Irreverent Real Estate: If it’s Nice and You Want to Buy it—It’s a Sellers Market.

Dear Readers,

I love buyers. They are eager, excited, and they are doing something that’s intrinsically fun—shopping. And what’s more fun than just shopping—is shopping for the best deal.

And what’s even better than that, is shopping for the great deal that also happens to be the nicest apartment available for sale in a given price range. And who doesn’t love that? A good deal on a uniquely beautiful apartment? No one doesn’t love it. And what that means is—if it’s a good deal and a terrific apartment or townhouse in your price range-someone else wants it. And in NYC it’s probably a lot of someone elses.

Sure—there may be plenty of places you can afford that meet most of your basic requirements…but ,dollars to donuts, most of them have something about them you won’t like (and that no one will like) challenges that may not be clear to you before you go to see them. For example, maybe the place looks great and the price is low—but the building is planning to do a bunch of work it can’t afford, that is going to send the maintenance into the stratosphere, or perhaps the apartment is huge—but when you arrive you discover a hallway that connects the palatial rooms requires you to hold your breath and turn sideways.

Of course, no apartment is perfect—but some are closer than others, and as unique as your tastes might be about other things, I bet that the features you like in apartments (or at least most of them) are exactly the same as mine, and everyone elses.

Here—let’s try—I like light, nice views, larger apartments, tasteful renovation, a well financed building, low monthly charges, a nice block, and proximity to the train, maybe outdoor space, maybe pet friendly, ideally higher ceilings, and a kitchen that makes me want to cook, and a bathroom I want to take a bath in. Sound familiar? Of course it does.

And categories of architectural styles, Victorian, Contemporary, or building types, Co-op, condo, don’t change the fact that everyone wants the same things—just within those categories. Shoppers for 3-bedroom new development condos like light and square footage as much as shoppers for Victorian 2-family townhouses, they just don’t run into each other at openhouses.

So whatever kind of place you’re shopping for—be it sprawling, gabled, Lefferts Gardens (Brooklyn) single family homes, or modern condo studios in the Meatpacking District—within your little real estate eco-system, you should be prepared to compete for the apartments at the top of the food chain. Those few are the one’s that you’ll end up actually wanting once you have looked for awhile. So while you may begin your search with a large number of great looking listings, let’s say 30, you are likely to discover after a couple of Sundays, that only three or maybe two of them really impress you, or any buyers, enough to put you in an offer-making mood.

Now—don’t be daunted by the competition you will find at the top. Forewarned is forearmed, and here’s some advice to get you through it:

1. Offer like you mean it (even if you’re only 90% committed). I’ m not suggesting you make offers irresponsibly, you should feel at least “pretty darn sure” (whatever that means to you) that you want to actually buy a place before you make an offer. However, once you do decide to make that offer it is important in terms of increasing the confidence of the seller, to project 100% intention. Sellers are a nervous lot and love commitment and can smell uncertainty. Feel free to talk for hours to your buyer’s agent about your fears about the apartment you are making an offer on-but don’t share them with the seller or the seller’s agent. It is totally natural to still have questions even as you are negotiating. Get answers to those questions through your own agent.
2. Make an offer than means business right away. If a place has a lot of interest and you know it-go straight to a number that is pretty close to what you want to end up at. Sure the seller might take that as a signal to try to negotiate you to an overly high price, but the worst thing that happens then, is that you’ll refuse to move much. If your starting offer is too low and someone else comes in higher. You’re done.
3.  Be the first offer in with the right number on your prequal, with your offer form filled out completely, and any paperwork necessary to make the offer. Being first may not get your offer picked—but it may get you brownie points with the agent and the seller.
4. Don’t freak if there’s a bidding war. Even the term “bidding war” sounds terrible, but really, it’s just kind of a dialog (or trialog, or quadralog? Are those words?) between you and the seller and a few other people who also want the place. It’s natural to be nervous- but  my advice is the same as it would be in any negotiation. Take a deep breath and just focus on knowing your personal top number. That’s it. Focus on a number which, if the place were to be sold to someone else for more, you’ll feel like whoever was foolish enough to pay that much, got robbed, and you’d be glad it wasn’t you, and also the number which, if you got the place, you’d feel glad you got it.

While there are enough apartments to go around for everyone to have one that suits them if they look long enough, somewhat like finding a mate—unlike romance, apartments are objects. No matter how much we may love them when we think of them as “homes”, they can be measured and quantified and compared pretty equally, which means some are just “better” and some are “worse” in a way that most people agree on. A house hunt is a combination of art and science for everyone, and being prepared to compete a little for the place that suits your fancy best can set you on the right road to win the place you love.

Thanks for reading,

Alexandra Florio   The Corcoran Group     646-269-1072