A Realtor's Experience in Home Buying

3-2-1...Haaaappy New Yeaaaaar!  Hello 2020, and with the ringing in of a new decade, a number of personal, professional, and financial goals are on our radar.  Most importantly, this is the year we had planned to purchase a property.  We qualified for some great loan options, put together a business plan, have assets available to purchase a home in the greater Sacramento area, and felt like we might have an upper hand by being Realtor’s ourselves.  Well I’m here to tell ya, this 2020 market has given us insight like never before!  

Running a real estate company in Sacramento is a full time job.  Gaby and I continuously work on expanding our services and level of expertise on a daily basis--it’s a full time job with plenty of overtime!  With so much of our efforts being focused on our clients' needs as a business transaction, it’s quite easy for us to become desensitized to the emotional component of a real estate deal.  While we are extremely empathetic to our clients' experience throughout a real estate transaction, the reality of being home buyers ourselves has given us a valuable perspective.

Since the beginning of this year we have toured at least a dozen homes, both on and off market, in search for something that relatively fits our primary-residence-turned-future-rental-property model.  Of those homes that we toured, roughly a quarter fit the bill, and we have made offers on.

The trend we’ve seen in our low inventory, high demand market is that pretty much every real estate listing is obtaining multiple offers.  It’s gut-wrenching to know that we are competing on every property we are interested in.  A totally polished home with all the finishes--multiple offers.  A fixer-upper with massive potential--multiple offers.  How about a complete turd of a property--yup, multiple offers.  Similar to how most of our buyer consultations have lead to the inquiry of how to have success in this market, we’re faced with the same question of how the heck do we compete!?

While there are a number of ways to write offers that stand out from the competition, there is no one template to follow.  The factors vary from client to client, are very personal to individual situations, and we tend to spend quite a bit of time helping our clients explore these elements.  Our personal approach has been to set boundaries around the financial component.  Offer writing is far from just putting a number on the contract. Is there going to be an issue with the appraisal value, how competitive are we willing to write the offer price, how about other terms, anything else important to the seller that we should know prior to submitting this offer?

We’ve had these conversations as spouses, business partners, and as Realtors.  While it’s meant being passed up on a few occasions, it’s also true that we are comfortable with the outcomes because we’ve set those boundaries ahead of time.  Like you, our emotions cause us to react to properties. Yet it’s the financial component that determines how we navigate the rest of the process.

I’d encourage you to use us as your local Realtor resource.  We have plenty of day-today experience as Realtors, a track record of providing a five-star experience to our clients, valuable insight as home buyers ourselves, and best of all--a quick conversation won’t cost you a thing!