South African homebuyers greedy enough to only pay for home bargains are in danger of not buying a home if they continue on their path.
Such buyers tend to spend far too long hunting for homes and to look at far too many properties without making a decision. When they do make a final choice they often put in an offer that is so ridiculously low as to be almost certain to be rejected, he says.
Tony Clarke, managing director of Rawson Properties says although price rises and residential property marketing conditions are improving noticeably month-by-month, South Africa is still very definitely not yet a home sellers’ market.
He notes that bargain hunters are still able to buy homes at big discounts on the prices that would normally be set for the homes in question.
Clarke says this can be a worthwhile and highly profitable exercise.
However, time-and-again they find that these bargain hunters are missing out on chances and becoming totally disillusioned because they are determined to get the ultimate good buy but in doing so wreck their chances of getting any buy at all.
Such buyers tend to spend far too long hunting for homes and to look at far too many properties without making a decision.
When they do make a final choice they often put in an offer that is so ridiculously low as to be almost certain to be rejected, he says.
“Those who behave in this way will always in the end lose the co-operation of the estate agents and will not be fed information about new buys.”
They will also cause great emotional stress to the seller because he sees himself as being exploited and trampled on and he will do his best to see that he and others in the same predicament do not get involved with these buyers.
The ultra-low price tactic in buying will almost never succeed if the property is repossessed because the banks themselves will always baulk at taking too big a loss, he says.
On the other hand, those buyers who are still determined to get a bargain and are prepared to offer between 75 and 80 percent of the current value and who are able to empathise with the seller’s situation and to give him fair treatment are still picking up excellent purchases, the true value of which, will become evident in two or three years’ time.
“Never before in all my 22 years in property has so much good value property been available at such reasonable prices.”
He adds that now is a good time to buy – but the current situation will not last long as there are indications already that house prices will rise and in many areas an increasing shortage of stock.
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