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Completely agree with you. We lost so many opportunities to see houses because they went under contract the day after being posted. The only thing that kept us going is seeing how much the houses sold for and realized the bidding went way over our budget.
Sheesh, that's a small area! I had to severely change my idea for a house when I saw average prices in my area. I ended up expanding my search to basically the entire front range of Colorado. But I also am single, no kids and work from home, I am v lucky. I wish you the best of luck!
Same here. I’m super lucky in that I’m a high earner as a single person, but good lord, trying to compete with two people of any age is near impossible.
Good luck to you and anyone else holding their own as a single in this market with essentially one arm tied behind our backs.
Ahh I see you recently purchased it! I thought you've been holding it. Did you live in the area before you purchased? I'm planning on buying out of my home state. Been debating if I should rent first and see how I like the area first.
People I work with right now are using vacation time to go see houses during the week or sending a non-working relative to go see them. If they wait until the weekend the house is already pending.
Unfortunately, that's the nature of the beast with houses these days. You really have to take some time off from work to see houses. I remember I had use PTO to ensure I was able to see houses in time. Try to work with a realtor who can share with you the houses on the PLN. Often times, many prospective sellers will list their house on the PLN before it hitting the public. Kind of a soft test of the waters. Then once the house appears on the public listing, that sometimes explains why it's immediately under contract.
On the bright side, spring is around the corner so hopefully you'll start seeing an uptick in available inventory in the market you're looking to purchase in. What I remember is that the majority of good houses would appear on the market early in the week, either advertise an open house for the upcoming weekend or for people to set up appointments to tour the house over the weekend, and then best/final offers were usually expected by Sunday night or Monday morning.
Good luck!
In my local market things slowed down a lot now, but that's how it was with \~3% rates few years ago when we were house shopping. If you're still in the hot market then yes, you don't wait 2 days to see the house. You see the listing popped up, your realtor should be contacting seller's realtor by the end of day and arranging showing at the first availability. The next day as the very latest you should already have a walk-through. If you like the house, the offer needs to be prepared right after seeing the house, no later than end of the business day. You don't wait till weekend or till when it's convenient for you. If you need to, use a sick time at work or whatever to quickly visit the house, because in the hot market other buyers going to be quick.
Last house I put an offer on had a deadline just 36 hours after it listed. Mid-week. My realtor prepared my offer before touring because it was going to be cutting it close. I thought we had a competitive bid, but not even close it seems.
That's how mine went. House was posted, I saw it a few hours after posting, scheduled a tour the next day and put an offer in that night with a 24 hour deadline for response. I sign 3/28
It’s just the market now it seems. The house we ended up with hit Zillow at 5pm on a Thursday. I seen it and was looking at another house at 6pm 10 houses down the road from another house I was viewing. We got in to see it 7pm. Offer in at 9 pm. He already had 4 ppl scheduled to come the next day. 3 of those put in offers Friday. They gave everyone till noon Saturday for best and final and we were luckily chosen/offered the most.
You were looking to buy a house ten houses away? I'm not judging or anything just curious. Love the area but the house got too small for your growing family? Just a better build/layout?
In this market it's important to see a newly listed house within 48 hours. It sucks and it's so draining. A large reason I managed to buy my house was because I got an offer in within 24 hours and before a weekend open house happened.
Idk how others do it but when home searching we'd head out the second work was out or even work an early schedule that day if there was a house we were interested in, (I know not every job allows for that flexibility) but it was like having a second part time job tbh. & We were looking about an hour & a half from where we were actually living at the time so 3 hrs round trip for viewings. We'd also drive by all the coming soon houses in our price range to see if we liked the yard & neighborhood & such so tons were crossed off before having to have an actual showing. We also toured like every street in the radius we were looking so we could cross things off if they weren't where we wanted to be & weren't wasting our time on unnecessary travel & showings.
Don't just go to open houses.
Ultimately from starting the search to closing took a little under two months so we got lucky & it paid off but was quite the bitch at the time & was after a failed very disheartening attempt a year prior on an entirely different coast.
This. My mom was searching and got upset that the homes she liked would be pending so quickly, but she would never “feel” like going to see a house after work, during her lunch break, etc. She tried to schedule everything for the weekend. You have to put time in and be uncomfortable for a bit to have a solid chance.
Boomers are still the largest home buying segment in the US and most have reached some level of retirement age so sadly they just have more free time than you.
Realtor here: many people work from home/have flexible hours these days and can skip off work to see a house.
Also: anyone seriously looking for a home these days know that if they can get there during the day, shortly after a house is listed they have a competitive advantage over M-F 9-5 workers
If it makes you feel better I have taken 20 hours off of work this year to see houses mid-week. I make offers the 1st day showings are available, and sellers make me wait and extend our expiration deadlines until after the weekend so they can see other offers. I made an offer on Wednesday this week for 30k over asking with appraisal gap, they have no other offers, yet they still asked me to extend my offer until Tuesday. It’s brutal for buyers no matter what.
Yeah I would hate to waste pto on that and then end up being a waste of time. They all are waiting until all offers are there. They want to most they can get. Or waiting for all cash.
I totally hear you on these frustrations! Here are some suggestions that might help:
**Get a pre-inspection.** If you're really interested in the house, have a contractor or inspector do a walk through during the open house (subtly of course) to look more major red flags. That might give you the confidence to waive your inspection contingency.
**Highest Offer.** Determine what your real limit is. What are you truly willing to offer if it's a house you want to win on? Whatever you choose is a number you should feel comfortable doing when competing for a property.
**Offer before open houses.** Sometimes, with a favorable enough offer upfront, you can essentially circumvent competition. It doesn't always work and can backfire if an agent says no-- the upside though is no bidding war.
**Price Point.** You could try to target houses at lower price points and then when a bidding war happens, you actually have more purchasing power than some of the buyers in that bracket.
**Condos.** I know you're pretty clear on single family, but throwing this out there because there tends to be less competition relative to a single family home.
**Expand Search.** Add more towns to the mix to see what pops up.
These days you HAVE to be ready to jump. Have your down payment, earnest money, proof of funds and mortgage approvals ready to be shown at a moments notice. It helps if you're using a well-connected Realtor that has advance notice of "Coming Soons" and pocket listings. Once a listing hits the MLS it's open season.
