There’s no inventory! How to find homes for your buyers

The current real estate market seems to be confusing the “experts.” This is especially evident when it comes to their predictions on where home prices are headed.

Zillow’s “economic research team,” for instance, sees a “… 1.8% drop in prices through October 2020.”

Both the NAR and Mortgage Banker’s Association, on the other hand, see price increases in their crystal balls (3.8% and 4.0% respectively).

Agents we’ve spoken with are more concerned about the tightening inventory that their buyers are facing than price increases or decreases in the future.

Right now, they need homes to sell to eager buyers and those homes are stubbornly not appearing on the market.

So, what’s a buyer’s agent to do?

We’ve asked for tips from agents on how to find homes when there’s no inventory and hopefully, they’ll help you, too.

Is there new construction inventory?

The media loves to talk about the dearth of new residential construction. So, we turned to the U.S. Census Bureau and HUD’s monthly report.

In May 2020 (the latest figures as of this writing), there were 1,220,000 building permits issued, 974,000 housing starts and 1,115,000 housing completions.

The chances are good there’s at least one or two new developments in your market.

Get to know the homes in these communities and the prices and terms of the inventory. Having these in your back pocket when your buyers become weary may just come in handy. Knowing your local area is a great way to keep your clients informed, so become a neighborhood expert!

Are you routinely sending CMAs to former clients?

If not, what are you waiting for? Especially if you sold the home to your clients more than eight years ago (the average tenure of homeowners as of the second quarter of 2019).

Many have no idea how much equity they have and just how much they can make off the sale of their homes right now, and that can cause fear when it comes to buying a new home. And, with interest rates remaining low, they can get just as much home for the money when they move.

A simple CMA can serve as a wake-up call for these homeowners, hopefully getting them into the market.

And who doesn’t want to double end a deal?

Send a buyers’ needs list to listing leads

A few weeks after sending the CMAs, reach out again to all those listing leads in your CRM by sending a list of buyers’ needs.

When it comes to figuring out how to find homes when there’s no inventory, this list can help.

Describe what the buyer wants – number of bedrooms and baths, for instance. If the buyer has a special hot button, perhaps a swimming pool, and your listing lead’s home has a pool, mention that.

If your buyer is insisting on living in a specific neighborhood, start farming the area. A general flyer of your buyers’ needs, mailed to each homeowner, would be a good place to start.

Pre-foreclosures may be on the rise

Researchers at the UK’s Oxford Economics said an uptick in foreclosures in the U.S. “is inevitable.” Whether the number will rival that we saw during the Great Recession remains to be seen.

And, it depends on the number of homeowners in forbearance who can afford the pay-back options offered by their lenders.

Head to the county recorder’s office and pore over the public records for notices of default and lis pendens.

Searching for pre-foreclosures is time-consuming and probably not a good solution for busy agents. Unless, of course, you hire someone to do it for you.

There ya go! Four tips that other agents say are working for them about how to find homes when there’s no inventory.