The sad truth is, many first time home buyers simply have no idea where to look for homes for sale in their area. They typically go to a large national chain of real estate agencies, such as MLS or National Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and assume it's a great place to look. They look at the statistics from national sales and see what it says, assuming it must be a good place to buy a house. The sad truth is, far too often, these houses end up on the MLS lists, not because the house buyer was unsuccessful in finding one, but because he or she did not know where to look. Here are some tips to help you find the perfect house for you without breaking the bank.
In my years of selling homes, I've had many clients approach me asking where I could find homes for sale in their area. These clients were usually buying their first home, hoping to use the house as an investment property or to rent out to a family or couple. Since most real estate agents handle these types of transactions, I always ask them to help their clients find homes. (To my clients' delight, I find this one of the more interesting questions.) They tell me they have several properties in their own listings, but they would need help to locate the best deals in the areas they are interested in.
I told these home buyers to keep looking at local MLS listings and to keep calling the best realtor San Diego agents to inquire about properties available in their area. The problem with this approach is that most real estate agents have their own narrow list of homes they show, rather than a wider selection of homes for sale in their area. This means they will only show you homes that are part of their narrow focus. This can make your search much more tedious, since you have to start at the beginning, when you know the general areas you are interested in.
So I started calling homes in various top San Diego neighborhoods in the area I was interested in. I found houses and then homes, even those that weren't yet listed in the MLS. I found houses that were still owned by their original owners, in great condition, in beautiful landscaped gardens, and even in detached garages. All of these properties had been refurbished by their previous owners and, although they were only priced at half-decade mortgages, they were close to being in the market.
I then called each of these owners and explained to them how I was looking for houses for sale, and asked whether they were open to having their homes shown on a website. Most of the time, no one was willing to have their home placed on such a site. But a few of these individuals did agree to have their homes shown. After explaining the nature of the business to them, I made sure that I had pictures of the backyard, garage, and other important parts of the property. Then I called each of the houses and told them what I wanted, and asked which of their available homes in the neighborhood that would make a good match for what I was looking for.
Some of them thought I was insincere, because I was only looking for houses for sale that had a detached garage and a brand new roof. But I had pictures and details of each property, and they really didn't need to sell to me if they didn't have anything to present their buyers with. And they were happy to have a display window so that their potential buyer could look inside of their home. When the potential buyer saw how nice their home looked inside and out, he was more than ready to sign the purchase contract. Now all it took was a little advertising and some creative wording to convince him that he needed to make a purchase today! Check out this related post to get more enlightened on the topic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_estate.
