We are in a buyer’s market with the real estate market collapse.  While that might be obvious, it is much more of a buyer’s market than many realize.  This is what I would call a Super Buyer’s Market.  But it’s not a buyer’s market for any buyer.  Mortgage financing has gotten much more difficult to obtain for new home buyers or buyers with low or even average credit scores.  However, for the buyer with a high credit score and high income and low debt, or even better, buyers with cash, this is a super buyer’s market.

Buyer’s Market in Real Estate Collapse

Buyer’s Market Offers Opportunities

Buyer’s have a unique opportunity right now in Sequim and Port Angeles.  If they are pre-qualified or buying with cash or a very large down payment and good credit and income, they can buy a home below the current fair market value, which is already below the highs of 2005 and 2006.  And if you want to know where some of the best buys are right now, I’ll tell you they are in the higher priced homes.  Homes priced above $600,000 are typically $100,000 to $300,000 below their highs.

Buyer’s Market – Timing is Everything

It may be a buyer’s market, but timing is everything.  It always is.  A buyer looking for a quality home with a great water view, for example, may be in a buyer’s market, but that doesn’t mean they have all the time in the world to buy.  There aren’t very nice listings with great water views, and the best ones are being purchased buy buyers at a rate of about one a month.  Once that nice home is gone, it’s gone for a long time.  This tells me a buyer can’t fool around once they find the ideal home, but it also tells the buyer they can negotiate a very reasonable price.

There is a huge trap for sellers in this market, and I see a seller make a mistake and chase a buyer away about once a month.  When a seller has a buyer who is serious and wants to write an offer, that seller should not start laying down conditions as though this was still a seller’s market.  It’s not, but I have seen several sellers start laying down conditions about closing dates or other details, and buyers in this market simply walk away.

There is one appropriate answer for a seller who has a serious buyer, and here it is:  “How soon would you like to close and how can we accommodate your inspections between now and closing?”  Any other response could literally kill the transaction, and in this market a seller might not see a buyer again for one or two years.

Sellers don’t have to be discouraged, because there still are qualified buyers for nice homes in nice areas that are listed at reasonable prices.  Just be sure that when that one buyer in a hundred comes along that you don’t say or do the wrong thing and chase that buyer away.  I’ve spent a lifetime learning the nuances of not chasing clients away, and putting transactions together so that everyone wins.  This is what I do, and I love doing it.

This is a buyer’s market like none other.

Last Updated on September 4, 2011 by Chuck Marunde