Searching for your dream home is a never-ending process. Even if you settle for one after seeing all the available homes, a thought always lurks at the back of the mind that you may’ve missed out on a better deal. However, there are ways to ensure you get the best deal on a home. Let’s see what these are:
#1 Search online
Social media platform, such as Facebook, may come in handy for searching for your ideal home. Many realtor groups have made their presence felt on social media. Facebook has such groups in operation, and you can always join them. This will help you in early access to real estate listings since the first thing real estate agents do is to post the Coming Soon listings in this group.
Finding such groups entails stating the county or city where you want a house and using keywords, such as realtor investors, realtor forum, realtor professionals, real estate agents, brokers and other such permutations. Although not all such groups need to be active, you may come across some that have a strong following.
Another way is to post what you need in a type of post called Buyer Post. On this, you or your real estate agent can list your specific requirements or criteria. This may get you to the listing that isn’t on the market yet but fits your description.
However, the time-tested way of searching for your perfect home is to approach a real estate company, such as UpNest. Such companies obviate the need to find a realtor by yourself since they have a team of professionally qualified real estate agents, adept at buying and selling houses.
#2 Target properties behind on mortgage payments
There are times when some homeowners fall behind on their mortgage payments due to the financial downturn. If you get to know of such property where the owner is behind on payments, you can get to buy that property under the market rate. Although you may not find such a house in perfect condition, you can always invest in repairs to make it livable.
Another lead is to look for houses on the auction block. Banks have acquired such houses due to default in the mortgage payment. Certain websites, such as Auction.com and Realtytrac.com, provide information on houses which are in the foreclosure process. Although some information is offered for free, a paid subscription gets more details on how much lien is outstanding on such houses. Armed with such information, you can get a fair idea of the amount the bank would want to realize from a new buyer.
#3 Post your own home for sale
Big real estate websites generally don’t allow individuals to post their FSBO (For Sale By Owner) listing. This is because there’s always a risk of liability in case the homeowner creates an unsafe listing or violates the Fair Housing Act. And such big real estate websites don’t have either the resources or the staff to police such listings.
However, what big real estate websites usually do is to take a feed from websites dedicated to FSBO, such as FSBO.com or Fizber.com. This way, they enjoy the protection put in place by these FSBO websites. However, chances of some bad listings to slip past is always there, so exercise due diligence in vetting to find your perfect home.
#4 Target Coming Soon properties
Some of the best deals get snapped up even before they enter the market. Called the Coming Soon properties, these become known to realtors much before their listing goes live. The realtors include good deals in their network and such deals usually go under contract in a jiffy. Little wonder such deals are the hardest to find.
The good news is some multiple listing services permit realtors to upload Coming Soon listings. So, pay a visit to your local multiple listing service for such deals. Also, visit the website, redfin.com; it also features Coming Soon listings.
Conclusion
The first step to acquiring your dream home is meticulous research. The article indicates the resources at your disposal for such research, which will enable you to shortlist potential houses in your area of interest and buy the one most suited to your needs.
