Comparison Shopping (For Homes) Is Difficult In A Low Inventory Market
Scott P. Rogers
If you were going to buy a ____, it would probably be nice to look at multiple options, compare them, and then decide which one to buy, right?
That is often possible with buying a home, whenever we have a balanced market (or a buyer's market) when buyers can find multiple houses on the market at any given time that might work for them. A buyer would then go view multiple houses, compare them, and decide if they want to make an offer on one of the available homes.
These days (and for the past few years) we have been in a strong sellers market, with very low inventory levels. The same number of houses have typically been available for a buyer to consider... but they are often evaluating them one at a time, every few weeks... instead of all at once.
Sorta like this...
- Go see House #1, not sure if you like it enough
- Go see House #2, definitely don't like it
- Go see House #3, a strong possibility
- Go see House #4, terrible, let's buy #1 or #3 -- oh wait -- they're already under contract!?
- Go see house #5, so-so, but ugh, the ones I like already sold
Basically, home buyers have had to make a decision about whether to buy a house... one house a time... without the ability to compare multiple options that are available at the same time.
That may eventually change, in some or most price ranges, if we start to see inventory levels increase over time. Until then, it can be a challenge to be a thoughtful and intentional comparison shopper when trying to buy a home!
