Avoiding Common Buyer Mistakes in Des Moines

Greater Des Moines Real Estate Podcast with Betsy Sarcone

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Today we'll discuss some of the most common buyer mistakes. First off, it's very important that you work with a buyer's agent. We work with all of our buyers under exclusive agency, meaning we advise you on everything from start to finish.

Before you even start looking at homes, it is very important that you get pre-approved.

Lately, we've seen a lot of buyers relying on estimates from sites like Zillow. You need an expert to determine the true market value of a property. That way, you can make a good offer.

One lesser known mistake we've seen buyers make in the past is relying heavily on friends and family for advice. I know that people have family members who bought houses or who have been realtors; however, each market is different. You need up-to-date information on the specific market where you are looking to buy.

We do see buyers make some outrageous mistakes that can be very expensive. We always advise our buyers to bring a reasonable offer to the table. A good offer should always be backed by recent market statistics.We have had buyers come to the table thinking they need to offer 20% or 30% less than the list price, when the property is actually priced right for the market.

I can think of one instance in particular when we came in very low with the offer, took a day negotiating with the seller, and during that day, two other offers came in. The buyer ended up spending over list price for the property. It's one of those instances where if we had come to the table with a reasonable offer, they could have gotten the home for up to $10,000 less than what they paid.

We have an exclusive agreement with all of our buyers. We offer education up front before even looking at homes. We do a buyer consultation, where we go through the entire home buying process and go through everything up front. We really want our buyers to be educated before going through the home buying process.

If you are interested in buying a home, or if you have any questions about real estate in general, please give us a call or send us an email. We would love to hear from you!