Getting a “Deal” in Real Estate

I never pay full price for a home…. I always find a deal

Do you know anyone like this? I sure do! My response to that is always the question, “how do you define a deal?”

If you think a deal means that somehow you will be able to buy a home for cheaper than anyone else could buy that same home, then you may be searching an awful long time.

Unlike retail businesses who make a product, calculate their costs, determine an acceptable profit and then add some for ‘negotiation’ (why do cars come to mind?), home prices are set by the market. In many cases it’s not the home buyer versus the home seller, but rather the home buyer versus the other interested home buyers. You see, the seller sets the price, but it’s the market that determines the value. If you want a good idea of how much you are going to pay, look at the average sold to ask ratio for the style of home and area you are interested in. If it’s 99% of asking price, then that is what on average you should expect to pay on a home priced at market value. If you were to buy a home at 95% of asking price in that same market then I would tell you that it was overpriced to begin with and no one else wanted it at that price. So if no one wanted it, was it really a deal?

The reality is that some homes are priced too high, some too low and some just right. Every situation is different however it’s how realistic that the asking price is that will ultimately determine wether a home sells below or above asking price. My job is to give you the proper information to determine market value so when we do negotiate you know where you stand. Sometimes we discover a home is over priced, but sometimes we see it’s priced just right.

I’ve seen many buyers loose out on the best home for them, simply because they had to get a deal. Instead of looking at winning as getting the best home at the best price possible, they viewed winning as how much they could knock of the ‘asking’ price.

Real estate isn’t a bazaar where everyone overprices their product just to negotiate down, and if you treat it that way I’m confident you won’t get the best outcome.