We all have places in St. Louis where we’d like to live.  Sometimes, we can just use a direction, North, South, etc.  We can be a little more specific if we want Affton, Webster Groves, or Clayton.  Oftentimes, we can narrow it down to a single neighborhood.  This is where things can get tricky for even the most experienced real estate agent.  Turns out, if you want to buy a home in your dream neighborhood, you might have to wait for a while.

Waiting/Hunting

Have you ever heard someone use the phrase “House Hunting?”  This isn’t too far from the reality of finding your dream home.  There’s a process.  When you’ve decided on a neighborhood, you now have to wait for a house to show itself.  Sure, there could be 4 or 5 houses for sale in that neighborhood right now, but you want the best one.

When we have buyers who know where they want to live, but we’ve seen all the houses currently listed for sale, we send letters to the homeowners in that neighborhood.  Homeowners respond in three different ways, mostly.

  1. They ignore the letter.
  2. They call and name a price over the phone that isn’t close to a reasonable selling price.
  3. They call and ask for more details.

In our case, for our buyer, we are looking for seller number 3.  The reason for this is we honestly don’t know if our buyer is actually going to like the house that may be for sale.  What we do in this situation is get a signed agreement to show the home.   This can be of great benefit to the seller.  They don’t have to go through the hassle of getting the house listed, and the buyer can usually make a decision within a day.

Sometimes, there aren’t any responses, and there aren’t any houses coming up for sale.  The only thing to do is wait.  This can be unnerving for buyers, but there are few alternatives.

Confidence Developed

When a buyer is waiting to find the right house in a neighborhood they’ve chosen, I look at it as a positive.  That buyer is building their own knowledge base on what to expect for various asking prices.  When a home does fit their criteria, they have an inner confidence that what they are buying is a good value for them.  This makes my job so much easier.  It’s much easier to write an offer when you know your buyer is comfortable.

Years ago, I met a nice couple looking to buy in a particular neighborhood.  When I asked their time frame for purchasing a home, they said 30 days.  Upon hearing this, I immediately knew that it would take longer, and I told them about how the market usually works in an area where everyone wants to live.  It took six months to put a house under contract, but they were elated with their decision in the end.  This is why it can be so rewarding to be a real estate agent.  At Deerwood Realty, we want you to find the property that best suits you on your terms.  We feel that any other approach is a great disservice to our buyers.