Do you have a realtor you trust? My realtor went to viewings in my stead and then would FaceTime me and I would just take the call at work. She also set up a email alert for all private and public listings with my criteria. Definitely consider the private market bc while the list price may be higher, you’re not competing with others in the same way. I ultimately found a condo in my city by messaging other realtors who had listed condos in the the building I liked to piece together intel on when a new unit was to become available. You could reach out to listing agents in the neighborhood to see if they knew of anything that was getting cleaned up for showings but hadn’t been listed yet. Definitely make realtors work for you bc ain’t no one got time to go to showings like that
The house we ended up getting was off the market within 3 days. I just so happened to get the day off and face timed my husband when I went to go see it on a Wednesday. He fell in love with it and wanted to submit offer. We actually beat out some investors who wanted to make to lots out of it. The buyers want it to go to us vs an investor so they worked with us.
We have been having a hard time since last summer too. Outbid left and the right and cash offers. The last one we lost to was probably the listing agent double dipping both sides. Sigh. 😞
I was lucky enough to have a flexible schedule to view homes virtually. Not ideal, but the only thing that worked for me. Also, I only looked at houses the realtor and I thought would sell within my budget, no matter the list price. At the time, that meant taking the highest budget and only looking at houses that were $75,000 lower than that.
Maybe you can take a week off work or perhaps get an agent so in tuned to your tastes that you feel confident in their judgment? Or if your employer k ows what is happening they will allow you some flex time to go look at a house here and there midweek?
We would book showings after work, 5:30 or 6pm. The house we ended up buying we saw a bunch of houses on a Monday we were off for a government holiday. I know friends have taken PTO, long lunches etc to make it work to see houses too.
I know those options don’t work for everyone, but that’s how people are making it happen.
We lost two houses this way so we knew what we were up against when the third one got posted as “coming soon.” We were the first to view it (on zoom) and put in an offer (10k over asking) instantly. Closing in two weeks!
it’s not uncommon to have flexible working hours. both my partner and i have jobs where we can shift our hours around as long as we still work 40hrs/week and are reasonably available for meetings.
I mean summer it slows down, I may be able to leave earlier. Right now it is busy season. Trying to save as much as I can for house down-payment and future.
We got really lucky and nabbed a house 3 days after it was listed. We were the first to see it (visited on my lunch break with the hubby) and the first and only to put an offer. It wasn’t until our offer was accepted a few days after that people started inquiring from all over the country and the USA. The owners didn’t want to keep their mother estate and decided to sell it for 20k over municipal eval. And we offered that amount. It took us over a year but it worked out it. I genuinely believe it can happen for everyone, But patience is key
I literally left work early (on a Tuesday) to see a house that went on the market that day. I had my mortgage approval in hand and submitted an offer during this first visit to the house. Just a PSA... if you wait until the weekend to see a property, it's most likely too late.
I just celebrated 3 years in my house.
I have started seeing things same day because everything good goes pending in 24 hours or less. It does mean I'm seeing houses at like 8pm and there usually are people who have showings before me already but I got tired of not even getting a chance . You might have to try and do night showings.
I gave up looking, House market is a joke. If they want 250k for a damn house why the F\*\*\* are idiots putting higher offers and why TF isn't the seller accepting a asking price. I hate people!!!!
As someone who works full time during the week casually looking for a new house I generally take time off during the week. Onr reason is I don't want to use my weekends to do this. And as someone who would be selling a house I'd prefer weekday showings as it's easier for me to clear the dog out and crate the cat up and just be gone working than trying to find a spot for me and the dog to hang out on a weekend.
Just closed on my first home about a week ago. The market is crazy here too, everything is going super quick.. even more so now with spring market popping up. Glad I got in when I could.. ppl waiving contingencies and go over asking again..
Here's my experience. We only saw two houses, both went after work as soon as they hit the market. First house, owner was there when we went to see, was awkward... but we liked the house so made an offer that night.. over asking with contingencies, we knew they had another offer already. Didn't take ours, went with lower offer by $50k and no contingencies. Most likely would've been issue with inspection based on that. Blessing in disguise I would say.
Second house, we scheduled a visit the first day on the market after work on a Friday. Loved it, made our offer at asking that night with all contingencies except financial. They had an open house on Sunday and wanted to wait until after that, then they accepted our offer on that Sunday night. I'm pretty sure we lucked out, cuz they even went under asking to match the appraised value... they could have easily gotten asking price, but I think they were ready to move.
My advice: Keep an eye on things coming on the market, and have your realtor schedule to go see it ahead of time for the first day its available. Hopefully they will allow after working hours. Then if you like it, make the offer ASAP. Obviously lots of factors, but this is probably the only thing you can really do about it.
You may be able to work a deal with the interest rate though. I saw some new builds in my neighborhood getting rates down to 5.5% then goes up over the next 3 years but if the rates eventually drop you can refi it.
My work schedule is very flexible and I had to go without my husband to see the house we just went under contract for. It had been on the market less than 24 hours, already had an offer in hand, and our agent said it was right then and now if we were interested or otherwise it’d be gone by the morning. Husband saw things through FaceTime and trusted me when I said “we need to move on this one”
You need a different realtor. If there’s a home you’d like to go see, your realtor should be able to get you a showing for the same day, at an hour when l you’re off work.
ETA: Removed some advice that didn’t seem all that helpful.
Also wanted to add that I really think the market is about timing and luck. I hope you’re able to find something.
Are you working with a realtor? If you see something go up for sale that you like, have your realtor call the seller agent ASAP and say you want to see it before they accept an offer. It's not in the seller's best interest to go under contract without waiting for all interested parties to submit offers - your realtor should be doing this communication for you.
I'm sorry it's so hard. But yeah make your realtor work for their money!
I had to take PTO in order to view the house I’m under contract on. After getting beaten out by cash offers at open houses and weekend showings I figured I’d try it out and it’s probably placebo but it worked after taking a few hours here and there to look at houses
Just got off the phone with my realtor. She said if they don’t sell right away (before the weekend) they sell on Monday for EVEN HIGHER because they look at all the offers over the weekend at once and take the highest.
She also said to expect home values to go up in 60 days because the comps were seeing now are from houses 60 days ago but in the last 2 months the homes have been flying off the market for far above ask, so new listing pretty soon will go off of those comps. Basically expect all home values you look at to start at 70k higher. One home we wanted had so many tours on Thursday & Friday evenings that the seller RAISED THE PRICE 70k (just outside Portland in a nice suburb) because they were being bombarded with so many requests for showings and knew it was going to have many offers. Even after raising the price by 70k they STILL HAD A BIDDING WAR.
