Capitalize on a Buyer's Market - DFW

Are you looking to buy a home or other real estate in the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area? If so, this guide will help you to understand how to leverage the buyer's market to get the best deal on your property. By learning a few important facts and following a few key steps, you'll be closing on your next parcel of land before you know it!

What is a Buyer's Market?

By basic definition, a buyer's market is a real estate market where there are more people selling their property than people looking to buy. The Dallas/Fort Worth area, comprising mainly of Dallas, Tarrant, Collin and Denton counties, currently has an overabundance of properties for sale. A March 2007 query of a popular local realty website revealed that there were over 41,000 properties for sale in that four-county area, almost 36,000 of which were single-family homes. While the rate of growth in the Dallas/Fort Worth area is fairly rapid, it is not high enough for there to be more buyers than sellers in the current real estate market, so the buyer has the advantage.

What Causes a Buyer's Market?

There are several reasons why the Dallas/Fort Worth area is currently a buyer's market. First, as I alluded above, the rate of growth of the area is not equal to or greater than the amount of available properties. As the population of the area continues to boom, there may again come a time where buyers and sellers again equalize, but it likely won't occur in the near future. Second, as people move from job to job and area to area more rapidly in a volatile job market, they are less inclined to take on the responsibility and burden of homeownership when the future might hold fluctuations in salary as well as potential relocations. Finally, the more developers that continue to erect new developments in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, the easier it is to buy a custom-designed brand-new home than invest in a pre-owned home that could come with its share of issues. This means that many older homes are destined to sit on the market longer while people are enamored by the possibility of building their own home from scratch. All of these reasons, both independently and combined, ensure your success as a potential buyer.

What Does This Mean to You?

While living in a buyer's market, you should take full advantage of the conditions that can lead you into your purchase at the most favorable terms. First, keep in mind that since there are more homes than buyers, you are in full control over finding the property you will eventually buy. Settling should never become an issue - through diligent search, you can browse the entire market to find a home that's perfectly you. Second, remember that as a buyer in a buyer's market, you have control over negotiations when you find a house to pursue. As seller's see their properties sitting on the market for 2, 6, 10 or more months, they become very amenable to pricing and conditions that would never be entertained in a seller's market. You will have more leeway over the purchase price you offer, as well as exactly what that price will include, even extending to negotiating for the seller to pay for part or all of your closing costs. Finally, take advantage of the time available because of the number of houses on the market and line up financing that especially suits you and your situation. Shop around and do nothing to limit your options on the mortgage that you end up choosing.

Searching Today, Moving Tomorrow

And old saying goes that a penny saved is a penny earned. In today's' buyer's market, you can save more than a few pennies by simply taking your time, conducting thorough research and ensuring that all of your ducks are in a row before you take the giant step of buying a home. Follow the advice and steps in this article and expand the circle of your research to all other available sources, and you will find yourself in exactly the home that's right for you!