Perhaps the biggest challenge Atlanta home buyers face right now is defining their idea of a good value in their next house. Too many buyers perceive prices as too high and as a result are finding it difficult to locate their ideal home. Finding a good value starts by realizing that your definition of that good value must vary depending on location and your personal wants and concerns.
Most of the frustration and unrealistic expectations are in the 200K and lower price range. You can blame this on the larger number of purchasers in this price range, competition with investment buyers, and the low inventory of quality homes. A quality home is considered to be one where buyers do not need to do any updating – the house is current in their layout, design, and amenities. Buyers can no longer roll the cost of doing updates into their loan and typically do not have the funds to do updates immediately after a purchase. As you can expect, the demand for updated homes is huge – most have a lot of traffic and multiple offers.
Not only is the condition of the home a major concern, but also buyers want to be in the desirable areas and those that exhibit stability. Desirability is measured by the performance of local schools, quality of local amenities, accessibility to highways, traffic patterns, and of course, safety. Stability is seen in the occupancy rates for houses, as well as for retail and commercial space, local employment opportunities, school populations, and the proportion of distressed properties.
This all means that the value of a house is determined by the buyer and the importance of quality, desirability and stability. There is some proportion of all those values with which the buyer will be comfortable. Those proportions, and how they change, determines the price the buyer is willing to pay and whether or not the price is ‘too high’. Once the buyer understands their own values, and applies them to a location, they will be able to identify the good value they seek.
Anita Kummer, Buyer Dept. Mgr, Duffy Realty
Comments(1)