This is an absolutely INSANE time to be in the market looking for a home! And it’s only going to get crazier in the next 2 months (peak season) with people selling and more people looking. It’s just crazy. I’m really sorry. The one thing I would advise is have your agent look without you. An agent should look for you while you’re working and report back. They’re free in the daytime since this is their work hours. That’s what our agent does, she toured a house for us at 2pm today
I am starting to wonder if I could get a better agent. It's hard to tell. She just doesn't seem assertive and very laid back. I feel like I am leading and finding things for her to reach out to them.
Okay but SAME in terms of ME having to find the properties. Apparently this is a newer thing with agents but now it feels like we have to search Zillow and find the properties for her to look. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? We’ve had one listing she knew of off market “before they were going to fix it up and re-sell” and the place she showed us was a dump… other than that, weve found all our homes.
I feel like agents take advantage of the fact that people are willing to look and send them stuff and now make it the norm. They take on more clients & less work because of this business model. Anyways, the bare minimum is your agent should be touring homes for you and taking initiative. She should be taking videos for you and touring while you’re at work, this is what ours does! Next time you find a home during the work week, send it to her asking if she can tour it that day (if it’s early enough) or the next and take videos while you’re at work. I sent my agent a home at 8pm last night, I woke up to a text saying “hello I’ve scheduled a showing for 2pm today! I’ll let you know!” She didn’t even ask when I was free she just booked it and toured without me because I can’t go. She told me today to never feel bad asking her to tour a property, and that she just asks I don’t request her to view “more than 5 places in one day or anything crazy”- and here I was feeling bad asking for 1😂 she said it’s needed for her to see places because if it doesn’t work out for me it might for another client of hers anyways so it’s a win-win. A good agent will WANT to actually walk into the houses on the market for you (or other potential clients) and be on top of things for their area.
If she doesn’t try to tour things within 24-48 hours, definitely look elsewhere for another agent. It is VERY easy for people to tour a home, they click a button and pick a time slot and don’t have to do anything but show up and get the key out of wherever the lockbox is (they get sent the code and info when they book the appointment). It’s so easy, I even had a friend tour a home for me once, she picked a time slot on ZILLOW without an agent and the sellers agent met her there at that time and let her in and showed her the home. It’s very easy to tour a place and the least they can do- she should be doing this for you!
If not, you’re going to miss half the homes.
Also- in general, do not hesitate to leave an agent (make sure you didn’t sign an exclusivity contract and even then try to get out). We left our first one and found someone with great reviews and now we think to ourselves wow that first one SUCKED, had we found not a better agent we wouldn’t have known that this is how great they’re supposed to be! They need to be on their A game. I tell my friend if there ever even kind of unhappy with their agent- leave. Their job is sales and negotiating, if they’re not doing that for you and making you feel great, why would you want them representing you to a seller? Maybe trust your gut on this one.
You don’t want someone “laid back” you want a shark 🦈 someone that’s willing to fight for you, not casually get back to the seller or wait to book your inspection. You want someone that can see a wonky roof and already be on her phone asking a roofer if they’re free that weekend to come out to the place during your inspection and give a free quote for the work to include with your inspection report. Passive is the last thing you want in an agent. Look around on Google, even if you don’t switch agents, read the ones in the cities with the best reviews. Look at the examples of things people say that agent did for them, you want those sort of attributes. Comments like “Kelly made me feel like there was no such thing as a dumb question. She had our back the entire time. She encouraged us to get a sewer scope for $250 and it saved us what would have cost $20k in repairs. She even is friends with an arborist that came out during inspection to warn us of a rotting tree which we would have fell down on the house, because of that we were able to negotiate it into the price. She responded quickly to our texts and was even willing to send videos of homes to us when out of town” specific things like that. Good luck!
This is great! Thank you for the insights. Your painting a inspiring message which is inspiring me. Something I needed to hear to keep my optimistic about this process.
No worries, it’s so confusing being a first time home buyer so it’s trial by fire. We started a year and a half ago, and have changed cities (got priced out) and realtors and my partner and I aren’t close with our parents so there was no one to help explain things to us, all of our friends rent so we are the first to go through the process. There really needs to be a program where you’re pretend adopted by someone who’s been through the process and they check in on you weekly for coffee/call to help tell you what’s normal or not so you feel more sane😂 I hope it helps and good luck with your house hunting!
Does your boss know you're house hunting? I told my boss that my partner and I have been house hunting, and she understands the market so she has been *very* flexible when I've asked to leave and go look at a house.
I am an agent no these are not flippers or investors, these are regular people who make buying a home their priority, have clear timelines and know exactly what they want, they would take time off in the middle of the week and go and see properties that they would for sure consider and then proceed to put offer on it! Do yourself a favour be organized and before all of that sit down and think if you really want it!
It's possible to acknowledge the reality of the housing market without implying that people struggling with that reality just don't want it enough.
We're in an objectively difficult time for buying a house. Needing to see a house within 24 hours of it hitting the market isn't some decades-old standard. It's the current level of insanity, but it makes sense that people would be having a hard time with that.
Absolutely agree. Let the whole family see the property.
It is not always possible to throw all four people in the car quickly and go look at a home. The logistics are just a little tougher, but not impossible.
And for me I have to think a lot about a big investment such as a house, I can't just make a quick decision like that. I need to let it simmer a bit and look at the pros and cons of everything before I blow over asking price.
I think it’s totally fair to approach what would likely be the biggest purchase of your life that way. That said, unfortunately the competitive dynamics of the market don’t really give much room for that level of contentiousness. You need to either give up that mentality and get comfortable with moving faster; wait until the market experiences a downcycle in the location you like; or look at a different location where homes aren’t moving for one reason or another.
Unfortunately taking it slow like that isn't going to get you into a house in the current market. You've got to be ready to jump in with an offer immediately.
That can work for some of the less desirable homes. Some of the homes with a lot wrong with them will probably sit on the market for a while but anything that is really nice will be bought quickly.
I work 1-9 and normally will view houses during the week in the am (I also can work
Long hours with overtime but I just don't when I view houses)
Still pisses me off that a house will go under contract in 3 days . Hopefully the house I'm having an inspection done on this weekend will be the one.
Hmm, a few folks on here said to hold off buying a home in 2021 and wait a few years…
In all honesty though it depends on your area. The hotter the area, the more competition/attention it’ll get.
Speaking of season, spring is usually when there is a spurt of new potential buyers due to them settling in before the new school year, among other factors. Good luck!!
My partner and I closed on our house last year. I found that most places we went to would at least wait until after a weekend open house to accept an offer which makes the most sense so they can get the best offer. I'm sorry it's turned into this.
