Kent County Association of REALTORS®
  • Home
  • Member Login
  • Calendar
  • Education
    • KCAR Class Schedule
    • Continuing Education Resources
    • CE Shop Online
    • Continuing Education Requirements
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Membership
    • Affiliate Directory >
      • Advertising & Promotional
      • Builders & Contractors
      • Cyber & Home Security
      • Financial Services
      • Home Services
      • Insurance Agencies
      • Law Offices
  • Professional Standards
    • NAR Professional Standards Resources
    • Filing an Ethics Complaint
    • Citation Program
  • About
    • Board of Directors
    • Leadership Team
    • Membership >
      • Member Benefits
      • Statewide Forms
      • Taxbot
    • KCAR Scholarship Foundation >
      • Past Scholarship Recipients
    • Awards >
      • ROTY & Good Neighbor
    • FAQ & Resources
    • SentriLock
    • REALTOR® Safety >
      • NAR Safety Program
      • Safety Videos for REALTORS®
      • Safety Webinars for REALTORS®
    • Contact Us

Poll: These are the biggest first-time homebuyer mistakes

11/10/2016

0 Comments

 
​And the biggest piece of reader advice: 'Listen to your real estate agent!'
  • We asked Inman readers about the biggest mistakes they've seen first-time homebuyers make.
  • These were the top three: not talking to a lender first, waiting too long to make an offer and offering too little for properties.
  • The resounding piece of advice readers offered was: "Listen to your agent!"
As with many things in 2016, the housing market has been plagued with various issues: plummeting inventory, skyrocketing home prices and affordability problems that are keeping some buyers still.

However, the National Association of Realtors’ September existing-home sales report revealed a promising silver lining — first-time homebuyers.

First-timers accounted for 34 percent of all buyers and helped drive one of the best months NAR has seen yet.

​But as our latest poll showed, it takes a lot of coaching and patience to reap the rewards of this plucky bunch.
Picture
​The biggest mistakes first-time homebuyers are related to a lack of financial wherewithal — not talking to a lender first took the top spot, with 61.1 percent of Inman readers saying this was a problem they’d encountered and 18.04 percent of respondents saying it was the biggest problem they encounter.

​Waiting too long to make an offer and offering too little for properties rounded out the top three mistakes, with 17.18 percent and 15.46 percent of respondents saying this was the biggest mistake buyers make and 59.62 percent and 57.73 percent of respondents saying they had encountered this mistake before, respectively.
Picture
​Prepare thyself
A home is one of the biggest purchases anyone will make in his or her lifetime and, according to readers, first-time buyers seem to be grossly unprepared for the process — which includes getting pre-qualified.

“They want to look at houses before they are pre-qualified or ready to buy. This sets them up to be disappointed or wasting their time if they end up not qualifying for what they want or qualify for more than what they thought,” said a survey-taker.

Furthermore, the same survey-taker noted, newbies rely too much on online resources to get a loan rather than asking their agent for trusted local loan officers.

In addition to delaying the pre-qualification process, respondents said some first-time buyers don’t know their actual financial status, which includes an accurate credit score, the amount of money they have in their savings and checking accounts, and robust financial planning for future homeowningcosts.

To help first-time buyers avoid these pitfalls, readers suggested hosting a buyers’ workshop or having in-depth one-on-one buyer consultations before looking at listings.

“I’ve tried to avoid these mistakes (and I’ve made most all of them) by having a very thorough buyer consultation before I ever take them out looking,” a respondent said.

“I talk about all of these items and add further advice and guidance in my ‘buyer book’ that I give them — a binder full of everything they will need to know to buy a house in NC.”

Once buying newbies get over the lending hurdle, survey-takers said the next obstacles are waiting too long to make an offer — and when they do, making low-ball offers.

Simply put: “Buyers think that it’s always a buyers’ market,” says a survey taker.
This assertion is especially problematic right now, when the housing market has struggled to overcome tight inventory and skyrocketing home prices that can give a seller the upper hand.

“I work in the Colorado Springs market, and buyers kept wanting deals. Deals aren’t happening in 2016,” noted one respondent.

“Buyers under the $200K price point are lucky if they can even get an offer accepted. You are not going to get a house offering $10,000 under asking.”

Mother, HGTV and portals don’t know best
What’s the issue with second opinions? Respondents said the culprit is the preponderance of online information, false realities sold by television shows and well-meaning advice from family and friends.

