I’ve been working with a young family who are not from Mason City or North Iowa who have likely looked at more homes than the normal buyer in their price range. They have been a delight to work with yet I feel at times they are frustrated with our current market conditions. During these past twelve months, I have noticed a change in what the average buyers are looking for in our real estate market.
What has been concerning me the most, is that nearly all buyers are looking for homes that are near the top of their affordable range and also they seem to zero in on homes that have been “staged” by the sellers to get the optimum sales price.
Fewer and fewer buyers that are purchasing the homes that they will consider their residence will NOT look at homes for what they will do for them in the future, but rather what the homes will do for them NOW. What ever happened to the charming young couples who are looking at neglected homes that have been under the radar of value and seeing real sweat equity possibilities? I hope and pray that the article that I read today will not come to pass. The thrust of the article was that people that are in their early 30’s to late forties will have it much worse than the other age groups because of their being of the mindset of wanting everything NOW. Parents of buyers are also to blame. I have seen many good values passed over by young buyers who had vision, but because of controlling parents, they were talked out of doing what was best for themselves. More times than I ever want to remember, I have been an advocate of young buyers spreading their wings in learning and creating. Equity is not instant, but rather it is built on work and vision. If you think you haven’t found your “fit”, perhaps it’s there but you haven’t looked forward in time enough.
