This month’s REALTOR Magazine is out, and in it is a fascinating article entitled “Overcoming Buyer Reluctance.” We are regularly speaking with home buyers about their wants and needs for a new home, but many times — especially now — they are reluctant to actually go through with a transaction. This article hits the nail on the head in terms of explaining why buyers are feeling this way. A great illustration in the article to allow buyers to visualize the real estate market:

A simple technique to prove to potential buyers, or even sellers, that they can’t perfectly time the market is to do this easy demonstration: Take out a blank sheet of paper and pen. Now, starting at the top of the paper, draw a line going down and at the same time ask the buyers to stop you when the market has bottomed out

As long as your line keeps going straight down they won’t be able to. The moment you start back up, they’ll say “there!” but of course they missed the bottom. Now, keep drawing your line up while asking them to tell you when the market has peaked. Again, they won’t be able to tell you until you’ve rounded the top and started back down. Then they’ll say “there!” and once again they’ll be behind the peak.

So, once the home buyer understands that he/she can’t time the market perfectly, we can move on to see if that buyer is able, ready, and willing.

If the buyer isn’t able, meaning, he/she doesn’t have financing in place or hasn’t even spoken to a mortgage broker, we send them to speak with one immediately.

Once the buyer is able, are they ready? Our team consults with each buyer to determine their wants and needs for purchasing a home. “It is the ‘why’ that leads them to buy.”

Now we’ve tackled the ability and readiness. Is the buyer willing? No matter how able and ready a buyer is, if he/she isn’t willing, there is no point in trying to find them a home. The buyer needs to be willing to make the decision, to be mentally and emotionally willing to take that plunge (for lack of a better term).

Buyers, are you able, ready, and willing to purchase a home? We can’t tell you enough how great of a time it is to buy right now. Interest rates are low, sellers are willing to bargain (sometimes a lot, sometimes a little), there are lots of properties on the market to choose from, there are even some great loan programs available, especially for first-time home buyers. Give us a call to get started on your home search!