St. Louis Real Estate “Stealth Buyers”. . .or “why you shouldn’t hide in the bushes!”

How to lose your dream home in one easy step!

1. Come to an open house unprepared!!!

This is a sad story about John and Mary Doe. They have been looking for just the right home for months and months. They came to the first open house and fell in love with the property, along with two other couples, who also fell in love. They have avoided “real estate” agents” because of a fear of getting. . .who knows what? They have avoided “mortgage” folks for the same reason? Guess what?. . .they lost the home of their dreams!

Why,because they didn’t want to put their home on the market until they found their dream home and didn’t have a fall back strategy in place with a lender, to move quickly if they found it. They scrambled for a “bridge loan” and choked on the interest rate. Therefore, their contract was contingent on selling their home. . .oops!
Step one, should have been, talk to a lender, face to face, and look at all the options. Turns out that they could have qualified for a 1st and a 2nd on the “dream home” and paid off the 2nd when their home sold. The interest on the 2nd would have been much less than the bridge loan. They had great credit, and lot’s of equity in their present home. They also have a great home that could/should have been getting ready to “go to market”. Working with ~~a Realtor~~ us, would have given them a realistic idea of the St. Louis Market condition, correct pricing strategy, and proper staging, and would have prepared them to sell their home.
So now we look for “dream home” number two, hopefully better prepared.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 1st, 2007 at 3:03 pm and is filed under First Time Home Buyer, For Buyers, For Sellers, Real Estate News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.