It is no secret that buying a home in the Pierce County market today is a challenge. As you can see from the attached graph, it is a bit less difficult to buy a home in Pierce County’s higher end market, but it’s still a challenge.
Things between now and the end of the year do not look to improve for Pierce County home buyers. In fact, according to our rough calculations, with the current level of inventory coming onto the market and the current level of homes coming off the market, we are projected to have fewer than 700 homes for sale in ALL of Pierce County by the end of 2020. (You can read more about 2020’s 4th quarter market on our blog here.)
Of course, this is great news for sellers, but what can you do as a buyer in this competitive market to improve your chances of success?
Here are 3 things that smart and savvy home buyers are doing to win a home:
- Get a pre-approval and work with a lender that you know and trust. Your lender really matters, and it’s essential that they work well with others, including your broker. This is a very big deal right now. If you don’t already have a preferred lender, a real estate professional will be able to recommend a few options.
- Know and understand the market numbers. It’s important that you understand exactly how many houses there are for sale in the area and price point that you are looking at. After this preliminary research, you might decide that you want to search for a home in a different neighborhood or city, and you might decide that you need to move down in price point so that you can be more aggressive with your offers.
- Hire a professional. I understand that my opinion is not going to be perceived as particularly objective on this issue, but I can not stress enough how important it is in this current environment.
Here is my rational:
1. A professional will be aware of and well-versed in the local real estate market.
2. Working with a professional will give you a MUCH better chance of winning a home if there are multiple offers, which is very common in Pierce County right now. A known entity is always going to have more credibility than an unknown, whether that be the brokerage or the broker.
3. There are forms and strategies that a broker can use to strengthen an offer that often make the difference between winning and losing. The offer with the highest dollar amount does NOT always win.
https://www.windermerepc.com/b...As with anything in life there are exceptions to any rule, but it is fair to say that taking these suggestions into consideration will definitely put you in a better position to have a more enjoyable experience when purchasing a home in this market.
I could go on for another 4 pages, but instead I will suggest that you check out our “Buying a Home” series. I am confident that any questions you may have will be answered there!
If you are ready to buy or sell your home in Pierce County, we would love to connect you with a local real estate expert. Send us a quick message here.