Now that the tax credit has expired, are the buyers gone?

Not at all folks, not at all.


It is very true that the tax credit pushed buyers that were on the fence about purchasing a home, giving them an extra $ incentive to 'take the plunge', so to speak. These buyers knew there was $8,000 available to them if they could find ‘the one’ in time to execute a contract by the 4/30/2010 deadline. Some of those buyers worked frantically at finding their best choice during the month of April. However, the past few weeks of real estate has taught me that money isn't everything! Not only in real estate, but many other aspects of life as well.


Buyers today want to get the best house for their money. This means looking at more homes, taking longer to decide the pros & cons of their favorite(s) and/or realizing that a home purchase is not something to settle on. This has become the mentality we real estate agents are finding in most buyers today. They may have said to their agent “I’ll jump at writing an offer, so long as it’s the perfect house in the perfect location” before the tax credit expired. However, if they didn’t find that perfect house, in its perfect location then they will continue to take their time but in the end still make the purchase.


Sellers have become weary that the buyer pool has been eliminated by the expiration of the tax credit. Do not fret, I say to my sellers and all others with homes on the market currently. There are still plenty of buyers out looking at homes, who may have ‘missed the boat’ on the tax credit, yet are serious about a home purchase. There will be more buyers added to the pool each month due to their recent employment changes as well. These buyers may have just gotten a promotion, a raise or are hitting their two year history of employment over the summer. Any of those circumstances will bring new buyers each week and in turn hundreds of buyers added to the pool each month.


When deciding whether or not to pull your home off the market, because the buyer pool may have potentially shrunk, one must be sure to focus on your long term goals in addition to the short term ones. I've heard sellers say that they'll pull their home off the market and try again in a few years.  Except, no one can guarantee that the market will indeed turn two years from now.  While we enter the next ‘wave’ of foreclosures; i.e. folks that were laid off, injured or had a decrease in pay/hours, it will be tough to truly estimate what year the market will turn again. Many numbers have been thrown around by economists over the last few months, most landing in the 8-10 year range, on when home prices will show consistent value increases year over year.  The difference between two years and 8-10 is huge, when it comes to the necessity of selling your home.  Deciding whether or not now is the time to sell will significantly depend on the latest estimates of when the market truly will turn around.  


As always, keep me in mind if you would like to sit down and discuss your situation in an effort to help determine whether or not you should continue pursuing a buyer. I am happy to help counsel on your options, no matter what the outcome of the discussion is.