“Buyers [are] looking at properties on the internet and getting angry when they can’t see them. When told they are under contract, they get upset that websites don’t keep their sites up-to-date,” said a survey-taker.

Beyond listing issues, online home valuations — such as Zillow’s Zestimate or the Redfin Estimate — seem to be causing headaches when it comes to negotiating prices.

“I’m experiencing buyers placing too much emphasis” on online valuations, said one reader.

Apart from portals, agents are having a hard time battling the “HGTV experience,” which paints a much prettier (and much-edited) picture of the homebuying process.

“They think they’re experts because they watch HGTV,” lamented one respondent. “They expect the process to go smoothly and are not prepared for the unexpected occurrences that pop up in the contract negotiations.”

Finally, first-time buyers often look to family and friends for advice — advice that can hold up the search process and derail an offer.

Trust your agent!
Outside of financial issues and faulty advice, survey-takers noted that first-time buyers need to come to the table with a firm understanding on the kind of home they need, the neighborhood they’d like to live in, and they should be able to explain how owning a home fits into future plans — for example, “do you plan to move in five years or stay forever?”

But the one overarching theme from respondents was the lack of trust first-time buyers have for their agents, whether it be because of outside knowledge that makes them feel like an expert or the fact they didn’t vet an agent before signing on.

Readers suggested that first-time buyers throughly research agents rather than choosing the first one they see on Zillow, social media or on a billboard.

And, once they’ve chosen an agent, readers said: “Listen to your Realtor’s advice — whether it is about lenders, price, offers.

“It’s what we do, and we do it every day. Trust us.”

