Lose thousands if you don’t prepare! Observations from last week.

Last week we had clients in from New Brunswick looking to buy a home. Buying a home is stressful enough in this market where trying to find a property you love and you don’t have to compete for it is extremely difficult, add the stress and time limits of relocating and it can be really tough. 

In this case we did find one and within hours of it being listed we helped this motivated couple make a deal with the seller.  The agent the seller had selected informed us that they had ordered the condo documents that we had requested.  For days we waited, with our diligent agent Lisa contacting the agent on the other side to find out where the documents are only to be told we should have them any time. 

Finally as the deadline to remove the condition the next day loomed like a noose, Lisa contacted the condo management company to see what documents were ready so that we could begin previewing them. Their answer to us was they were only ordered at 4:30 the previous night.  BAM! Our clients were heading  back home in a couple days so some serious decisions had to be made.  A back up plan was worked out and Lisa feverishly showed more properties.  A back up property was found and a new direction was taken, our clients successfully purchased another property. Fortunately our clients had a dedicated team backing them up through the entire process.  Unfortunately for the sellers, their property is still for sale.

My second scenario developed late last week when I brought a condo onto the market in the west end. Listed at $264,800. it sold for $280,000. The first five people who viewed it wrote offers on it.  The third people to see the condo were a really nice couple from the U.K. who knew absolutely nothing about buying a property in Edmonton. 

Although they had been in Edmonton for the past six months and had seen prices rise dramatically, they had not prepared anything or talked to anyone who really understood real estate in Edmonton. A couple of friends had given them some information about buying; when I heard the advice I could see how it made sense, but was clearly not related to our current market conditions.  I spent close to 30 minutes at the property explaining the steps they should take:

1. Speak to a lawyer
2. Speak to a mortgage broker and get pre-qualified for a mortgage
3. Review my buyers guide for buying for buying a condo in Alberta that discusses everything you should know and ask for when buying a condo, better yet, come meet with us and we can explain the who process to you. We can even go over the whole process online via a real-time web conference.
4. Most importantly, do steps 1, 2 & 3 before going out looking at homes and especially before making an offer on one.

We discussed the current conditions surrounding this unit and the market, and what’s involved with making an offer.  In all my dealings with buyers from the U.K. I have learned one definite truth – the pace of the transaction is far more rapid here even in a slow market than in the U.K.

They had one simple misconception that caused them to lose the property, which in retrospect I think they wished they had gotten. They believed that no matter what they offered the seller would counter their offer. I tried to explain that may not be the case, and in fact would not likely be the case since there were so many offers; it would be up to the seller which offer or offers they would deal with. 

Their offer – while over list price – was the lowest of five offers and had some other issues with it which they did not understand, because they had never sat down with anyone before to understand the importance of terms and conditions in an offer.  Yet they were still somewhat put off that the seller didn’t counter their offer, because a friend of theirs had told them that is what would happen.  I guess you can really only help those who want to be helped.