Navigating Muddy Waters

Right now is a very interesting time to be involved in real estate on Long Island. People are always asking for my opinion on which way the market is heading. While I'd like to have a crystal ball so I could make deadly accurate predictions and probably millions of dollars, the truth is I don't and neither does anyone else. That being said, I do believe we've seen the top of the mountain and there is nowhere else left to climb for the time being. Still it is possible to make money by investing in real estate even in an uncertain market. You just have to be very, very careful. If one were to look back at the Long Island marketplace just 3 years ago, it appeared that prices just couldn't go any higher and yet they did. In fact, the average home gained in value at least 30%. People started taking their money out of the stock market and started to plunk it into the real estate market. For many it was a shrewd investment even if they lacked the knowledge of how to buy right. It just didn't matter since prices were escalating so quickly. But now folks, the party is over. This has now become a marketplace where buyers will need to be educated on true market value. The smart buyer will learn as much as they can and will utilize the services of an exclusive buyer's agent. Loyalty and knowledge of the market are the hallmark of a good buyer's agent. To go it alone makes for dangerous decisions and poor choices which could ultimately cost a buyer thousands of dollars or worse yet, the loss of their home. Now is the time for buyers along with their buyer's agent to really rule this new and unchartered real estate market. Navigating muddy waters can be very scary without the right guide.

How a Buyer's Agent can save you money

Most people like to save money, that's a known fact, but do they really have the necessary tools to do so on their own? In my professional opinion, the answer is a resounding "No". The reasoning behind this is rather simple. When the average person goes to buy a home they become emotionally attached to the outcome and can't think clearly. This emotional thinking will cloud their judgement and the net result will not be as good as if they had hired a professional negotiator to look out for their best interests. Let me tell you a true story that happened to one of my home buying clients several years ago. I showed them many homes in their price range until one day they decided to make an offer on one of them. Both the husband and wife really wanted this one particular home so I negotiated to get it for $9000 less than the asking price which made my clients really, really happy. The next step before contracts were to be signed was to get a professional engineer's report on the condition of the home. The engineer stated that while the home was basically in good overall condition it had one major flaw and boy was it a doozy. The home which was located very close to the water in Freeport had settled over 3 inches. Upon hearing the news I told my clients that I thought we should "kill the deal" and start looking for another home. They were crushed and said they would sleep on it and get back to me the next day with an answer. So the following day they called me to say that they didn't care about the settling and they still wished to purchase this home. I told them that I thought this was a mistake but I would do whatever I could to make sure that they would, at the very least, get a much better deal on this home. I called up the listing agent and explained the serious problem with the home and threatened to walk away from the deal unless the seller dropped their price significantly. The listing agent said she would talk with the seller and get back to me. I told my client about my conversation with the listing agent and they said that they didn't want to lose the home but they would be happy if I saved them a little money but would still pay the agreed upon price if I couldn't get anywhere with the listing agent and the seller. The next day the listing agent calls me back and says the seller refused to drop the price $30,000 (which represented the number I had tried to negotiate for) but would agree to drop the price by $15,000. I told the listing agent that I would need to discuss this with my clients first before I could give her an answer. I called my clients and they screamed with joy, they couldn't believe that I was able to save them another $15,000. My clients moved into their home a couple of months later and were always grateful that they had used a buyer's agent to help them achieve their dream.