The Buffalo Real Estate market is on fire once again. If you haven’t realized it yet, you must be sleeping under a rock. Once again, 2018 is mirroring the real estate market of the past two or three years where the listings trickle in slowly and multiple offers will likely be the norm. As a buyer, you must remain diligent in your thought process and buying experience. Sure, it might sound easy, especially to individuals that are not looking to purchase a home, but as a buyer, you stand to lose the most, if you act on emotions and not remain diligent.
Buyers are frantically running from listing to listing and placing offers, only to witness
offers being presented for $5K, $10K, $20K and even $30K over the listing price. Just last month, a recent listing sold for $32K over listing price on a property we
pre-inspected. I’ll tell you some more information regarding this property later in the article. Here’s the good news. If you follow the tips below, you as the buyer can avoid making mistakes that could cost you thousands of dollars.
Here are 5 tips buyers should use, even in a hot seller’s market:
1. Never, I mean never go above what you can afford. Don’t put yourself in a position where your monthly income is completely consumed by mortgages, taxes, utility bills, and day to day spending. Don’t get caught up in a bidding war just to get the home you think you want. You might find yourself having to come up with $5K or $10K cash to put down on the home because it didn’t appraise. Stick to your plan and stick to your budget. There’s always a new home being added to the MLS every single day.
2. If you see a home that you like – move on it! Don’t let others that are in the same boat as you find it and create that bidding war. Your Realtor® can absolutely help you with this, but if you stumble across a home that’s for sale, even a FSBO (For Sale By Owner), get your Realtor® involved ASAP.
3. Make sure you are working with a Realtor® that has the time to assist you. There are many awesome Realtors® out there, but if you can’t call your Realtor® and get a response immediately and get a showing scheduled chances are you will be late to the party and end up in a bidding war.
4. Sadly, many buyers are opting out of the home inspection just to sweeten their offer. This can be very risky and cost you thousands of dollars. I’m not sure where this idea of passing on the home inspection originated, but that person should get out of the Real Estate business because it will eventually cost buyers, sellers and even Realtors® money in the long run. A few years ago, the Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors® revised the purchase contracts and the Forms & Contracts Committee felt that Home Inspections and Radon testing were so important they added this language in the purchase document, and even requires your acknowledgment as to you being advised to have these services completed. Now, suddenly, it’s not that important to a few Realtors® because they believe opting out of the inspection strengthens their offer because it’s a sellers’ market. Sadly, it does have an impact of the bidding process, but just remember the only party not effected by you the buyer opting out of the home inspection is you. Just remember, everyone else is making money, but advising you to opt-out of the home inspection to strengthen your offer is bad advice and can and will eventually cost you more money. So, do not opt-out of the home inspection.
5. Congratulations, you were successful in getting your offer accepted, likely above the listing price, and you were smart enough to want a home inspection. After the inspection is completed, don’t allow the seller or listing agent to persuade, and even bully you, yes, I’ve seen this occur recently. If valid issues are discovered during the inspection process and documented on the PINA (Property Inspection Notice Addendum) and you request a repair or credit stick to your guns. Don’t let the other side push you around. Remember, you are the one in control. It’s also important to remember, if you do not continue forward in the process the seller must disclose the issue(s) they have been made aware of. Use this as leverage. You see people get blinded by the money and type of market we’re in currently. Let me give you an example – recently we conducted a home inspection and discovered the front porch had settled and rotated causing a large gap to occur and along the way someone attempted to repair the 3 to 4 inch gap bridging the porch to the entry door threshold and the repair was, just let’s say amateur. My client, the buyer requested a $500 credit at closing, which was likely not going to cover the cost of repair. The seller and listing Realtor® thought that was excessive and canceled the contract. Are you kidding me? The deal goes $7K over listing price and a valid defect was discovered, which wasn’t disclosed, and the deal gets blown apart over $500. Was the extra $6,500 not enough for the seller and Realtor®? Like my client stated –
“I can deal with crazy and I’ll call you when I find another home.”
Let me end with this thought. Yes, it’s a sellers’ market and after the inspection is over you need to be careful as to what you request in the PINA, but you don’t need to except the property, if there’s a safety issue or major problem you don’t wish to deal with after closing.
Back to the $32K over listing price property I mentioned earlier. We completed a pre-listing home inspection on this property. The seller actually fixed a few issues that were discovered from our inspection and disclosed the other issues. The seller also agreed to purchase and offer a Home Warranty that we provide, which also provides listing coverage to the seller until the day of closing and the buyer will receive 18 Months of Warranty Coverage. Plus, a 5-Yr Roof Protection Plan that covers roof leaks. Long story short – the home sold in under a day and the buyer was happy to see the home was inspected, repairs completed and the warranty package that the seller was providing. Here’s the best part, the buyer waived the home inspection because the home was already inspected by All Pro Home Inspection and they knew of All Pro Home Inspection and were very comfortable moving forward. This is how real estate should be sold.
So, as you continue in your search for your dream home look for pre-inspected homes by All Pro Home Inspection, because there’s a very good chance a 18 Month Warranty and 5-Yr Roof Protection Plan will be available to the deal, as added protection to you the buyer. If you have any questions about this article or home inspections, please contact us or call (716) 772-2548 to schedule you home inspection.
John Villella, General Manage of All Pro Home Inspection which is Buffalo NY and WNY’s Premier home inspection firm stated, our team looks forward to providing you with all the information you’ll need to be an educated and informed home buyer or home seller. With our professionally trained and NYS licensed home inspectors you will gain the knowledge to all of your question you might have regarding the homes systems. We provide you with other services and products that will help provide with information to assist you in home ownership and to also provide you with some protection after the inspection is over. All Pro Home Inspection provides home inspections in the Buffalo, NY and all surrounding WNY areas. We have served this community for two decades and have completed over 11,000 inspections.
Call All Pro Home Inspection at 716-772-2548 to schedule your home inspection or schedule online at www.AllProHomeInspection.com
John Villella, General Manager