Where is the best deal?

As we walked into the front door, the finely appointed furniture and the wood floors stood out to me. We had just been through four or five bank owned homes and this one was not. This home was being sold by some folks with a lot of equity who need to be closer to their kids school. We moved through the meticulously cared for rooms, the kitchen, into the fully landscaped backyard and marveled at the differences in the places we had seen that day. Absent were the mysterious odors, gone was the dust from another Realtor leaving a window open, there was no dead grass in the backyard...instead those things were replaced with candles, posters from kids favorite rock bands, antique furniture, and an amazing pool in the backyard. My clients fell in love.

My weeks are usually consumed by wandering in and out of many vacant homes throughout Riverside County (Corona, Riverside, Lake Elsinore, Murrieta, Temecula). Homes where you need to have a creative mind to see the potential of what might be. These homes are missing kitchens, they have holes in the wall, they have mangled carpet (or tile, or wood), dead grass in the front yard and no landscaping in the backyard, they have left behind desks in the garage and sometimes trash all throughout the backyard.

This dichotomy presents a big problem. My clients are looking for turnkey homes. They want to get the best deals AND they want the home to be perfect. Clients usually want Wal-Mart prices with Saks Fifth Avenue service. However, this place usually does not exist. And when it does, it is listed for $318,000 and sells for $385,000...true story of a home in Corona 6 weeks ago.

In today's market, buyers need to understand that turnkey means that there is a seller (not the bank) involved. A seller who measured their kids in the kitchen doorway. A seller who used to have Thanksgiving dinner in the dining room. A seller who had barbecues in the backyard for the Fourth of July. A seller who last year knew their house was worth at least 30% more than it is today. A seller who has a mortgage on this home.

The bank usually isn't too worried about the condition of the property. The bank cares about none of these things. The bank cares about one thing, the bottom line (which usually is 92% of market value).

As we walked out of the house, my clients looked at me and said, "we want this one."

I knew...I could see it in their eyes.

They made a decision that is so hard for buyers to make today. They made their decision based on the location of the property, based on the needs of their family, based on what they wanted. They wanted turnkey...and they paid top dollar for it. Most buyers want the best home in the neighborhood for less than the worst home in the neighborhood.

Unfortunately, they spend a lot of time looking at homes, writing a lot of low offers while someone else is moving into their home.