How to buy a home social-distance-style

We’re still seeing sellers putting homes on the market and we’re still seeing buyers snap them up – but the way people are buying and selling looks a little different.
We’ve said a temporary good-bye to public open homes and auctions – although Brissie has never liked selling under the hammer so that’s no big deal.
The other thing we’re seeing is a lot more ‘off market’ activity. What does that mean? Sellers and buyers are doing more transactions before a property officially comes on the market. In other words, there are homes for sale that you won’t find on realestate.com.au.
So what should you do if you’re looking to buy a home and haven’t quite figured out how to do this now your Saturday mornings aren’t spent on the open home circuit?
Like we said in our video last week, make sure you get in touch with your local agents and make yourself known. This will make sure you’re on their radar so they can contact you about off market deals you won’t see on realestate.com.au.
The Financial Review recently published an article on this, highlighting the importance of building relationships with your local agents given the growing number of off-market deals.
It’s also important to talk to your agents to understand what fair value looks like when it might be hard to see comparable deals online. Remember the property market is far more stable than the share market. The government and banks are doing a lot to help people whose jobs or income are affected by COVID-19. So homeowners doing it tough are aiming to weather the storm, not fire sale.
For those listings that do make it to realestate.com.au the value of a good-looking digital campaign is more important now than ever. And if you find the home of your dreams online, you can absolutely contact the agent to view it at a private inspection. Of course if you’re wanting to buy interstate you might have to shelve your inspection and removalist plans until borders reopen. But til then, put yourself on the radar of local agents so you can move quickly when the time is right.
Ready to buy or sell? Contact us for a chat.
Not sure about off market deals? View our current listings for sale in market, or check our listings for rent.