It's always fun to listen to clients discuss the latest trends from the Real Estate experts, as seen on CNN, FOX, or any of the other national broadcasts. You know that they are trying to figure out if it is good or bad news for them, and will often ask your opinion. A friend, who I decided not to work with, followed such trends for more than two years until he was sure he had timed it perfectly. So for two years he and his fiance lived in seperate apartments in different towns and spent every weekend going to open houses.
Whenever he asked me about a report saying that the market 'bottomed out', or was close to it, I would ask him to pay attention to what is going on locally. The analogy was always the same. If the Weather Channel said that the average temperature nationally was going to be 50 degrees on a given day, it probably meant that it would be 80 in Florida but only 20 in MA. Dress for 20, not 50 or 80 degrees.
Choose an area that you both like, set a price that you can comfortably afford, then find a property that has the amenties that are important to you both. Be flexible to a point, but since they had a 30% down payment, solid jobs and impeccable credit, I assured him that they were in the driver's seat at any point of negotiations. You would think that with those credentials it would be like working for buyers from Heaven. I knew better. While the Good Lord has watched over him most of his life, when left on his own he invariably does things that make no sense to the rest of us.
The happy couple finally purchased a home in November. They bought it from a builder at an open house and paid $325K for what should have sold for $280-290K. What clinched the deal was that the financially strapped builder 'threw in' a custom tile kitchen floor, and a few other baubles and trinkets. To me, they were taken advantage of but they are happy in their new home and I am glad about that.
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