Often, bargains can also be found when a seller is under pressure. The seller’s broker won’t—or shouldn’t—reveal that the house is near foreclosure or the seller is going bankrupt. But you can see this for yourself sometimes—for example, in a divorce situation, or if she’s on the new job in Chicago and he’s here alone with three kids. Such sellers may be ready to deal and ready to trade a price concession for a quick sale. Where the owner has died, an executor is sometimes amenable to any reasonable offer in return for a prompt, trouble-free winding up of the estate. An older person, suspicious of workers and short on cash, may not want to bring a long-time home up to standards required by a lending institution; sometimes a broker can help you work out a mutually beneficial arrangement to solve that impasse. With new homes, bargains can generally be found when the builder has inventory homes available or is at the tail end of a new home project. An inventory home is one that the builder has nearly or completely finished, forcing the builder into a sizable monthly mortgage payment on the unit. Sometimes these are homes the builder has built on speculation and will sell quickly. Other times it is a home some other buyer has ordered, only to cancel due to unforeseen circumstances, leaving the builder to cope with reselling it. The house could have a location or lot size that is not popular with other buyers, or could have had upgrades installed by its previous buyer that don’t suit a large cross-section of homebuyers. Above all, the way to buy a bargain is to buy promptly. The buying public is a sensitive judge of value. A house that is mistakenly underpriced will be snapped up quickly. For that reason, it’s sensible to invest some time in learning the market and helpful to locate a broker in whose advice you have confidence. |
