How to Buy in 2022

With Perth’s property market likely to hop, skip and jump its way into 2022, buyers will be looking at ways to turn the market to their advantage. In doing so, the market will quickly pass them by with many bemoaning missed opportunity.

When looking for property, most buyers are tempted to eagerly point out the property’s apparent – and often obvious - faults. Buyers often “talk down” the home’s benefits and focus on its shortcomings in an apparent precursor to justify an initial low offer.

Pointing out a property’s faults or highlighting what renovations need to be made to the agent achieves little other than to alert the agent of a genuine interest to buy because it is such a common buyer trait.

Similarly, buyers armed with computer-generated “valuations” attempt to challenge a property’s asking price based on their obviously fallible market opinion determined by an algorithm.

This is all perfectly normal of course but, importantly, such a buying strategy can be disadvantageous because it risks offending the seller. The agent will directly convey any negative feed-back to their client (such as their decor choices) and sellers like to sell to people they like, not those that pour scorn over their much-loved home.

Our buyer wrote a lengthy letter to our seller, going into great detail as to why they ought to accept their below-market offer. The seller was most displeased and rejected their offer proclaiming, “We’re not selling to them!” Ultimately, another buyer came along and paid fair market price with the original buyer complaining why they weren’t given a further opportunity to negotiate.

Taking a defensive position about the price or presentation of a property gives you no advantage as a buyer at all, irrespective of the market conditions.

It is only at the point of negotiating the sale that a buyer should reveal their price and conditions. A positive, outcomes-focused approach with the agent gives the buyer a far greater chance at securing the property. A seller is more inclined to sell to a buyer who loves it but can’t really afford it, compared to a buyer who is able to afford it but is stubbornly stuck on a price because of “all the work they need to do.”

Buying and selling real estate is rarely just about the sale price. Sellers have a genuine and emotional attachment to their properties and are often so dismayed at the level of criticism of their property from a potential buyer they will stubbornly refuse to deal reasonably on an offer where otherwise it may well have been acceptable.