House Hunters Question #2 Why Does The Home Buyer Only Look At 3 Houses?

Have you ever wondered on the show House Hunters why the buyer only looks at 3 houses or condos?

Is that all that is available? Do they look at more and just show us the 3? What was wrong with the other ones if that was the case?

What they don't show you on House Hunters that could cost you serious dollars in the long run.

One of the more popular shows on HGTV is House Hunters, where the host, Suzanne Whang highlights the process of a home buyer or a family buying a condo who are shown around to 3 homes by a real estate agent. After seeing the 3 homes and a regularly placed commercial break the home buyer comes to the real estate agent office to fill out a one page contract form. After another regularly placed break, viola, the buyer has the home and we get the opportunity to drop in on them 1-2 months after they have moved into the property they selected. All of this half hour, made for TV house hunting got me to thinking, How does House Hunters compare to the real home search and buying process?

Over the course of the next few days I will be comparing and reviewing the House Hunter process with the Actual home buying process while showing some of the glaring and subtle differences along with providing some food for thought for potential home buyers.

This is part two of a nine part series.

The premise of the show is truly very straight forward. A home buyer is shown a grand total of 3 homes by a real estate agent and they end up selecting one of the 3 homes. The amount shown is always 3. For over the past 12 months in the Northern Virginia Real Estate Marketplace alone there has been over 12,000 active listing at any given time. In many cases this does not include the homes being offered in new homes communities or any of the small number of homes that are offered as a for sale by owner. Now, let me ask you, How do you select 3 homes to see out of a possible 12,000 plus homes? There are condominiums that at any one period of time have more than 3 properties that match a particular criteria available at any one time. Take Watergate at Landmark Condos in Alexandria Virginia where there are over 10 of the same model available at any one given moment in time. Now, as a responsible agent, it would be in my best interest and in the best interest of the client to show them all of the properties that met the clients search criteria, not just 3 of them. In most areas, the schools and location with regard to the buyers job are extremely important to the home buyer. That being said, it is also worth noting that multiple communities or areas may be an equal distance from the buyers job and offer similar benefits. Again, it would be in the best interest of the home buyer to compare the areas and see all of the possible choices that are available.

If coordinated between the agent and the buyers, the entire search process time of actually looking at properties can be accomplished in 1 or 2 days. An experience agent will help the home buyer to evaluate multiple properties. I also stress the part that this can be done all in one day because, unlike the TV show that is looking to present a variety and contrast between the homes, we do not need to do a wardrobe change between each house showing.

How it really works: Most good agents will work with the buyer to establish what it is that the buyer is looking for from a home. Based upon this criteria the agent will compile a list of properties that meet the criteria set forth by the buyer. This list may result in multiple properties that are located in several similar communities. The Agent and Buyer will coordinate and block off a time to perform the actual house search. This scheduling is necessary because the agent needs to notify the occupants of the property that they are coming by so that the seller will not be present during the showing, thus allowing the buyers to feel right at home. If a community contains multiple properties that meet the criteria then the agent will make all of the properties available to the buyer. The agent will also assist the buyer in narrowing the list of possibilities down to a manageable 1, 2 or 3 properties. These properties may require a second look, but this can be handled in one appointment so that the decision making process is aided by all of the choices being fresh in mind.