Put that offer in, even if it isn’t your dream home. That is my advice for those anxious first home buyers or those who have been searching for that ‘perfect’ home. It usually takes at least a couple of offers before you are successful and I believe it is an important learning curve to throw yourself in and put your offer out there.
And hey, if you were fortunate enough to have your offer accepted on your first hit, then well done to you! But we find this doesn’t happen often when there are multiple offers on homes, so don’t get disheartened.
A scenario I see all too often are first home buyers who look and wait for their perfect home that ticks all their boxes. After weeks and even months of Sundays spent going from open home to open home, they finally find ‘the one’. They then spend a few sleepless nights deciding on the best price that they are prepared to spend on the home they have been searching far and wide for.
Multiple conditions are added (often swayed by their parents of a different buying generation) and anxiously hand their offer over to the agent. They then receive that dreaded phone call from the agent to let them down gently that their conservative offer and safe conditions have not gotten them over the line. This is something especially prevalent here in Wellington over the last few years of the buoyant market and our love of the tender method of sale.
People look for their perfect property, the one with the fireplace, drive on, big backyard, the lounge that will fit that perfect corner couch with the footrest, the one with the ideal sized laundry for the dog basket. And once they find all of this, they decide to put their first offer in. The problem here is that the nerves and anxiety on this first offer are usually quite high. This first offer is often not “educated” and won’t hit the mark price-wise, has unnecessary clauses or some other quirk that makes it less attractive.
But what if I just don’t love what I am seeing?
I’m not advising you to go out and make offers on any property you see. But I do suggest making an offer/offers on properties that are close enough in terms of the boxes you need and want ticked. Now, you don’t have to put in your best offer, I would even suggest putting in an offer at a level that you would be absolutely over the moon to get it for. I believe doing this will provide the most education possible to help with your house hunt. If you get it great, you lucked in and got a property for a great price. But if you miss it, there will be a real benefit to you. You will:
- Realize that making an offer isn’t as hard and scary as you first thought
- Garner some real-world education in terms of the process involved
- You will be made to think long and hard about where you see the value, and this will assist going forward in your house hunt
- Once you are able to find out what it sold for you will have a great benchmark for future offers
- It will assist in getting your finance sorted when you have a real property to talk about with the bank. It will also assist in you thinking about what your comfort levels are with regards to a borrowing amount
- You may strike up a good relationship with the agent you offer through and this can greatly assist for future advice should you need it
- You will gain the confidence to put in that unconditional offer or put a slightly higher offer in to secure ‘the one’
If you want to buy in Wellington, it is inevitable that there will be some compromise you have to make. You want a view you generally will get wind. Or if you want good sun the house is often also exposed to the elements. You may see your ideal home but given Wellington’s topography, there may be a walk-up involved.
So get out there and warm up those sales and purchase agreements. Good luck as you work towards your property purchase whether it be your first, second or third home. As always, if you have any questions with regard to buying property feel free to get in touch with me.
