It isn’t difficult to remember when buyers, hats in hand, were making offers on homes that tried every possible way to win over the sellers’ favor.
“We promise to take good care of the vegetable garden you put so much work into,” one potential buyer might write. Or, “We love great novels as much as you do, and we’ll get a lot of profound enjoyment from the library remodel you put into the fourth bedroom.”
That was a seller’s market. Buyers found themselves competing with other buyers who, with offers in hand, wanted to win the right to purchase the home. Today, though, we’re still in the midst of a buyer’s market in which sellers will often go to unusual lengths to accommodate the needs and wishes of buyers.
Is one market better than another? It depends on what you need to accomplish.
If you simply need to sell your home and move into a cave in the Himalayas, you’re probably worse off in a buyer’s market than you would be in a seller’s market. But if you need to sell your home to buy a replacement home, the market may balance the good with the bad. It may be somewhat difficult in a buyer’s market to get your home sold, but it will be that much easier — and less costly — to buy your next home in this buyer’s market.
It is a matter of knowing how best to approach the market, just as it is a matter of knowing the best things to say to buyers and to sellers. Those statements change, as you can see.
What doesn’t change, though, is your need for able guidance from your real estate professional, who represents buyers and sellers week in and week out and is aware of how best to approach each market — and each individual offer situation.
— Paul Suding, a real estate agent with Cool Santa Barbara Homes and Village Properties, is president of the Santa Barbara Association of Realtors. He can be contacted at paul@villagesite.com or 805.455.8055.