The speed of the decision to buy

It is said that no two houses are exactly the same.  Well in my opinion no two buyers are exactly the same either.

It has long since intrigued me on the many different ways that viewers and buyers go about the process of buying a house.

Some people view lots and lots of homes before making the decision. Others buy the first one that they see.

Some buyers make a decision there and then to buy the house. Others will come back days or even weeks later to talk about making an offer.

Sometimes the length of time the negotiation process takes is few hours, sometimes days or even weeks.

It is not unknown for viewers to have made an offer and come back months later to review that offer either making the same offer again or a higher one or even a lower depending on whether the market has been going up or down in the interim period.

Sometimes people will go back for second and even third viewings before making a decision to buy.  I think the personal record  we have experienced here at Jonathan Waters Estate Agents is somebody making an offer after the fifth viewing on a property. Others will shortlist properties and second view those on the shortlist. It is all down to personal preference.

It is understandable for viewers to want to go back for a second view with perhaps a builder or an architect or tradesman to get specialist advice on the costs of work that the viewers plan to have once they have completed on the purchase if the property requires work or there are planning permission or building regulation issues.

Other buyers have a survey before making an offer on a property that may have structural problems or other problems relating to its condition.

At the other end of the scale some buyers will make a decision to purchase there and then and never see the property again until completion day when they move in.  A visit between exchange and completion by buyers to measure up for carpets, curtains, appliances etc is quite common.  One thing is of interest though that in nearly 26 years of showing prospective purchasers round homes I have never once yet had a situation where someone who offered without seeing a property actually went through and exchanged and completed on that property.

All these variables is what makes estate agency, in my opinion, the most interesting job in the world.  Often people, and quite sensibly, will look at the property from the outside at the stage of the initial enquiry to gage whether it is in the right position for them and looking at the surrounding areas.  Sometimes I have also seen people agree only half heartedly to view a property only to find that once they get there and get through the front door they absolutely fall in love with it.  On many occasions I have seen people purchasing properties that they would never have otherwise considered viewing.

This brings me on to the point of where one of the real skills in estate agency lies.  One of the ways we continue to be so successful at Jonathan Waters Estate Agents is to use highly experienced staff with extensive local knowledge.  Between our three offices our staff have over 300 years combined estate agency experience. One of the key factors is our staff knowing details about the property for sale and equally important the circumstances and selling motivations of the vendors.

I am currently looking to purchase a property myself and have been amazed at the number of calls I have made to estate agents where the person who answers the phone hasn’t seen the property, nor do they know any information about the circumstances of the sale.  Both these factors are absolutely vital if a sale is to be agreed and proceed to completion successfully.

The art of matching the right buyers with the right motivation and the right ability to buy with the right properties and the matching motivations of the sellers is probably the single biggest difference that an estate agency sales negotiator can bring to the whole of the house buying and selling process.

However things are starting to change.  When I purchased my first property as a raw first time buyer over 25 years ago we viewed in the evening. As we knocked on the door a previous young couple were coming out having just viewed the property, and another couple were waiting on the doorstep to have the property in case we decided not to buy it ourselves.  We had no choice but to offer full price there and then.

That was in the boom of the Spring of 1988 which I have talked about extensively in blogs on the Jonathan Waters website.

The market clearly isn’t back to that level of activity yet but it has certainly warmed up considerably as 2013 has progressed.  The second phase of the Help To Buy Scheme launched last week will certainly add to the increased level of activity.

A good example of where the market is right now is an Open Day that we undertook in Beech Grove, just off Cliff Lane in south east Ipswich on Saturday.

My extensively experienced colleague Andrew Blewitt took 35 sets of details to the open day in what I thought was a somewhat over the top optimistic gesture.  In fact both Andrew and myself were wrong.  He contacted me only half way through the two-hour open day slot to say he had already run out of sales particulars and in total we had over 50 viewers in two hours.

Needless to say no one had any time to talk about second viewings there. 

There is no doubt that sensible priced property in sought after locations with a vendor who is serious about selling are creating a good deal of interest at the current time.

Jonathan Waters is the Managing Director of Jonathan Waters Estate Agents with three offices in the Ipswich area.  The company opens their fourth office in early November.

Jonathan has written numerous articles on many aspects of estate agency which have appeared in newspapers, magazines and has appeared on radio and television as a property expert.  To get the absolute latest on the market and general property news follow us on Twitter, Facebook or visit any of our offices detailed below

625 Foxhall Road, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP3 8ND   01473 721133  jonathan@waters-ips.co.uk
35 Buttermarket, Ipswich, Suffolk IP1 1BH   01473 281188 jonathanwaters@jonathanwaters.co.uk
Bristol Court, Betts Avenue, Martlesham Heath Business Park, Martlesham IP5 3RY   01473 620222 jonathan@waters-ips.co.uk

www.jonathanwaters.co.uk