HAVE YOU SEEN ENOUGH OF THE WRONG HOMES?

When I am in my initial consultation with buyers we always talk about the process of viewing homes and how I can most conveniently accommodate their schedules.  Sometimes the search is a quick one but more often than not it is a process that will take multiple outings to find just the right home. 

It is not at all uncommon to have one member of a family be “more available” than another and they may have already worked out between them to have this person with the easier schedule do the majority of the looking and then take the other member(s) to look only at prescreened alternatives.  This always sets off alarm bells in my mind.  I have learned after over 40 years of showing homes that the person who has not been on ALL these outings is really at a serious disadvantage!  THEY HAVEN’T SEEN ENOUGH OF THE WRONG HOMES!”  Sounds kind of counter-intuitive, right?  Not so fast.

Viewing homes is a big learning experience.  ONLY through going out and actually visiting properties can you get any feeling for value.  Pictures on line are designed to “get you out there” and naturally focus on the best elements.  Don’t get me wrong, they are invaluable to begin the education process they just fall far from completing that education.  Only through going through the actual process of going through a number of seemingly potential properties can a buyer get a good feel for value and how a home fits their needs.

The member only seeing the screened properties gets only a partial exposure or partial education of what is out there and whether or not their expectations can be met in the value range they are exploring.  When the better “educated” family member has found something that appears to be a great value the lesser educated member is not fully equipped to appreciate or recognize that value because “THEY HAVEN’T SEEN ENOUGH OF THE WRONG HOMES TO RECOGNIZE THE RIGHT ONE”.

Just this morning I had this pounded into my head, again!  I “think” we finally found the right home at a great value.  The more “educated” family member recognized it right away and brought out the less experienced looker.  They didn’t see it at all the same way and hesitated for a week.  When they finally decided to give it another look it was gone!  This was a great enough value that they should have jumped on it right away but because of an understood reticence by the less experienced buyer they missed it.

Normally I enjoy being proven right, this time there was not satisfaction in it.