Last Minute Lookers

Over the last couple of months, there has been a sharp decrease in 'advance planning time' among shoppers making trips up to look at property. Generally, I count on a week or two lead time when starting to work with new buyers. I find out what they're looking for, email a range of listings, we talk about them, narrow down the list, I send some other options, etc. Often, they've been doing their own homework for weeks or months, looking at listings on the internet, before contacting me. When we do finally go out, we've collaborated on what to see and it's a pretty well choreographed trip.

Recently, I've had a lot more requests for last minute appointments. Folks getting in touch for the first time on Thursday or Friday to come up on the weekend. Overall, more of an impulsive feeling, with a common call starting, "We've been thinking about buying a vacation home and want to come up this weekend to take a look at what you have."  Often they're brand new shoppers, who haven't been to Sullivan before, and only have a very general idea of what they'd like. They may have done some home surfing through listing websites, but not the serious searching and listing saving I'm more used to.

I don't have a good handle about what this shift is about. I suspect it may have something to do with pent up demand that built up over the winter. Traditionally, a lot of second home buyers start their shopping just after the New Year, but this year almost nobody — apart from the occasional bargain shark — was thinking much about real estate in January and February. Now, folks may be thinking "Maybe now's the time to dip our toe into the water."

This last minute casualness may also stem from not wanting to be "too serious" about buying a house. Planning a week or two ahead to come up may imply a buyer is more "serious" and "committed" to buying a house, while deciding at short notice to take a drive to the country to get a lay of the land is, well, just a nice drive to the country. Less serious. Dipping your toe in the water to check it out.

I'm not complaining. The fact that people are thinking about second homes again, and willing to make a trip out to the country to take a look, is a positive development. And folks need to dip their toe in the water before they jump in for a swim. Unfortunately, at the last minute my weekend appointments are already booked. There's less time for that collaboration to plan a really good trip. And because I'm often pulling together a selection of properties to show with only sketchy guidelines and not a lot of feedback from the buyers, I may not be as on target with what I'm showing.

I'm hearing from other agents that they're seeing a similar shift in lead time. And that does have some implications for sellers and how they've arranged to have their properties shown, as well as how accessible their agents are. If a seller doesn't want a lock box on their house, requires advance notice or asks that their listing agent be present for all showings, those houses generally can't be set up to show at the last minute. And listing agents need to have some method for fast turnaround to confirm a showing.

Comments

[Bix]

Sounds like good news to me.