Buying a Condo? 3 Typical Errors to Avoid

If you’ve been watching our website long enough, you might be getting ready to jump in the condo buying world. We work with condo buyers every day, from first-time buyers, to experienced real estate buyers. If you haven’t started working with us yet, we’d like to share 3 common errors that buyers make when starting their San Francisco condo buying adventure.

Waiting to get prequalified

Buyers often contact us for the first time when they find a condo on the website they like, perhaps well enough to put an offer in. Well, if you find a great deal on the website, probably others have found it appealing as well! Working quickly to snag the condo you love is very important. When we submit an offer, we must include a prequalification letter to show the seller you can follow through on your contract to buy the unit. Sometimes this process can take a day or two. Sometimes longer! If you aren’t prequalified, we need to wait until we can get that information from your lender to include with the offer. Meanwhile the condo can get snapped up by another buyer. We’re not using this issue as a sales ploy to get you to hurry – we really do have buyers miss out on properties because they weren’t ready with financing.

When determining which lender to work with, make sure you find one who can get loans done within the time frame specified on the contract. We have a list of lenders we’ve worked successfully with in the past if you do not have one.

Submitting a Contract Too Low When other Buyers are Involved.

A well priced condo in a popular community can sell quickly in San Francisco. Sometimes over asking price. And sometimes, agents will under-price a desirable condo, expecting multiple offers. For some people, offering over asking price is akin to offering up their first born, but sometimes we’ll tell you when a condo is under-priced and will attract multiple offers. In cases like this, we’ll help you determine if you should bid up for the condo, sweeten your offer with other concessions, or just let this one pass for now.

Beginning the Home Search Too Late

If you are an experienced buyer and have been used to markets with plenty of inventory, it was easy to confine your home buying experience to a week or two of looking, a week for an offer or two, and then you’re done. But depending upon your price range and your needs, the tight San Francisco condo market might not let you do that. You might have noticed that our inventory is low, and the condo community you like may have a very limited inventory. And first time home buyers at the lower price points have limited inventory as well. Though short sales are unusual in San Francisco, they often take 3 or 4 months before bank acceptance. So when should you start with a real estate agent? 3 months ahead of your target buying time is a good minimum; however, we have clients that have been looking and putting in offers for more than 6 months! We keep in touch with many clients that are over 6 months away from buying so that they have time to get an idea of the market and can start receiving listings that fit their requirements. So please consider contacting us early, or at least consider that the condo buying adventure may take longer than what you have experienced in past real estate markets.