Selling Your Home Today...What Are Buyers Looking For?

There was an article I read the other day that had me thinking back to the past few buyers I had helped find a home. The article was talking about how a larger percentage of buyers are looking for homes in musuem" condition. Basically, that the house needed nothing and was ready to move in. But is that the reality of the market today?

Foreclosed homes and short sales make up about 36% of all home sales in 2010. Those homes are far from move in condition when they were sold. The extent of work needed on the homes dictated the price they were sold for though. I think you have three types of buyers out there looking at homes today.

First, is the buyer looking for the home they can just walk into and move their items in and do nothing (or close to nothing) to get the home where they want it. This market of buyers are willing to pay the small difference in a home price for a home that they feel is ready for them to move into. There are still a lot of homes like that out there today for buyers to choose from. A lot of buyers are going toward those homes after lookign at foreclsoed and short sale homes becuase fo the amount of work they needed. their realization si they can get this home down the street for X amount more and it justifies the cost of what it would be to repair the other one.

Second, is the buyer looking for a home that needs cosmetic repairs. By this I mean, painting on the walls, cleaning the carpet, small minor little fixes. They are looking for a good deal and do not mind doing some minor work if it can save them some money. This seems to be the largest portion of buyers I have dealt with recently. They would consider a house ready to move in. But the paint scheme, flooring and everything would have to be exactly what they want or they will pass on the house.

Third, is the buyer looking to buy a home that needs repairs. The extent of repairs needed are dictated by the price of the house and the amount of work they are willing to do to the house or can get financed when buying the house. This group tends to mostly be investors or laborers who are in the construction, electrical, or plumbing fields. They want to do the work themselves to get the hosue to the standards they want. Their looking for a great deal, knowing that the cost of getting the home up is more based on materials than labor. They are willing to do "sweat equity". Basically buy the materials and do the work themselves.

The questions when you are putting your home on the market is where does it fall in thsoe three categotries? Based on that, pricing the home according to that will enhance the likelihood of your home selling in a timely fashion.

Dave dicecco
Realtor/Broker
www.davedicecco.com