Question: I’m attempting to research the housing market but I can’t buy anything for at least a year because of my lease. How can I efficiently do the research without an agent? I’ve attended numerous Sunday open houses, but I feel I may be missing valuable properties.
Answer: You are wise to get to know the local market before you make an offer on a house. In real estate, as in most areas of life, knowledge is power. You will not be able to recognize a good deal until you have done your homework.
The good news is that it’s much easier to research the local market today than it was five or 10 years ago thanks to the explosion of Internet real estate sites.
You can see the public version of the Northwest Multiple Listing Service computer system here: www.nwrealestate.com. And there are many other Web sites that provide similar abilities to search for properties online such as Zillow.com, ZipRealty.com and most of the major real estate broker Web sites.
You can see virtually every house for sale in the Puget Sound region without leaving the comfort of your home or office.
But don’t let Web surfing be your only source of information. You mentioned that you have attended many open houses and I recommend that you continue doing that. Viewing homes in person, combined with researching homes for sale on the Internet, should make you an expert on your local area within a month or two. You should get to the point where you can drive up to a home and guess its price within $10,000 before setting foot inside. When you can do that on a consistent basis you will know that you have a good feel for the true market value of homes in your area.
Once you know what a home should sell for, you will quickly recognize a bargain. For example, if all of the three-bedroom homes in a given neighborhood have sold for $350,000 to $375,000 during the past three months, you’ll know you’ve found a hot deal when a nice three-bedroom home hits the market at $325,000.
These are the kinds of homes that sell in days rather than weeks or months — even in a slow housing market. We are now in a buyer’s market, which means there are more home sellers than buyers. You can take your time because I think home prices will possibly drop a little more this year and then remain flat with little appreciation over the next few years.
Once you get closer to being ready to make an offer, it’s wise to interview a few real estate agents so that you can hire one to search for a home for you. Talking to agents at open houses is a great way to start looking for an agent with whom you will be compatible.
A good agent will be able to show you homes that you may not be able to find on your own. However, you are right in assuming that a good agent will not want to spend a lot of time with you until you’re close to making a decision.
Agents like to work with buyers who are ready, willing and able to make a decision immediately when they find a good deal. You are not ready now, but you will be a prime prospect when you are ready to buy because you will have already done your homework. That’s the kind of buyer that agents love to work with.
Mail your real estate questions to Steve Tytler, The Herald, P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA 98206, or e-mail him at economy@heraldnet.com.
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