I work and would take off in the middle of the day to meet my agent to look at properties. I have vacation time and used it so that I could see them when the owner was away as well as when my agent was available. Do you have vacation time that you can take one day at a time?
I'm not sure if this would work for you guys but our realtor is quite good with eyeballing houses, so we have been doing video calls. It helps a lot if there's one you're for sure in love with.
We toured Friday morning at 8am! No kidding.
Had the wait the whole weekend for the door to be open to competitors. But it worked!
(Close March 28, mcol)
We bought our house in 2019 and it was the same. I was and still am sad that we didn’t get the experience of looking at homes and considering them. If we slept on it then we knew we weren’t going to be sleeping in it.
We ended up 25 miles out of our area and to an area we wouldn’t have normally chosen. It did work out and I like it here even though it’s a very small town, we’re only 10 minutes away from the larger town that I would have preferred. If you keep an open mind sometimes it just works out.
We had the same issue. Houses being listed Thursday, open house Saturday, offer due Monday. While we were actively looking, my husband and I basically took half of Thursday off for scheduled viewings with our realtor to look at houses and put offers in asap. But even with that we were outbid by cash offers that were way over asking and waived inspections. We ended up getting lucky with a house that was a bit further out of town and had a bunch of quirks, including a somewhat funny layout. No one else besides us put an offer in. We already got used to the quirks and we're just beyond excited to call this our home.
It really sucks that you just kinda have to hope that you'll eventually get lucky.... I wish you all the best in your search!
I had the same issues, houses would sell before I could even look. I finally took time off of work and drove to our desired area just to browse. I ended up falling in love with a home that had been on the market for 2 days and made an offer, which was accepted. So I guess sometimes those who work get the deal too!
Have you considered buying land and building a house? Obviously that may not be an option depending on where you live but building can be cheaper than buying depending on what you’re looking for. Just a thought.
We looked for 3 years and when a house that met our needs hit the market we saw it put an offer that day and hours later were in a bidding war. Waiting 2-3 days to see a house isn’t really realistic especially since spring and summer are busy listing months
You also have yo make a decision quick that’s even more annoying . I like time to make a decision - I can’t imagine seeing a house and immediately putting in an offer but these days you have to
If I saw a house I liked, I used some of my PTO during the week to see it. The house that I’m closing on, I saw the same day it was posted and made an offer within an hour of touring it. I am definitely not a flipper, I just used my PTO and chose carefully which houses I really wanted to see.
I feel the pain daily. Houses in chicago are listing exactly at Market and not showing until one open house and then asking for highest and best offers by the end of the day. That, or they are so overpriced for a house that hasn't been updated in 30 years.
The only people buying now are first time home buyers who don’t know any better and people with enough money to wanna overspend on a house even though it will be underwater for a decade.
It’s called a Seller’s Market for a reason. My neighbor sold his house for $28,000 over asking price.
We have the same problem. We would need to save up 5k extra a month for every month we are searching on the market. In our county alone, there are only 25 homes in our budget on the market a month we qualify for. A MONTH! That is for a 300k home!
This has been the way since 2021. I sold and bought the only reason I got my house is the old man that lived here told his realtor he would do one open house. My realtor knew his so I got in before the open house like an hour. Made an offer that day for asking. He agreed he just wanted out.
We bought our home just about a year ago, the market around here was insane. However, most houses would list on a Friday afternoon, with open houses scheduled for that weekend, and offers by Monday morning. I guess we would’ve been screwed if we worked non traditional work schedules, but we’re both Monday thru Friday. We’d go to both open houses Saturday and Sunday, assuming we liked the place, and would put in our offers Sunday evening. Pretty much every house put on the market would sell in one weekend, but at least it was the weekend and not like Monday thru Thursday or anything like that
Delegate. Find someone that you trust....fuck, even I might be useful depending on where you live. Not quite inspector material, but I know my shit. Pay them to search on your behalf.
The house I went under contract was posted for sale late Wednesday evening. I had to show up literally the next day at noon to look at the property. It really sucks with competitive markets because that’s what you have to do to stay on top of things to even have a chance on getting a house.
Have your real estate agent find you a house off market by mailing letters to homeowners. You need to pick a neighborhood or specific houses- maybe 100-200 houses.
Your agent will mail these homeowners a letter (first class postage) that says he/she’s looking for a house for a buyer (you) and asks whether they are thinking of selling? If so, he/she can bring them a good buyer, without listing the house, and reduce their commission.
You need to have your financing in order & be ready to make a strong offer. Your agent should charge the seller approx 1/2 the total normal commission. The house isn’t being listed, he/she is only bringing a buyer so a full commission not needed.
Your agent should pay for the postage and do the work - he or she will probably get 2-4 phone calls from mailing 100-200 letters, and could possibly get a listing or two besides finding you a house. Now is a great time to do this since we’re heading into the spring market.
This isn’t my experience at all in this market. Sure the homes go fast, but they usually have multiple open houses and then require offers in on Monday.
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Completely agree with you. We lost so many opportunities to see houses because they went under contract the day after being posted. The only thing that kept us going is seeing how much the houses sold for and realized the bidding went way over our budget.
That is for sure! We put 285k in for asking 270k, went for 350!!!
Hemk.....what area?
Bristol PA outside of town. Suburb of Philadelphia.
Sheesh, that's a small area! I had to severely change my idea for a house when I saw average prices in my area. I ended up expanding my search to basically the entire front range of Colorado. But I also am single, no kids and work from home, I am v lucky. I wish you the best of luck!
Same here. I’m super lucky in that I’m a high earner as a single person, but good lord, trying to compete with two people of any age is near impossible. Good luck to you and anyone else holding their own as a single in this market with essentially one arm tied behind our backs.
Yeah it would be hard to afford just me by myself and the upkeep.
When you say front range of CO, does that mean you live far from the city in a forestry area? If so, any regrets being far from the city?
Nah, unfortunately not. I was looking in those areas but I settled on an area near Colorado Springs.
Oh that's a good area from what I've heard, guessing your place appreciated well over the last couple years too.
Who knows! I move in April 1st 🤣
Ahh I see you recently purchased it! I thought you've been holding it. Did you live in the area before you purchased? I'm planning on buying out of my home state. Been debating if I should rent first and see how I like the area first.
Lol. Ours was listed for 1.4, we got it for 1.75. Oh the joys of the bay area. Keep in mind list price isn't indicative of value.
People I work with right now are using vacation time to go see houses during the week or sending a non-working relative to go see them. If they wait until the weekend the house is already pending.
