Cheryl Bourland's blog

Purchasing a Home with Adverse Features

It's not your real estate agent's job to pick the house you will buy; however, it is prudent for your agent to point out any unchangeable adverse features the home may have.  These are features that may cause it to appeal to less buyers resulting in the home taking longer than average to sell, and conditions that will cause the home to sell for less than similar properties.
 
If the home has any adverse conditions that you can't change, and you still want to buy the home, then your agent should caution you about the effect they may have when it's time for you to sell.  That doesn't mean you shouldn't buy the home.  If you love it, then buy it.  Your goal should be to buy it at below market value, knowing that you will be selling it at below market when that time comes.
 
When our past clients call and ask us to sell the house we helped them buy, we don’t want them to be surprised by the fact that their home has an adverse condition that will cause it to sell for less money and take more time.  We want them to be fully informed.
 
So what are some of the possible 'adverse conditions' we're referring to? 

Improving Indoor Air Quality Is a Growing Concern

As homes become more and more tightly sealed in the quest for better energy efficiency, there is also a growing need for better ventilation systems. Older homes allow more outside air to circulate through the house, increasing the load on the HVAC system but keeping air relatively "fresh" (of course, this depends entirely on the outside air quality); in contrast, newer homes have vastly improved their energy efficiency by sealing exterior air leaks at the cost of recirculating "stale" air. Luckily, there are already good solutions available to homeowners to help solve these ventilation issues. With COVID-19 air circulation has become a very important piece when it comes to controlling how we return to what we used to know as "normal". 

Market Trends Improve Over Last Year But Are Still A Challenge

agent handing over keys The market today is a weird mash-up of years past and a whole new series of events that are a huge unknown in the business. Mortgage rates are low but so is inventory of both new builds and existing homes. These factors often mean a hot real estate market with increasing home prices and tight bidding wars among buyers. While this is exactly the situation that we are facing now things are bound to change as the year progresses. More and more people are deciding this is the right time to sell but also have to realize that they need to find a place themselves to live in. Increased inventory will tend to slow down the huge spike in prices but may not hold it off too much.