? Have major systems been updated – electrical, heating/cooling, water heater, sump pump, water pump, etc.? Do light switches work? Does the roof have missing or warped shingles?
• Does the house meet my criteria? Are the rooms large enough for my furniture or for what furniture I'd like to have (you can't put a King-sized bed in a little 10' X 10" bedroom and expect to have room to walk around)? Is the layout of the house OK and the flow through the rooms? Does it have the basement or garage or other features that I thought were important? Is the yard OK for me? How about the neighborhood and the immediate neighbors?
• Read all of the information that is available about the house. Most houses that are listed will have some form of information packet in them when you visit. That information normally would include all of the room measurements, any updated features of the house, a list of appliances (if any) that are staying with the house, the name of the school systems that the house is in and other important information, including the price.
• Take lots of notes, so that you can compare houses later. It can get confusing real quick and houses will start to run together in your memory.
• If the house has any Sellers Concessions or Subsidies mentioned in the listing or in documents at the house, make sure that your Realtor explains those to you and how they might affect what you end up paying for the house or for your mortgage.

If other factors, such as the rating of the school district and the specific schools that you children may end up attending are important factors to you; it is really up to you to do the in-depth research. Your Realtor will know something about those factors, but he/she can’t be an expert on all of the schools in all of the neighborhoods that you may visit. In my area you can find links to sites that rate school districts and schools, as well as maps of where your children would go on my web sites. 

Now that’s you’ve moved into the showing stage of your new home hunt, your new watchwords should be patience and persistence – you’ll likely need both. In a tight market, like that which we are current seeing, with very low inventory; it may take longer to find the house that you had in mind to be your new home. Having a patient and understanding Realtor is critical at this stage. If you have an agent whom you feel is “pushing you” to make offers on homes that you really aren’t that thrilled about, get a new agent. That agent is only thinking about his/her commission and not about your well- being.

This is also the time, if you have not already done it, to ask your mortgage agent to put together a mortgage

pre-approval letter for you; so that you are ready in case you want to make an offer. The mortgage rep can put together a letter that states that you are pre-approved up to a certain dollar figure. That letter can be fine-tuned or changed later, if needed. If you mortgage rep blows off this request and tells you to wait until you have a specific house in mind that is not necessarily enough to say get another mortgage rep, but it may be an indicator that this rep is either too busy or unconcerned about your loan and could be a problem later. It may also tell you that the mortgage rep really hasn’t done any work yet to get you pre-approved.

Making visits to homes is an activity that must be seasonally adjusted for weather conditions. In Michigan you may have to slough through snow drifts to get into some houses and many homeowners will ask you to remove your boots while in the house, so be ready with clothing and boots that fit the conditions.

Too Many Choices

The glut of houses on the market currently has had a secondary negative affect - it provides too many choices. I've been involved with quite a few buyers this year and almost all of them are overwhelmed by the amount of homes that are on the market and the human nature tendency to try to see them all before making a choice. I try to advise buyers to do more homework before we go out and to even do drive-bys to check out the houses and the neighborhoods before we start making appointments; however, there seems to be a strong "shopper's" desire to see them all.

Home buyers seem to be afraid that they'll somehow miss the "perfect house" for them, if they don't look at everything on the market. That has led to prolonged house hunting times and delayed decision making. It's not unusual for home shoppers to have to renew their mortgage pre-approval several times before actually using it to buy a house, since the "rate lock" on a pre-approval is normally only good for 30-60 days.

I also try to get home shoppers to take the time to make a list of the things that are really important to them. See my Web site http://www.themilfordteam.com/ under the FAQ Sectiojn for Buyers for a good home shopping list and advice on how to prioritize that list. The worst case scenario from a Realtor's perspective is the home shopper who tells you up front. "Oh, I'll know it when I see it." That means they have no idea (or can't figure out how to verbalize what ideas they may have) about what they want in a home. That's the start of a long, although not always satisfactory relationship. It's worth the time to sit with your Realtor, before you spend too much time wandering around looking at houses and let him/her help you figure out what you really are looking for in a new home; otherwise your head will end up spinning with the co-mingled details of too many house.