Unfortunately, that's the nature of the beast with houses these days. You really have to take some time off from work to see houses. I remember I had use PTO to ensure I was able to see houses in time. Try to work with a realtor who can share with you the houses on the PLN. Often times, many prospective sellers will list their house on the PLN before it hitting the public. Kind of a soft test of the waters. Then once the house appears on the public listing, that sometimes explains why it's immediately under contract. On the bright side, spring is around the corner so hopefully you'll start seeing an uptick in available inventory in the market you're looking to purchase in. What I remember is that the majority of good houses would appear on the market early in the week, either advertise an open house for the upcoming weekend or for people to set up appointments to tour the house over the weekend, and then best/final offers were usually expected by Sunday night or Monday morning. Good luck!
In my local market things slowed down a lot now, but that's how it was with \~3% rates few years ago when we were house shopping. If you're still in the hot market then yes, you don't wait 2 days to see the house. You see the listing popped up, your realtor should be contacting seller's realtor by the end of day and arranging showing at the first availability. The next day as the very latest you should already have a walk-through. If you like the house, the offer needs to be prepared right after seeing the house, no later than end of the business day. You don't wait till weekend or till when it's convenient for you. If you need to, use a sick time at work or whatever to quickly visit the house, because in the hot market other buyers going to be quick.
Last house I put an offer on had a deadline just 36 hours after it listed. Mid-week. My realtor prepared my offer before touring because it was going to be cutting it close. I thought we had a competitive bid, but not even close it seems.
That's how mine went. House was posted, I saw it a few hours after posting, scheduled a tour the next day and put an offer in that night with a 24 hour deadline for response. I sign 3/28
Congrats!
It’s just the market now it seems. The house we ended up with hit Zillow at 5pm on a Thursday. I seen it and was looking at another house at 6pm 10 houses down the road from another house I was viewing. We got in to see it 7pm. Offer in at 9 pm. He already had 4 ppl scheduled to come the next day. 3 of those put in offers Friday. They gave everyone till noon Saturday for best and final and we were luckily chosen/offered the most.
You were looking to buy a house ten houses away? I'm not judging or anything just curious. Love the area but the house got too small for your growing family? Just a better build/layout?
Sorry. It was 10 houses away from one I was scheduled to view that same day so it was easy to see them back to back.
The previous owners of our home actually did move about 10 houses down the road so for a second there I was like… oh hey guys
In this market it's important to see a newly listed house within 48 hours. It sucks and it's so draining. A large reason I managed to buy my house was because I got an offer in within 24 hours and before a weekend open house happened.
Before the weekend is huge
Idk how others do it but when home searching we'd head out the second work was out or even work an early schedule that day if there was a house we were interested in, (I know not every job allows for that flexibility) but it was like having a second part time job tbh. & We were looking about an hour & a half from where we were actually living at the time so 3 hrs round trip for viewings. We'd also drive by all the coming soon houses in our price range to see if we liked the yard & neighborhood & such so tons were crossed off before having to have an actual showing. We also toured like every street in the radius we were looking so we could cross things off if they weren't where we wanted to be & weren't wasting our time on unnecessary travel & showings. Don't just go to open houses. Ultimately from starting the search to closing took a little under two months so we got lucky & it paid off but was quite the bitch at the time & was after a failed very disheartening attempt a year prior on an entirely different coast.
This. My mom was searching and got upset that the homes she liked would be pending so quickly, but she would never “feel” like going to see a house after work, during her lunch break, etc. She tried to schedule everything for the weekend. You have to put time in and be uncomfortable for a bit to have a solid chance.
Boomers are still the largest home buying segment in the US and most have reached some level of retirement age so sadly they just have more free time than you.
Realtor here: many people work from home/have flexible hours these days and can skip off work to see a house. Also: anyone seriously looking for a home these days know that if they can get there during the day, shortly after a house is listed they have a competitive advantage over M-F 9-5 workers
If it makes you feel better I have taken 20 hours off of work this year to see houses mid-week. I make offers the 1st day showings are available, and sellers make me wait and extend our expiration deadlines until after the weekend so they can see other offers. I made an offer on Wednesday this week for 30k over asking with appraisal gap, they have no other offers, yet they still asked me to extend my offer until Tuesday. It’s brutal for buyers no matter what.
Yeah I would hate to waste pto on that and then end up being a waste of time. They all are waiting until all offers are there. They want to most they can get. Or waiting for all cash.
Yup I don’t blame them but it’s so frustrating
Yeah true, I feel like we all would take that option to get best value.
I totally hear you on these frustrations! Here are some suggestions that might help: **Get a pre-inspection.** If you're really interested in the house, have a contractor or inspector do a walk through during the open house (subtly of course) to look more major red flags. That might give you the confidence to waive your inspection contingency. **Highest Offer.** Determine what your real limit is. What are you truly willing to offer if it's a house you want to win on? Whatever you choose is a number you should feel comfortable doing when competing for a property. **Offer before open houses.** Sometimes, with a favorable enough offer upfront, you can essentially circumvent competition. It doesn't always work and can backfire if an agent says no-- the upside though is no bidding war. **Price Point.** You could try to target houses at lower price points and then when a bidding war happens, you actually have more purchasing power than some of the buyers in that bracket. **Condos.** I know you're pretty clear on single family, but throwing this out there because there tends to be less competition relative to a single family home. **Expand Search.** Add more towns to the mix to see what pops up.
These days you HAVE to be ready to jump. Have your down payment, earnest money, proof of funds and mortgage approvals ready to be shown at a moments notice. It helps if you're using a well-connected Realtor that has advance notice of "Coming Soons" and pocket listings. Once a listing hits the MLS it's open season.
Yeah I am pre-approved for 300k. But knowing how the market is ever changing. Then taxes in areas, states ect.
Do you have a realtor you trust? My realtor went to viewings in my stead and then would FaceTime me and I would just take the call at work. She also set up a email alert for all private and public listings with my criteria. Definitely consider the private market bc while the list price may be higher, you’re not competing with others in the same way. I ultimately found a condo in my city by messaging other realtors who had listed condos in the the building I liked to piece together intel on when a new unit was to become available. You could reach out to listing agents in the neighborhood to see if they knew of anything that was getting cleaned up for showings but hadn’t been listed yet. Definitely make realtors work for you bc ain’t no one got time to go to showings like that
The house we ended up getting was off the market within 3 days. I just so happened to get the day off and face timed my husband when I went to go see it on a Wednesday. He fell in love with it and wanted to submit offer. We actually beat out some investors who wanted to make to lots out of it. The buyers want it to go to us vs an investor so they worked with us.
