Low inventories of homes for-sale
are becoming troubling to home buyers, Inman News reports. Almost every
major market in the U.S. has posted double-digit decreases in for-sale
listings.
"The buyers tend to become a little frustrated as they are seeing
homes that they want to 'think about' and before they can even get home
to discuss it there are already multiple offers on the property," Sheri
Moritz, a real estate broker with Keller Williams' Wake Home Team in
Raleigh, N.C., told Inman News. In Raleigh, inventories have fallen 21
percent in the past year, according to Realtor.com data.
"I counsel buyers to be patient, and not get discouraged, that it may
take extra time to find the suitable property," adds Tom Avent,
broker-owner at Tom Avent Real Estate in Fresno, Calif., which has
posted a 43.1 percent drop in inventories in the past year. "I have also
seen some buyers give up looking, frustrated with low inventory and
losing out in multiple-offer bidding."
Multiple bid situations are a common occurrence in many markets. But
surveys show that home buyers lose their enthusiasm when faced with
competition for a property, according to a recent survey by Redfin.
Seven in 10 of home buyers surveyed reported that they’ve faced
competition on at least one of their offers recently, but 31 percent
say they would back off when faced with a multiple offer situation for a
home, according to the Redfin survey.
Charles Roberts, a director at the Denver Board of REALTORS® and
co-owner of Your Castle Real Estate, says that “urgency” is the new
landscape greeting home buyers.
"Gone are the days of looking at 50 homes and taking months to make a
decision,” Roberts told Inman News. “If there's a good property on the
market, buyers need to act quickly, and yes, sometimes bid above asking
price. The educated, thoughtful clients are getting great deals with
astoundingly low interest rates. The clients that are still insisting on
putting offers at 80 cents on the dollar are getting shut out of the
market. They either learn that that strategy doesn't work anymore or
they keep on renting. Our job as real estate agents is to teach them
what the market looks like and guide them in their decision-making."
Source: “Low Inventories Thwarting Buyers,” Inman News (Oct. 1, 2012)
At Where to Invest, we offer properties with no overbidding allowed to help investors find the property that makes sense and not have to lose it in an overbidding situation. Properties are now selling faster and faster and we have adapted by letting investors get 'early access' and see our homes before or during the rehab process. Investors may see some uglier pictures, but it gives the investor a chance to bid on a home earlier in the process and not miss out on a home.