Home Buyers Always Make This Mistake

House Shopping

Over the last 7 years I’ve been on more than 600 appointments with buyers to view properties.  Each time I’ve taken customers to view a home I always look to see if this time it might be different.  I open the door, welcome them in and look to see if they’re fully prepared for the showing.

While most of my customers arrive on time and all are eager see the home, I haven’t met one who attended an appointment prepared.  It is a reoccurring experience with each customer regardless of Age, income, education or occupation.

As simple as this may sound, I have never seen a buyer attend an appointment with…

A Pen and Pad

While it’s not the ending to the cliff hanger you might have expected, I have yet to meet anyone viewing a property that thought it necessary or appropriate to take notes during a showing.

Perhaps because buyers have grown accustomed to Agents providing information about the property at showings and open houses in the property listing flyers they hand out.

Any information you receive from an Agent will usually highlight generic details about a property that’s easily confirmed, such as; how many bedrooms; type of flooring; number of bathrooms; does it have a backyard; is there a cellar; does the furnace run on gas or oil; what’s the property taxes; etc…

Apart from judging the current owners’ taste in furnishings and decor, a buyer leaves most showings with just enough information to form a critique.

So when they discuss with their family and friends the home they’ve just viewed, most of what’s shared is the last impression the current home owner’s furnishings and decor left on them.

Yes, it’s true.  Whether we want to admit it or not, our family and friends will recount just the experience I described.  And my wife and I are guilty of committing the same home shopping error.  In fact, it took viewing the 22nd property during our search when we realized we may be undermining our own efforts.

Buyers tend to develop a novice level of sophistication while shopping for a home this way.  It usually winds up an unproductive exercise that results in viewing too many properties.  Which is why It’s no surprise that a Buyer will change their home buying criteria during this experience.

However, the real casualty comes when home shoppers find it difficult to distinguish between Price and Value.  After all, It’s not uncommon for a buyer home shopping in this manner to know the Price of every home they’ve seen and the value of none.  Hence they need to take notes at each showing.

But what should you write down?

Ah, now that’s the question.  And it could offer a clue why buyers won’t take notes.

For the sake of our discussion, lets say you’re looking to buy a 2 family brownstone townhouse in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.  You already know the area of the neighborhood you want to purchase in and have scheduled appointments to view 2 properties.  What will you take notes on about each home viewed?

Well, besides the choice in furnishings and decor, you’ll probably note the condition of the interior walls; the floors; the carpets; if there are leaks evident in the ceiling; how old the furnace is and when was it last serviced; the age of the roof and materials used; etc…

Once you’ve compiled all of this and other important information about each home, you’ll sit down and begin comparing the condition of each property against each other.

You don’t have to be a contractor or engineer to conduct simple visual inspections.  You can even use a simple scale to grade the condition (Good, Average, Poor) to note how any of the above appeared during your tour.

By compiling this information, you will become a discriminating home buyer and better capable of determining the VALUE of a home by reviewing its CONDITION in relation to its PRICE.

And you won’t have to wait to read a report by a Home Inspector to arrive at an opinion on your own.

Since I’ve had this reoccurring experience for some time now, I prepared a form to make it easy for my customers to use when they view any property with me.

You can download it by clicking CRG Home Buyer Checklist and see if it makes your home shopping efforts more productive.  My guess is it will for one simple reason…

While you may think you’re buying a house, in truth, you’re buying a building in which you intend on making your home.  Buy right the first time.