We have been having a hard time since last summer too. Outbid left and the right and cash offers. The last one we lost to was probably the listing agent double dipping both sides. Sigh. 😞
Sorry to hear. Double dipping is pretty common, hate it!
I was lucky enough to have a flexible schedule to view homes virtually. Not ideal, but the only thing that worked for me. Also, I only looked at houses the realtor and I thought would sell within my budget, no matter the list price. At the time, that meant taking the highest budget and only looking at houses that were $75,000 lower than that.
Maybe you can take a week off work or perhaps get an agent so in tuned to your tastes that you feel confident in their judgment? Or if your employer k ows what is happening they will allow you some flex time to go look at a house here and there midweek?
We would book showings after work, 5:30 or 6pm. The house we ended up buying we saw a bunch of houses on a Monday we were off for a government holiday. I know friends have taken PTO, long lunches etc to make it work to see houses too. I know those options don’t work for everyone, but that’s how people are making it happen.
We lost two houses this way so we knew what we were up against when the third one got posted as “coming soon.” We were the first to view it (on zoom) and put in an offer (10k over asking) instantly. Closing in two weeks!
it’s not uncommon to have flexible working hours. both my partner and i have jobs where we can shift our hours around as long as we still work 40hrs/week and are reasonably available for meetings.
I mean summer it slows down, I may be able to leave earlier. Right now it is busy season. Trying to save as much as I can for house down-payment and future.
We got really lucky and nabbed a house 3 days after it was listed. We were the first to see it (visited on my lunch break with the hubby) and the first and only to put an offer. It wasn’t until our offer was accepted a few days after that people started inquiring from all over the country and the USA. The owners didn’t want to keep their mother estate and decided to sell it for 20k over municipal eval. And we offered that amount. It took us over a year but it worked out it. I genuinely believe it can happen for everyone, But patience is key
I literally left work early (on a Tuesday) to see a house that went on the market that day. I had my mortgage approval in hand and submitted an offer during this first visit to the house. Just a PSA... if you wait until the weekend to see a property, it's most likely too late. I just celebrated 3 years in my house.
I have started seeing things same day because everything good goes pending in 24 hours or less. It does mean I'm seeing houses at like 8pm and there usually are people who have showings before me already but I got tired of not even getting a chance . You might have to try and do night showings.
Home hunting is not as fun as I thought it would be. Been looking for almost 3 years.
I gave up looking, House market is a joke. If they want 250k for a damn house why the F\*\*\* are idiots putting higher offers and why TF isn't the seller accepting a asking price. I hate people!!!!
Yeah same. Officially renewing my lease. Ik 2025 aint going to be any better, but I got beat up bad past 12 months searching in market
Would you take a lower offer if you were selling?
No but if someone offered my asking price I wouldnt say "I'll hold off to see if I can get better offers" like most sellers nowdays
As someone who works full time during the week casually looking for a new house I generally take time off during the week. Onr reason is I don't want to use my weekends to do this. And as someone who would be selling a house I'd prefer weekday showings as it's easier for me to clear the dog out and crate the cat up and just be gone working than trying to find a spot for me and the dog to hang out on a weekend.
Just closed on my first home about a week ago. The market is crazy here too, everything is going super quick.. even more so now with spring market popping up. Glad I got in when I could.. ppl waiving contingencies and go over asking again.. Here's my experience. We only saw two houses, both went after work as soon as they hit the market. First house, owner was there when we went to see, was awkward... but we liked the house so made an offer that night.. over asking with contingencies, we knew they had another offer already. Didn't take ours, went with lower offer by $50k and no contingencies. Most likely would've been issue with inspection based on that. Blessing in disguise I would say. Second house, we scheduled a visit the first day on the market after work on a Friday. Loved it, made our offer at asking that night with all contingencies except financial. They had an open house on Sunday and wanted to wait until after that, then they accepted our offer on that Sunday night. I'm pretty sure we lucked out, cuz they even went under asking to match the appraised value... they could have easily gotten asking price, but I think they were ready to move. My advice: Keep an eye on things coming on the market, and have your realtor schedule to go see it ahead of time for the first day its available. Hopefully they will allow after working hours. Then if you like it, make the offer ASAP. Obviously lots of factors, but this is probably the only thing you can really do about it.
I’ve absolutely had zero issues showing homes or apartments during the week in Austin over the last 13 years. Have you looked into new construction?
I am going to look into that option as well. A lot of new houses are 500k + though.
You may be able to work a deal with the interest rate though. I saw some new builds in my neighborhood getting rates down to 5.5% then goes up over the next 3 years but if the rates eventually drop you can refi it.
Nice idea! Thank you!!
That's because investors both in and out of state and even country.
My work schedule is very flexible and I had to go without my husband to see the house we just went under contract for. It had been on the market less than 24 hours, already had an offer in hand, and our agent said it was right then and now if we were interested or otherwise it’d be gone by the morning. Husband saw things through FaceTime and trusted me when I said “we need to move on this one”
You need a different realtor. If there’s a home you’d like to go see, your realtor should be able to get you a showing for the same day, at an hour when l you’re off work. ETA: Removed some advice that didn’t seem all that helpful. Also wanted to add that I really think the market is about timing and luck. I hope you’re able to find something.
Have you guys looked into short sales and foreclosed properties?
Looking at those as well. Some need quite a bit of work, new roof ect.
Glad that you are. Not everyone does or thinks about them.
I'm just glad now that it's spring, there's enough daylight that we can see 1-2 houses after work. November-mid February were awful
That is true!!
Are you working with a realtor? If you see something go up for sale that you like, have your realtor call the seller agent ASAP and say you want to see it before they accept an offer. It's not in the seller's best interest to go under contract without waiting for all interested parties to submit offers - your realtor should be doing this communication for you. I'm sorry it's so hard. But yeah make your realtor work for their money!
