Buying a home is usually the largest financial transaction that people will ever experience. Since it is likely the most amount of money they’ll ever spend on something, it’s crucial to be practical when making decisions during the home buying process. However, practicality can often take a back seat, as the emotion that goes into finding a new place to live can take precedence in the mind of a buyer.
When making these huge decisions, buyers often wonder how many homes they should see before they move forward and submit an offer. The short answer is that there isn’t a magic number. A buyer could see one, five, or fifteen homes before they find the right one!
Seeing Only a Few Homes
Sometimes, it’s just love at first sight, even for home buying! There are some buyers who luck out and find their perfect home during the first few showings, and submit an offer shortly after beginning their home search. In most cases, these buyers are either lucky, know exactly what they want and find it, or a combination of both. Most buyers who submit an offer on one of the first few homes they’ve seen, and are confident in their decision generally have a predetermined list of characteristics they need, want, and DON’T want in a home.
How long these lists are, how flexible the buyers are, how realistic buyers are about their budget and wants, as well as how effective their REALTOR® is at locating homes available on the market to suit these needs, will determine how many homes will need to be seen prior to finding the right one. It can also be as simple as feeling it in your gut! There are plenty of homeowners out there who own homes they didn’t picture wanting at the beginning of their search. Keeping an open mind is key!
Seeing Many Homes
It is the age of technology, so many buyers browse a lot of homes online before ever setting foot in a private showing. Some buyers spend weekend after weekend attending open houses. With that being said, there are buyers out there who feel like they’ve seen every home on the market, but still aren’t ready to make an offer. In this case, it’s recommended that the buyer sits back down with their REALTOR® to review their list of needs, wants, and undesirables. There is a possibility that there might be an unrealistic expectation of how much money they need to purchase a home in certain areas, or perhaps that the buyers simply may just need to wait until the right house comes on the market.
It can be frustrating to keep looking for the perfect house, and sometimes it’s advisable to take a break for a couple of weeks to regenerate the open-mindedness and excitement to see possibilities in homes that are for sale. Keep a line of communication open with your REALTOR®, and trust that they want you to find your dream home just as much as you do!
Your REALTOR® may even know of some homes that are available for purchase without being listed, so having an expert with these resources in your corner can truly give you an upper hand in the current market
Happy Home Hunting!
Some home buyers experience that ‘love at first sight’ feeling immediately, and for others, finding the perfect home can take much longer. At the end of the day, buying a home is both a significant business and personal decision. It’s imperative to keep your budget in mind along with your lifestyle, but until a home seems like the right one for you, it’s worth the wait! Be sure to be prepared with all the necessary documents, pre-approvals, and financials in line so that when that home does eventually appear- and it will- you will feel ready to buy with confidence!