As a follow up to part 1 (Location, location, location), a buyer wanted to know when they should start looking. My response regarding price....
PRICE - You and I need to know what you are preapproved for. Buyers are under the impression that we just want to know so we can show you homes in that price range and slightly over and that is NOT true. Not even a little bit. We want to make sure the buyer is in the position to buy and write an offer. I need to know what taxes you are preapproved for. Say you are preapproved for $190,000 with $5,000 taxes. So many people are only focused on the $190,000 and freak out if I show them a $200,000 house THAT HAS ANOTHER FULL BATHROOM, A PARTIALLY FINISHED BASEMENT, A FENCE AND 300 SF LARGER but they don't realize that the taxes are $4,200 which the payment would actually be CHEAPER than the $190,000 house. Yes, a $200,000 house can have a cheaper monthly payment than a $190,000 house based on taxes. But buyers get stuck on only one number and that can hurt. So I need to know more than the preapproved amount, I need taxes. Plus I need to know if my buyers are realistic. It's SHOCKING to me that people think they can buy a 4 bed, 2.1 bath, 3 car garage home in Plainfield for $160,000. Those days are long, long gone. Houses have jumped up in price so I'm finding that buyers are sticker-shocked because "3 years ago my brother bought a house for that and I want the same." Times are different today.
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