By Amy Hoak, MarketWatch
Here’s your fixer upper. It just needs a little TLC.
CHICAGO (MarketWatch)—Summer’s waning, but for prospective home buyers who have yet to find their dream home, all hope is not lost for this year. It’s entirely possible to move before the holidays.
But you’ll need to be efficient in your search, spending time on only those listings that have the most potential.
It isn’t always easy. A listing won’t tell you everything, and sometimes they can be downright deceiving.
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“A lot of stuff on the Internet isn’t available or isn’t as described,” said Marge Bish, of Buyers Advantage Group Realty in Raleigh, N.C. Some listings just scream that they’re too good to be true.
For example, she gets five calls a week inquiring about a 3,400 square foot home that is listed for $64,000. The interior pictures listed with the home look nothing like the reality, Bish said. Her opinion: The house is in such disrepair it needs to be torn down.
“Now, when people call, I say ‘Are you a contractor? If you’re not, you don’t want to know anything about this house,’” she said.
While a good real-estate agent should be able to help you come up with a short list of properties to see, based on your requirements and their general knowledge of the housing inventory, a prospective buyer can also do some sleuthing to determine whether a listing is worthy of a closer look.
Below are several tips from real-estate agents across the country.
Beware of missing photos
If there’s a glaring omission in the photos that are supplied in the listing, it’s possible that the seller is hiding something that’s less than ideal.
“Let’s say the listing has no pictures of the kitchen in it—usually a sign that the kitchen is not great. Same goes for the backyard, or any other feature you would expect to see pictures of,” said Bill Golden, with Re/Max Metro Atlanta Cityside.
Now, that’s not to say the lack of good photos always means trouble, said Rachel Elaine Swann, of Hill Co. Real Estate in San Francisco. Sometimes they’re good properties with poor marketing—and when the masses overlook these properties, those who take the time to see them could have a better opportunity to get a bargain, she said.
Don’t fall for doctored photos
“If a buyer sees an image that has distorted proportions, a fisheye look, or if it just appears way too good to be true, the [home] probably looks better in photos than it really is in person,” said Jason Haber, chief executive of Rubicon Property in Manhattan.