When it comes to ready-to-move-in properties, the pace has not let up over the past few weeks and time remains crucial for buyers as they look to secure their next home in a very tight market.
Well presented and positioned properties continue to be keenly sought, and with many buyers either having spent an extended time in the market searching or newly in the market and worried about spending an extended time in the market searching…. The good ones just don’t last.
I have had a number of times now where buyers have enquired after a home (within the first few days) looking to set up an inspection for 2 or 3 weeks later and each time I have had to let them down as homes have rarely seen a 2nd open home without a contract in place.
Among those that do get in quickly though, there are still areas where buyers can let themselves down, namely in taking too long to go from “we’d like to make an offer” to “here is the signed contract ready for acceptance”.
Its very easy to make an offer – it can be an off the cuff “would they take this”, it could be a text, an email or even smoke signals if you are really good at it. But for there to be actual, binding acceptance - that offer needs to be written into a contract and both parties need to agree to all terms.
What does this look like in practice? Well, you might have a case where a buyer inspects a property on a Thursday and come Friday calls the agent to make an offer. Great start. From here, the buyer should expect to receive a copy of the contract in pretty short order, generally with the proposed terms and details already inserted and ready for signature (thank you Docusign, Adobesign and every other electronic signature service).
While that buyer may have had a ready and willing seller at 12pm on Friday, in a position to accept their offer and sign the contract in turn by 5pm, if they decide to wait til Monday to submit, then they run the risk of other buyers coming forward in the meantime, and potentially going from being the only option to one of several. At that point, they may need to pay more to get the deal done, or even miss out entirely.
There are times when you want to get every duck in a row before moving forward and this can take time. In this market though, you may be better off with an extra condition or two and a quicker offer, than one that comes in too late.