​Email Marian McPherson
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    2017
    2017 Housing Market
    Accomodating
    Affordability
    Agent
    American Dream
    Annual Premiums
    Appraisal
    Appreciation
    Architect
    Attitude
    Average Rent
    Baby Boomers
    Baseline
    Benefits
    Best Deal
    Best Strategy
    Best Time To Buy
    Best Time To Sell
    Blogging
    Books
    Boomerang Buyers
    Borrowers
    Brand Awareness
    Branding
    Brokerage
    Brokers
    Build Rapport
    Business Owners
    Buyers
    Buying
    Buying Versus Renting
    Call For Action
    Capitol Hill
    Changes In The Real Estate Industry
    Characteristics
    Charity
    Checklist
    Client
    Clients
    Closing
    Code Of Ethics
    Commitment To Excellent
    Common Scams
    Communication
    Community
    Community Events
    Competency
    Competition
    Competitive Market
    Congressional Address
    Connecting With Clients
    Contacts
    Continuing Education
    Convention
    Conversations
    Convert Prospects Into Clients
    Cost Of Homeownership
    Credit Scores
    Current Events
    Customer Service
    DAR
    Deductions
    DEFAC
    Delaware
    Deliver Value To Customers
    Demographic
    Deregulation
    Design Trends
    Dover
    Down Payment
    Educate Clients
    Education
    Election Day
    Elections
    Email
    Email Signature
    Emotional Purchases
    Empowerment
    Energy Efficiency
    Events
    Face-to-face Meetings
    Fair Housing
    Federal Reserve
    FEMA
    FHA
    FHFA
    Field Guide
    Financial Future
    First Impressions
    First-time Buyers
    Firsttime Home Buyer
    First Tuesday Happy Hour
    Fixer Uppper
    Flood Insurance
    Focus
    Follow Up
    Follow-up
    Forecast
    Foreign Banks
    For-sale Prices
    Foucs
    Freddie Mac
    FSBO
    Future
    Generation X
    Generation Z
    Giveaways
    Goals
    Go-to
    Government
    Governor-Elect Carney
    Great Real Estate Agent
    HELOC
    Higher Income
    Higher Sales
    Holidays
    Homebuyers
    Home Buyers
    Homebuying
    Home Equity
    Home Equity Loan
    Home Insurance
    Homeowner
    Homeowners
    Home Owners
    Homeownership
    Homeowners Insurance Policy
    Home Prices
    Home Sales
    Homeseller
    Homesellers
    Home Sellers
    Home Selling
    Home's Value
    Honesty
    House Size
    Housing
    Housing Market
    HUD
    Hud1
    Hud-1
    HUD Secretary
    Increase Effectiveness Of Your Marketing
    Increase Your Returns
    Industry Outlook
    Inflation
    Infrastructure
    Inman
    In-person
    International Happenings
    Internet Data Exchange
    Internet Strategies
    Inventory
    Inventory Shortage
    Investments
    Investors
    Invisible Improvements
    "it" Factor
    KCAR
    Kent County
    Lead Generation
    Lease Agreement
    Legislation
    Lenders
    Licensed Agent
    License Renewal
    Listing
    Listing Presentation
    Listings
    Lucrative
    Market Activity
    Marketing
    Marketing Articles
    Marketing Resources
    Market Statistics
    Martin Luther King Day
    Member Benefit
    Mentor
    Millenials
    Mistakes
    MLS
    Money Saving Tips
    Money-saving Tips
    Month Of May
    More Leads
    Mortgage
    Mortgage Insurance
    Mortgage Interest
    Mortgage Lenders
    Mortgage Limits
    Mortgage Rates
    Move-up
    NAR
    NAR Realtor Benefits Program
    National Association Of REALTORS®
    National Association Of REALTORS®
    National Flood Insurance Program
    New Agents
    Online Presence
    Open Floor Plans
    Open House
    Opportunities
    Overpricing
    Patent-reform
    Persistent Follow-up
    Personal Branding
    Personal Security
    Pets
    Philanthropy
    Photography
    Placester
    PMI
    Potential Clients
    Prepare
    President-Elect Trump
    Presidential Election
    Prevention
    Pricing Too High
    Proactive
    Problem Solving
    Professional
    Project Ideas
    Property Search Website
    Prospective Buyers
    Prospects
    Qualified Buyers
    Qualities
    Questions
    Rapport Building
    Real Estate
    Real Estate Agent
    Real Estate Agents
    Real Estate Business
    Real Estate Career
    Real Estate Decisions
    Real Estate Market
    Real Estate Professional
    Real Estate Spending
    Real Estate Technology
    Real Estate Transactions
    Real Estate Trends
    REALTOR
    Realtor7a154d414f
    Realtor® Broker Summit
    REALTORS®
    REALTORS®
    Realtor Safety
    Recommended Listing Price
    Red Flags
    Referral
    Referrals
    Regulatory Burdens
    Remodeling
    Renovations
    Rental Property
    Rentals
    Repeat Business
    Research
    RESPA
    Respect
    Retirement
    Rising Home Sales
    Rookie
    Rpac
    Safety
    Safety First
    Sale By Owner
    Save Money
    Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
    Search Traffic
    Seller
    Sellers
    Settlement-changes
    Showing Homes
    Simple
    Snowflake Generation
    Social
    Social Events
    Social Network
    Special Buyers
    Spring
    Square Footage
    Starter Homes
    Starting Price
    Stay Educated
    Strategies
    Strong Communicaton
    Suburbs
    Summer Bbq
    Surban
    Survey
    Sustainability
    Sustainable Properties
    Tagline
    Taxes
    Tax Reform
    Technology
    Tenant-occupied
    Tenant Rights
    Testimonials
    The Voice For Real Estate
    Time Mangement
    Tips
    Tips For Agents
    Tips For Clients
    Tools
    Trainings
    Transactions
    Trend
    Trends
    Trust
    Trusted Adviser
    Vintage
    Virtual Assistants
    Voice For Real Estate
    Vote
    Website Traffic
    Win
    Winter
    Winterize
    Workplace
    Would Be Home Buyers
    Would-be Home Buyers
    Younger Generations
    Young Professionals Network
    Zillow

    Archives

    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

©2020 Kent County Association of REALTORS®
2089 S. Dupont Highway, Suite 4, Dover, Delaware 19901
Join
Phone: (302) 678-9750 
  • Home
  • Member Login
  • Calendar
  • Education
    • KCAR Class Schedule
    • Continuing Education Resources
    • CE Shop Online
    • Continuing Education Requirements
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Membership
    • Affiliate Directory >
      • Advertising & Promotional
      • Builders & Contractors
      • Cyber & Home Security
      • Financial Services
      • Home Services
      • Insurance Agencies
      • Law Offices
  • Professional Standards
    • NAR Professional Standards Resources
    • Filing an Ethics Complaint
    • Citation Program
  • About
    • Board of Directors
    • Leadership Team
    • Membership >
      • Member Benefits
      • Statewide Forms
      • Taxbot
    • KCAR Scholarship Foundation >
      • Past Scholarship Recipients
    • Awards >
      • ROTY & Good Neighbor
    • FAQ & Resources
    • SentriLock
    • REALTOR® Safety >
      • NAR Safety Program
      • Safety Videos for REALTORS®
      • Safety Webinars for REALTORS®
    • Contact Us