The home-buying process is one that requires patience and understanding of your clients’ needs. Also, a good agent keeps up with how their client is feeling. If a homebuyer is frustrated this can create some difficulty in the process. As an agent, you must properly assess the situation and provide guidance to your homebuyer to ease the frustration.
This blog will explain where this frustration stems from, has it changed and how you can create a better experience for your client.
In today’s technology-driven society, almost anything can be done on a smartphone. Therefore, it has been widely assumed that the process of home shopping is easier today that ever before. However, a recent survey by the National Association of Home Builders finds that more Americans are frustrated in the process.
Homebuyer Expectations
The NAHB polled nearly 17,000 people over two months, and of those polled, 13 percent considered themselves prospective homebuyers at the time. A majority of them were first-time buyers in the millennial demographic.
Seventy-two percent of these prospective buyers said they expected the ongoing home-search process to become “harder or about the same” in the months ahead. Only 19 percent said they thought it would get easier. One of the top frustrations for home buyers is the inability to find an affordable home.
Fifty-two percent of millennial respondents, the largest prospective home-buyer demographic in the survey, cited price as the toughest barrier in buying. Price is key in any home search, which is why thorough communication with your client on this topic can create a smoother home search.
Obstacles for Homebuyers
It is possible that price growth and inventory shortages are taking a toll on homebuyer confidence. When NAHB conducted this same survey last year, fewer prospective buyers (65 percent compared to this year’s 72) said they thought their home searching would get harder in the months ahead and 27 percent expected the search to get easier.
#1. Price Growth
Price growth is one aspect that impacts both the buyer and seller. The buyer wants the best deal whereas the seller wants to make a profit. More than three-quarters of buyers surveyed said that at least half of the listings in their market were outside their price range. 49 percent of respondents stated that they could not find a home at a price they could afford. This is up from 42 percent a year ago.
#2. Inventory Shortage
The inventory storage is an obstacle that homebuyers with specific desires hits the most. In NAHB’s Housing Trends Report, 40 percent of active buyer respondents said they were specifically looking for an existing home rather than new construction. Appropriately negotiating price brackets and understanding homebuyers’ wish lists for their homes is key in creating a process where both parties can understand expectations.
Road Ahead for Buyers
Even with all the obstacles and frustration in the process, these prospective buyers generally planned to continue actively searching. When asked what their next steps would be if they could not find the “right” home in the next few months, 63 percent of respondents said they would simply “continue looking until the right home opens up in a preferred location.”
Forty-four percent said they would expand their search area in response. This means that homebuyers may be frustrated, but they are dedicated to find their dream home even if it means opening search areas or spending longer times searching.
Home shopping has its obstacles, and recent inventory shortages in unison with price growth can amount to frustration. Those are aspects you cannot truly control. You can, however, guide your client into realities and make the home search process much less stressful. By discussing plans with your client and having an understanding of their concerns, you can alleviate some of that frustration. Check out our AgentEDU course dedicated to understanding buyers. If you start a seven-day free trial, you’ll have access to our “Representing Buyers” course.
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