December 18, 2020
If you're like most would-be home buyers, you may want to take advantage of today’s historic low interest rates. Perhaps you’ve lost bidding wars on home after home and feel defeated; or maybe you’ve fallen in love with a dream home that isn’t on the market. If this is your story, I encourage you to not give up on your dream of home ownership just yet. I can work with you to widen the selection by going off-market. These are homes not currently listed on the MLS or for-sale-by-owner. Here are some outside the MLS-box ideas:
Drive through your desired neighborhood and identify homes that you love.
Try looking up houses that you lost out on buying years ago. It’s possible that their lifestyles have since changed – marriage, divorce, job change, more kids, empty-nesters, retirement - they may now be ready to move on.
Work with a real estate agent to uncover homes that have been taken off the market that didn’t sell. Selling a home is stressful, take the stress out of the sellers experience by coming to them – and therefore become the only bidder. The owners could have pulled the listing because they didn’t receive the offers they wanted, they could have been unhappy with listing agent or their commissions, or their life circumstances changed. Addressing those reasons in your offer improves your chances of it being accepted.
Websites like Zillow and Trulia let you set up alerts for properties that you like. Zillow has a “Make Me Move” feature where owners list their dream price for a property. Your off-market dream home could be on that list, which at least tells you that the owner has some interest in selling.
Don’t think that an agent can help you find a home that isn’t already for sale? Think again! Agents are often aware of upcoming listings in their brokerage or in the neighborhoods they serve. Armed with your criteria, they can network with other agents to jump on a listing before it’s actually on the market and avoid a bidding war.
A vacant property presents more of a challenge. If the owner died intestate (without a will) the house could be in probate, the city might have condemned the property, or it could be in litigation or foreclosure. Your real estate agent can obtain this information for you.
Stay on top of the market during this exciting time in real estate. If you have questions about buying or selling a home, please give me a call! Tracy Curtis, Coldwell Banker Realty, 415-910-0599. #marinrealestate #coldwellbankerrealty #realtor #marincounty #tracycurtis