We Need to Have our Parents Look at the House before We Move Forward
When buying a house in Brooklyn, or anywhere else for that matter, it is important that all parties involved in the decision making process view the home before you make an offer! Often times buyers make the mistake of giving an offer to purchase a property prior to getting approval from their spouse, partner or the infamous "parents." The problem here is two fold...1) If you need to have another person look at the house in order to move forward, having to come back with them at another time can create a delay which will may cause you to lose the house and 2) If you make an offer that a homeowner accepts and then have to show it to another decision maker (now follow me here) and then you back out, well you just put the homeowner on an emotional roller coaster which is, shall we say, unfair.
Often times I see a young couple who is looking to purchase a home and are having their parents help them out financially with the down payment. They look at like 50 houses until they finally find one that is good for them. They make an offer, negotiate a deal and then get their offer accepted. Here is where the problem starts. They then excitedly tell their parents they found a house and got their offer accepted... at which point in time the parents inevitably say "Well, we need to take a look at the house before we give you the money." Why does this happen, simple, they are the parents, they love their kids and want to protect them. They want to make sure they are not making a mistake. They are also investing money on the kids behalf so they want to make sure it is a sound investment. The bottom line is that they DO have some say in the matter.
We all know what happens next...the parents go to look at the house and are horrified that their innocent children are attempting to buy such a terrible house and that they are also paying way too much. We also know that parents many times are overprotective of their children, and then refuse to give them the money because they are certain that their kids are making a big mistake. The deal then dies.
All of this could have easily been avoided. How you ask... simple, the parents should have been looking at each and every home the kids saw to begin with, not just the one they gave the offer on. Had the parents saw the other 49 overpriced dilapidated shacks the kids saw prior to making their offer, they would have been on the same page as the kids and the deal would have moved forward.
The same can be said for the husband or wife that states "oh, don't worry, my spouse will do whatever I say!" Yea right, please, give me a break! When the spouse comes to look, which they always will need to do before a contract is signed, 99% of the time they will change their tune.
The moral to the story is that when you look to purchase a home there is a learning curve involved. As you look at homes you learn where market values are at. This is the only way to be able to acquire the ability to determine market values. When most people start looking they kind of get "sticker shock." Usually buyers will discover that they will have to spend somewhat more than they expected to in order to get the house of their dreams. So they stretch their budget a little bit and make it happen. I am proud to say that in my 17 years of experience I have NEVER had a buyer regret purchasing a home. Buyers know the market better than anyone else because they are looking at everything out there and get the education and knowledge of the market to make a sound decision. To ask someone to give an opinion of market value without them having gone through the experience of viewing many, many homes makes them unable to formulate an accurate opinion of value.
In addition I want to point out that the homes that are good deals sell the fastest even in today's market. Rest assured that if you think a home is a good deal, the vast majority of the other buyers viewing the house will feel the same way. That homeowner priced his house right and will get a lot of offers real quick. If you need to bring a spouse, parents or anyone else back to look at the home before being able to make a decision, bring them with you form the get go otherwise another buyer is going to beat you to the punch. Also, do not make an offer unless you are ready to go! If the seller accepts your offer you are expected to buy the house in good faith. If you back out after the fact, as I previously stated, you just put that homeowner on an emotional roller coaster which is not right. As a buyer you wouldn't like it if the seller accepted your offer and then the next day told you they decided to sell the house to someone else, right?
If you have any thoughts or questions on this article, submit a comment or contact me at anytime.
Mitchell S. Feldman
Associate Broker/Director of Sales
Madison Estates & Properties, Inc.
Cell: (917) 805-0783/ Office: (718) 645-1665
Email: Mitch@MitchellFeldman.com
Web Site: www.MitchellFeldman.com
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