Buying a Home in the Bay Area? How to Find a Deal in Any Market

Deal! Deal! Deal!  So many people desperately looking for a DEAL when they buy a house.  For some, finding a home at a lower price – a DEAL - will determine whether they can afford a certain neighborhood or need to look elsewhere.  For other people it’s a matter of principle – they will not pay the market price for anything, otherwise they feel themselves as losers.  So, whatever your reason is for finding a DEAL, you will benefit from this video.  The ideas outlined here work on every market – slow or fast, buyers’ or sellers’.

Number One: Get Experience

In order to be able to make independent decisions on real estate market, you need to get experience.  Experience on the very market you want to buy a house.  If you are a novice to a home buying process, just start going to open houses. If you are an experienced home buyer, plunge in and get a feel for the current situation on the market.  Of course, a good real estate agent will help tremendously with fast tracking your understanding of the market and make your learning curve more efficient.

Number Two: Don’t Follow The Crowd

When you start going to open houses, you start noticing same people you meet in other homes.  You may even greet each other and exchange opinions on this house or that.  And on some open houses you see huge crowds with people you already saw before – boy, what a nice house! EVERYONE loves it! 

The presence of this crowd works for you as an approval that the house is great, and you need to buy it. Here I’d like to stop. If we are looking for a DEAL, then your judgement for the house should be completely independent. In other words, do not let hype influence your judgement, or, in other words, DO NOT FOLLOW THE CROWD.  See the link to my other video – How Crowd Buys Homes ( eye candy, accessories, good taste in furniture and interior colors).

Number Three: Learn To See What Others Don’t

 We ignore the crowds.  We see what other people don’t.  We are looking for a house that the crowd misses.  Seeing what other people don’t, is a skill.  By now you already have an experience with the house hunting process, so you should start scrutinizing every home you see – call it analyzing, call it scrutinizing, call it whatever you want, but you need to turn on your analytical thinking and your logic and discuss all the details of every house that seems like a good fit for you.  Think of its potential, think how easy would be to expand it or renovate in the future.  We discuss homes with our buyer clients.  We always spend first showings together and discuss every house in detail. 

Number Four:  Don’t buy a house because you love the furniture.

I know it sounds crazy, but it is true.   This is why great staging is such a powerful tool for a house presentation.  I witnessed how buyers were falling in love with staging of homes. And later they submitted offers on multi-million dollar houses requesting that they can keep staging furniture. So, my dear listeners, if you are the byers, learn to look through the ambiance created by talented stagers and designers, and see the essence of the house.

If you are a home seller watching this video, then your conclusion must be: I need to find a really great designer who can showcase my house and present it to the buyers in the best possible way.

Number Five:  Look for Houses that got stuck on the market and “ugly” houses

Pay close attention to the houses that got stuck on the market.  Give them priority when you pick homes to look at.  Even if you have seen these homes when they just got on the market, give them a second chance – take another look.  They are a great source for finding DEALS.

And another important thing: do not be afraid of ugly houses, those that look terrible on the photos.  The thing is that the houses may not be bad and the poor appearance is a presentation mistake of people who represent it.  Some of the ugly ducklings can be transformed to beautiful swans, but YOU have to recognize them.  And when you will be able to see and recognize your opportunity, and when you are absolutely sure - this is it.  Then go ahead and submit an offer.

Number Six: Choose a Golden Moment of Opportunity to Submit an offer.

I want to share a little secret, dear home buyers.  On any market, even the strongest sellers’ market, the sellers are always afraid of not being able to sell.  And if the house gets stuck on the market, this fear of the seller becomes very real.  This is the best moment for submitting your offer.   It could be your chance for a real deal.

How to determine which moment is right?  Of course, my answer would be – consult a good local realtor, they feel market dynamics with their guts. Or look at the Median Days On Market.