New Jersey Real Estate Agent

The obvious goal of most New Jersey real estate buyers, including Princeton area home buyers, is to buy the home they like at the lowest possible price. In the buyers market this should be an easy task, but it is not always the case for several reasons.

Conflicting Priorities

What comes first finding the right home or finding a bargain and deciding if it’s the right house for you? Having your priorities straight is the starting point to pursuing a goal when buying your home in Princeton NJ. The traditional way New Jersey home buyers used to search for Princeton homes for sale was to find the home they liked first and then negotiate for the best possible price.

What I see now is that many home buyers are reversing this order and trying to start by hunting for the best price bargain. They look for properties with biggest price reductions, or what they perceive properties with “desperate” sellers. They wait for further price reductions, even when the house meets their needs. This causes confusion for many buyers as they spread their search in many directions instead of first focusing on finding the house that meets their needs.

Offers Based on Misinformation

Sometimes home buyers base their offer on information they find it publicly available reports. These reports, and even some prepared by real estate agents, could be misleading for various reason, including the meaning of data in these reports. It is difficult to understand what happens to real estate prices based on such reports.

Read: Understanding Princeton Real Estate Prices

Princeton NJ Real Estate Market Report Prices 2004- 2008

“The house at 123 Main Street had the price reduced by $30,000, so we should offer $30,000 less for the house on the 123 Other Street ” says the buyer. This idea could be totally wrong, unless they compare identical houses in terms of location, age, size, amenities, condition, presentation (including seller’s furnishings). In Princeton, Montgomery Township and many other other towns it is rare the houses are totally identical because the housing inventory differs greatly. Home buyers can’t always transfer  information for one house to another, sometimes even if they are located on the same street.

Waiting For Further Price Reductions

There is an expectation by home buyers in today’s Princeton real estate market  that all houses placed on the market would or should have price reductions before they are sold. These expectations are based on the fact that many New Jersey homes, including Princeton homes for sale, were overpriced from the start and had multiple price reductions before they went under contract.

It is not the case with all houses and there are many that are priced right, having already taken into consideration the decline in the Princeton real estate market. These houses sell quickly, and the buyer’s waiting for further price reductions miss out on potentially good deals.

Low Ball Offers

There are home buyers who believe the only way to be assured of getting the lowest possible price is to offer a low ball offer. By low ball I mean offers not supported by logic and relevant data.

When I represent sellers I usually counsel them to respond to all offers. Many sellers in today’s market would not counter offer on a low ball offer. When this happens, the buyers do not get to find out how low the seller was prepared to go and cut off any possibility for negotiation. The only thing gained  by this approach is Princeton real estate home buyer finding out something they knew going in - their offer was too low.

Offer & Acceptance Is The Beginning

Real estate transactions are often complicated and require good will from all parties: sellers and buyers, to successfully get to closing. Sometimes so much negative emotions are expanded by both buyers and sellers in the negotiations phase, there is little  good will left to see the transaction through.

Getting the best price needs to be done with this thought in mind.

As I was finishing this article, I received a call that my buyer’s offer was accepted. I am very happy my clients are getting a great deal, and the process to get to closing could now get started with all the parties good will intact.