What Buyers Want

Spend any time with a buyer and it is very clear what they are looking at. The most important category for anything is price. It is a lot easier for a person to convince themselves to purchase something if it is easier to afford. The next criteria that is most important for a buyer is location. People want to be where they feel comfortable and in an area they like. The third and final aspect a buyer will judge a property on is style and condition. One buyer might not mind doing a little fix-up work while another loathes the idea.

The issue of price is the most important and most obvious factor on which all home buying searches are based. Most people are going to look at all ranges of what they can afford to start out with but then start to settle more towards one price point as they find out which one gives them the value they are looking for. This isn't just important for buyers but for sellers as well. When listing a property it is important to understand the buyers mindset and set your property into a price range in which it can compete with the other properties on the market.


Location is of course the driving factor behind real estate. People want to live where they want to live. To some people this is a select group of areas and to others this is one specific area. All buyers are going to be different and will value different qualities in a location. Some will want to be closer to the schools while others will want to be within walking distance of public transportation and others still will want to be close to shopping and dining.

The last important factor for buyers is style and condition. Again this is something that is going to change from buyer to buyer. Some buyers might have to have an updated kitchen while others will care more about having updated bathrooms and can take or leave the kitchen. The thing I like to say is to control the controllable. If a buyer looks at two homes in a neighborhood and one has new paint and carpets and is on the market for more then it is important to find out for that buyer what those things would cost and then compare cost that way. There are certain factors of style and condition that cannot be changed and those are the ones it is really important to look at.

The factors that buyers base their decisions on aren't just important for buyers but for sellers as well. When an offer is about to be made the buyer is going to be given information that will help to justify their offer and it is the same info the seller should have had when that property was placed on the market. A seller should look at these factors and decide if their property is priced to compete with other houses in their area that are of the same style and condition. The more a seller can get into the head of buyers the better they can do in moving their property.