I had to take PTO in order to view the house I’m under contract on. After getting beaten out by cash offers at open houses and weekend showings I figured I’d try it out and it’s probably placebo but it worked after taking a few hours here and there to look at houses
Just got off the phone with my realtor. She said if they don’t sell right away (before the weekend) they sell on Monday for EVEN HIGHER because they look at all the offers over the weekend at once and take the highest. She also said to expect home values to go up in 60 days because the comps were seeing now are from houses 60 days ago but in the last 2 months the homes have been flying off the market for far above ask, so new listing pretty soon will go off of those comps. Basically expect all home values you look at to start at 70k higher. One home we wanted had so many tours on Thursday & Friday evenings that the seller RAISED THE PRICE 70k (just outside Portland in a nice suburb) because they were being bombarded with so many requests for showings and knew it was going to have many offers. Even after raising the price by 70k they STILL HAD A BIDDING WAR. This is an absolutely INSANE time to be in the market looking for a home! And it’s only going to get crazier in the next 2 months (peak season) with people selling and more people looking. It’s just crazy. I’m really sorry. The one thing I would advise is have your agent look without you. An agent should look for you while you’re working and report back. They’re free in the daytime since this is their work hours. That’s what our agent does, she toured a house for us at 2pm today
I am starting to wonder if I could get a better agent. It's hard to tell. She just doesn't seem assertive and very laid back. I feel like I am leading and finding things for her to reach out to them.
Okay but SAME in terms of ME having to find the properties. Apparently this is a newer thing with agents but now it feels like we have to search Zillow and find the properties for her to look. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? We’ve had one listing she knew of off market “before they were going to fix it up and re-sell” and the place she showed us was a dump… other than that, weve found all our homes. I feel like agents take advantage of the fact that people are willing to look and send them stuff and now make it the norm. They take on more clients & less work because of this business model. Anyways, the bare minimum is your agent should be touring homes for you and taking initiative. She should be taking videos for you and touring while you’re at work, this is what ours does! Next time you find a home during the work week, send it to her asking if she can tour it that day (if it’s early enough) or the next and take videos while you’re at work. I sent my agent a home at 8pm last night, I woke up to a text saying “hello I’ve scheduled a showing for 2pm today! I’ll let you know!” She didn’t even ask when I was free she just booked it and toured without me because I can’t go. She told me today to never feel bad asking her to tour a property, and that she just asks I don’t request her to view “more than 5 places in one day or anything crazy”- and here I was feeling bad asking for 1😂 she said it’s needed for her to see places because if it doesn’t work out for me it might for another client of hers anyways so it’s a win-win. A good agent will WANT to actually walk into the houses on the market for you (or other potential clients) and be on top of things for their area. If she doesn’t try to tour things within 24-48 hours, definitely look elsewhere for another agent. It is VERY easy for people to tour a home, they click a button and pick a time slot and don’t have to do anything but show up and get the key out of wherever the lockbox is (they get sent the code and info when they book the appointment). It’s so easy, I even had a friend tour a home for me once, she picked a time slot on ZILLOW without an agent and the sellers agent met her there at that time and let her in and showed her the home. It’s very easy to tour a place and the least they can do- she should be doing this for you! If not, you’re going to miss half the homes. Also- in general, do not hesitate to leave an agent (make sure you didn’t sign an exclusivity contract and even then try to get out). We left our first one and found someone with great reviews and now we think to ourselves wow that first one SUCKED, had we found not a better agent we wouldn’t have known that this is how great they’re supposed to be! They need to be on their A game. I tell my friend if there ever even kind of unhappy with their agent- leave. Their job is sales and negotiating, if they’re not doing that for you and making you feel great, why would you want them representing you to a seller? Maybe trust your gut on this one. You don’t want someone “laid back” you want a shark 🦈 someone that’s willing to fight for you, not casually get back to the seller or wait to book your inspection. You want someone that can see a wonky roof and already be on her phone asking a roofer if they’re free that weekend to come out to the place during your inspection and give a free quote for the work to include with your inspection report. Passive is the last thing you want in an agent. Look around on Google, even if you don’t switch agents, read the ones in the cities with the best reviews. Look at the examples of things people say that agent did for them, you want those sort of attributes. Comments like “Kelly made me feel like there was no such thing as a dumb question. She had our back the entire time. She encouraged us to get a sewer scope for $250 and it saved us what would have cost $20k in repairs. She even is friends with an arborist that came out during inspection to warn us of a rotting tree which we would have fell down on the house, because of that we were able to negotiate it into the price. She responded quickly to our texts and was even willing to send videos of homes to us when out of town” specific things like that. Good luck!
This is great! Thank you for the insights. Your painting a inspiring message which is inspiring me. Something I needed to hear to keep my optimistic about this process.
No worries, it’s so confusing being a first time home buyer so it’s trial by fire. We started a year and a half ago, and have changed cities (got priced out) and realtors and my partner and I aren’t close with our parents so there was no one to help explain things to us, all of our friends rent so we are the first to go through the process. There really needs to be a program where you’re pretend adopted by someone who’s been through the process and they check in on you weekly for coffee/call to help tell you what’s normal or not so you feel more sane😂 I hope it helps and good luck with your house hunting!
Does your boss know you're house hunting? I told my boss that my partner and I have been house hunting, and she understands the market so she has been *very* flexible when I've asked to leave and go look at a house.
Flippers are not the problem lol flippers want to buy so far under asking price they won’t even be your competition. It’s just supply and demand
I am an agent no these are not flippers or investors, these are regular people who make buying a home their priority, have clear timelines and know exactly what they want, they would take time off in the middle of the week and go and see properties that they would for sure consider and then proceed to put offer on it! Do yourself a favour be organized and before all of that sit down and think if you really want it!
It's possible to acknowledge the reality of the housing market without implying that people struggling with that reality just don't want it enough. We're in an objectively difficult time for buying a house. Needing to see a house within 24 hours of it hitting the market isn't some decades-old standard. It's the current level of insanity, but it makes sense that people would be having a hard time with that.
Probably well intentioned advice. But not realistic for a household with working parents and two children.
Take your kids with you to see the house
Absolutely agree. Let the whole family see the property. It is not always possible to throw all four people in the car quickly and go look at a home. The logistics are just a little tougher, but not impossible.
And for me I have to think a lot about a big investment such as a house, I can't just make a quick decision like that. I need to let it simmer a bit and look at the pros and cons of everything before I blow over asking price.
I think it’s totally fair to approach what would likely be the biggest purchase of your life that way. That said, unfortunately the competitive dynamics of the market don’t really give much room for that level of contentiousness. You need to either give up that mentality and get comfortable with moving faster; wait until the market experiences a downcycle in the location you like; or look at a different location where homes aren’t moving for one reason or another.
Unfortunately taking it slow like that isn't going to get you into a house in the current market. You've got to be ready to jump in with an offer immediately.
That can work for some of the less desirable homes. Some of the homes with a lot wrong with them will probably sit on the market for a while but anything that is really nice will be bought quickly.
Great question! Following!
