Home Buyers Becoming More Demanding

A bargain house is not enough now for home buyers.  If they find even the smallest defect in the property, it should be repaired or replaced at the expense of the seller.

Home Buyers Takes the Driver’s Seat

Home buyers today command the housing market.  As more and more home sellers are getting desperate to make a sale, home buyers are leveraging on this knowledge and squeezing everything they can from the sellers.  

Mike Byrd, a real estate agent said that the current sentiment of home buyers now is to exact payback.  Home buyers think that it is their turn to demand from home sellers and they are really good at putting the screws on the sellers.

It is not uncommon now to see home buyers demanding sellers to pay for even the tiniest bit of house repair.  Buyers are also insisting that sellers should provide a standard one year service contract for all the appliances in the house.  It serves as the warranty or service guarantee for the installed house appliances.

According to Byrd, sellers are also getting creative these days as they include air conditioning, one year condo membership fees, or a vacation to Hawaii, in the house package.  It is a way of attracting home buyers by providing lots of incentives.

Goodbye to Pre-Crisis Practices

In pre-housing crisis days, buyers are at the end of the bargaining table as they accept the house the way they find it.  Some home buyers during those heydays also offer to pay the taxes of the seller for the sale and transfer of the property.  Today, these practices are virtually non-existent.

In not so recent past, sellers dominate the terms and conditions of the sale contract.  Buyers then only need to agree and they do not have a hand in the formulation of house sale contract.  If buyers do not like the contract, then sellers can simply walk away and wait for other buyers.

Today, the roles have been reversed.  Buyers are having a big hand in the formulation of the terms of agreements and they could demand a clause on the contract.  Usually, home buyers are including extra service provisions for the house such as an Internet connection and other amenities.  

Buyers also demand sophisticated paints and other fixings for the house.  They also increasingly demand multiple inspection of the property instead of a single home inspector.  

Home buyers are increasingly demanding as they are not satisfied with the final bargain price.  The bargain price can be made much lower and the sellers usually give in.

The roles have indeed changed and home sellers know it too.  They know that home buyers today hold the key in the housing market.  If a seller balks at the offer of buyer, then the buyer will just walk away and look for other homes.