Home/Condo Owners

[MrSquished]

how many times did you see the property before you put in an offer and bought it?

I'm an agent and am just curious. I have buyers who go in once and are confident enough to put in an offer and that's it. I had to go see my condo 3 times before I was ready to do so, even though I was pretty confident in it.

Y'all?

 

[nakedfrog]

My first house, I think it was only once.
Second house, three times.

 

[zinfamous]

repeatedly online and once in person. But I had seen enough houses in the area to know that this is the one. There was nothing glaring on the first viewing and nothing that looked like if it was an issue, it would be unreasonable to deal with--I knew some of the roofs would need replacing soonish and that the water heater was nearing the end.

I did check it out again, after having the offer accepted, with a family friend (friend of dad) who is a builder and extensive collector of houses, to help me confirm things. The agent was freaking out and trying to keep me from doing that and while I don't really have issues with my agent, I don't like them telling me I can't look at a thing that I'm putting down $300k (OK, the bank is) as often as I want.

 

[quikah]

Depends on the area. The place I live now (Palo Alto, CA) if you don't put an offer (WAY over asking) by the end of the 1 and only open house you will not have a chance at it.

 

[Chaotic42]

Once. My realtor told me I was the easiest buyer she'd ever had.

 

[K1052]

Once for the current condo. Think I saw the previous one twice, maybe.

By the time I'm inside I've already heavily analyzed my options from the MLS info, pics, and comps. I know my city and don't need a realtor to drag me around to the different neighborhoods though.

Considering buying a place in Spain now...might take a little bit more time with that decision.

 

[Cal166]

Also, consider 1st-time homebuyer vs 2nd/3rd time buyers. I feel 1st-time homebuyers falls in love with 1st place they see too fast.

After owning a one, we now know what to do look for in our 2nd house

 

[Chapbass]

I've only purchased one house (last year). Went and saw houses for months before I found this one. I went to this property twice before putting in an offer.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Location means a lot (including neighborhood noise and traffic).....the lot the home is built on means a lot.....

My first home, I think I visited it two or three times...did a home inspection. It needed a lot of work, but had a lot of potential.

My current home, we visited it once or twice....did a home inspection. It has some foundation flaws I knew about going in, but I'm convinced that despite how major the flaws are, the floors are fairly solid and reinforced enough. We won't be moving soon....I've got 15 years or more to drop $10k on the problem and improve it.

 

[purbeast0]

Just once. And in the neighborhood we made a full price offer too so we could be sure that we could get the house or at least have our best chance. We were also new to buying houses as it was our first house so had I had experience, I probably would have offered lower and who knows if we would have gotten it.

We bought our house 5 years ago for $419k.

The house next door to me was bought and renovated and put right back on the market at an asking price of $599k. It went on the market on Wednesday with an open house on Sunday. On Thursday I saw people walking around in it so I went and checked it out myself and talked to the peopel who were viewing it. The following day it was under contract, 2 days before there was even an open house.

After the sale went through I checked Redfin and it sold for $605k. And it wasn't the family that I talked to, who seemed pretty interested.

Right now in my neighborhood it's a sellers market. You snooze you lose.

 

[soulcougher73]

2. Probably saw 10 houses between first and 2nd showing.

 

[slag]

We took one viewing, then a couple drive bys, and then another viewing, and put in an offer. It is one of the higher priced homes in the neighborhood and had been sitting for about a month on the market, so we made an offer, she countered, we countered with our initial offer, and then she came down to it.

 

[zinfamous]

Depends on the area. The place I live now (Palo Alto, CA) if you don't put an offer (WAY over asking) by the end of the 1 and only open house you will not have a chance at it.

...and you're lucky if it's still available before the open house because some overseas buyer hasn't snagged it on a cash purchase +20%.

 

[Thebobo]

Once and I took a ton of pictures and video and watched the video a bunch of times. Oh and I did drive by a couple of times.

 

[Red Squirrel]

My current (and first) house, twice if I recall. I saw it for sale and asked the realtor to go see it. I then pondered on it as out of all the houses I had seen so far it just felt like it may be the right one. So I asked to go see it again, and then put an offer that night. The owners countered and I accepted it and pretty much bought it that night.

I did go see it again after for the house inspection, but at that point I was more or less committed unless something serious comes up.

 

[Exterous]

My wife saw our first house twice but just the one time for me. For our second house we both saw it twice because we had a debate between two. When we sold our first house we had a couple come through 4 times and didn't even put in an offer

 

[IronWing]

My wife saw the house one time before putting in an offer and then again with the inspector. I never saw the house in person until after closing as I was working in another state at the time. The first time I saw the house was when I pulled up in the U-Haul. We've been here eighteen years; wife done good.

 

[Greenman]

Looked once and made an offer, did my own home inspection, that probably counts as a second look.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

I think one's behavior can differ depending on the condition of the home. For instance, most first time buyers might not look more than once at a new tract home while a more experienced buyer may look at a resale five times or more.

 

[snoopy7548]

I think it was just two times, but it was new construction. The first time I saw it was when the framing was finished (pre-drywall) and there was an open house. I then saw it with my realtor either a day or two later and put an offer in a couple of days after that.

After my offer was accepted, I think I saw it with my realtor one more time (the builder was there so I got a chance to briefly talk to him, or maybe that was the second time I saw it... can't remember). Then my parents came up and toured it with me (post-drywall), and I saw it one more time at the inspection, and then again maybe a week before closing with the warranty rep and my realtor.

 

[ultimatebob]

Twice. I actually put an offer on the place the first time I saw it, but then I got outbid. Two months later, that deal fell through, and I ended up checking out the place a second time just to make sure that it was still in good shape.

This was 2006, though... totally different real estate market.

 

[Linflas]

First townhouse, once. Our current house we actually saw the model and an empty lot where our house was eventually built.

 

[Feneant2]

I went to see the empty lot where my house is 2-3 times, mostly because I wasn't planning on buying one but the location won me over- greenspace in the back and only 3 minutes from a Costco! Ok so maybe I have lower expectations than some, but even during construction I did a few drive by's to see progress but didn't set foot until they were laying flooring.

If you are looking at a house that's already built and have to go inside more than 2 times, are you sure you're not just trying to convince yourself its the right one?

 

[nakedfrog]

I went to see the empty lot where my house is 2-3 times, mostly because I wasn't planning on buying one but the location won me over- greenspace in the back and only 3 minutes from a Costco! Ok so maybe I have lower expectations than some, but even during construction I did a few drive by's to see progress but didn't set foot until they were laying flooring.

If you are looking at a house that's already built and have to go inside more than 2 times, are you sure you're not just trying to convince yourself its the right one?

I don't understand this reasoning. You're saying one should just plop down tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars without being certain it's what they want?

 

[Feneant2]

It's not a question of certainty, the house isn't changing every time you see it. You should be able to go into a house and decide whether you love it or not pretty quickly. The responses in the thread do make it sound like that is mostly the case. If someone goes to see a house 3, 4 or even more times it's because there are things they want to look at again, see if they 'will do' or 'can get used to it'. If we were in the market for a house and my wife took me to the same house multiple times, I'd tell her that's not the house for her.