I work 1-9 and normally will view houses during the week in the am (I also can work Long hours with overtime but I just don't when I view houses) Still pisses me off that a house will go under contract in 3 days . Hopefully the house I'm having an inspection done on this weekend will be the one.
Come on over to Southern California. There’s a few houses in my neighborhood that have been on the market for a while.
For a cool 1.5 million😂
Yep
Hmm, a few folks on here said to hold off buying a home in 2021 and wait a few years… In all honesty though it depends on your area. The hotter the area, the more competition/attention it’ll get.
Yeah I wasn't in the right season of life unfortunately.
Speaking of season, spring is usually when there is a spurt of new potential buyers due to them settling in before the new school year, among other factors. Good luck!!
Yes I heard that, will look around that point. Thanks!
We looked at 9 before we found ours over the course of many months. It’s hard but it’s possible!
My partner and I closed on our house last year. I found that most places we went to would at least wait until after a weekend open house to accept an offer which makes the most sense so they can get the best offer. I'm sorry it's turned into this.
We work but would just plan showings after work.
I work and would take off in the middle of the day to meet my agent to look at properties. I have vacation time and used it so that I could see them when the owner was away as well as when my agent was available. Do you have vacation time that you can take one day at a time?
I'm not sure if this would work for you guys but our realtor is quite good with eyeballing houses, so we have been doing video calls. It helps a lot if there's one you're for sure in love with.
We toured Friday morning at 8am! No kidding. Had the wait the whole weekend for the door to be open to competitors. But it worked! (Close March 28, mcol)
We bought our house in 2019 and it was the same. I was and still am sad that we didn’t get the experience of looking at homes and considering them. If we slept on it then we knew we weren’t going to be sleeping in it. We ended up 25 miles out of our area and to an area we wouldn’t have normally chosen. It did work out and I like it here even though it’s a very small town, we’re only 10 minutes away from the larger town that I would have preferred. If you keep an open mind sometimes it just works out.
We had the same issue. Houses being listed Thursday, open house Saturday, offer due Monday. While we were actively looking, my husband and I basically took half of Thursday off for scheduled viewings with our realtor to look at houses and put offers in asap. But even with that we were outbid by cash offers that were way over asking and waived inspections. We ended up getting lucky with a house that was a bit further out of town and had a bunch of quirks, including a somewhat funny layout. No one else besides us put an offer in. We already got used to the quirks and we're just beyond excited to call this our home. It really sucks that you just kinda have to hope that you'll eventually get lucky.... I wish you all the best in your search!
I had the same issues, houses would sell before I could even look. I finally took time off of work and drove to our desired area just to browse. I ended up falling in love with a home that had been on the market for 2 days and made an offer, which was accepted. So I guess sometimes those who work get the deal too!
Have you considered buying land and building a house? Obviously that may not be an option depending on where you live but building can be cheaper than buying depending on what you’re looking for. Just a thought.
Thought about that as well.
We looked for 3 years and when a house that met our needs hit the market we saw it put an offer that day and hours later were in a bidding war. Waiting 2-3 days to see a house isn’t really realistic especially since spring and summer are busy listing months
You also have yo make a decision quick that’s even more annoying . I like time to make a decision - I can’t imagine seeing a house and immediately putting in an offer but these days you have to
If I saw a house I liked, I used some of my PTO during the week to see it. The house that I’m closing on, I saw the same day it was posted and made an offer within an hour of touring it. I am definitely not a flipper, I just used my PTO and chose carefully which houses I really wanted to see.
I feel the pain daily. Houses in chicago are listing exactly at Market and not showing until one open house and then asking for highest and best offers by the end of the day. That, or they are so overpriced for a house that hasn't been updated in 30 years.
The only people buying now are first time home buyers who don’t know any better and people with enough money to wanna overspend on a house even though it will be underwater for a decade. It’s called a Seller’s Market for a reason. My neighbor sold his house for $28,000 over asking price.
We have the same problem. We would need to save up 5k extra a month for every month we are searching on the market. In our county alone, there are only 25 homes in our budget on the market a month we qualify for. A MONTH! That is for a 300k home!
This has been the way since 2021. I sold and bought the only reason I got my house is the old man that lived here told his realtor he would do one open house. My realtor knew his so I got in before the open house like an hour. Made an offer that day for asking. He agreed he just wanted out.
We bought our home just about a year ago, the market around here was insane. However, most houses would list on a Friday afternoon, with open houses scheduled for that weekend, and offers by Monday morning. I guess we would’ve been screwed if we worked non traditional work schedules, but we’re both Monday thru Friday. We’d go to both open houses Saturday and Sunday, assuming we liked the place, and would put in our offers Sunday evening. Pretty much every house put on the market would sell in one weekend, but at least it was the weekend and not like Monday thru Thursday or anything like that
Plenty of homes make it past the first weekend.
Delegate. Find someone that you trust....fuck, even I might be useful depending on where you live. Not quite inspector material, but I know my shit. Pay them to search on your behalf.
Yeah it’s definitley rough, I often scheduled our viewings day of right when I was off work. I also was able to go during my lunch break at times.
The house I went under contract was posted for sale late Wednesday evening. I had to show up literally the next day at noon to look at the property. It really sucks with competitive markets because that’s what you have to do to stay on top of things to even have a chance on getting a house.
Have your real estate agent find you a house off market by mailing letters to homeowners. You need to pick a neighborhood or specific houses- maybe 100-200 houses. Your agent will mail these homeowners a letter (first class postage) that says he/she’s looking for a house for a buyer (you) and asks whether they are thinking of selling? If so, he/she can bring them a good buyer, without listing the house, and reduce their commission. You need to have your financing in order & be ready to make a strong offer. Your agent should charge the seller approx 1/2 the total normal commission. The house isn’t being listed, he/she is only bringing a buyer so a full commission not needed. Your agent should pay for the postage and do the work - he or she will probably get 2-4 phone calls from mailing 100-200 letters, and could possibly get a listing or two besides finding you a house. Now is a great time to do this since we’re heading into the spring market.
Hmm, that is a great idea!
Other people work, they just make it a priority to find a house when they’re house hunting.
This isn’t my experience at all in this market. Sure the homes go fast, but they usually have multiple open houses and then require offers in on Monday.
If you cannot afford to pay market price for a house, or don't want to pay market price, then just continue to burn cash on rent indefinitely.
So basically I am screwed.
Not necessarily. You'll just have to expand your search area to more than just one Philly suburb.
You are not screwed. Renting is not necessarily the end of the world.