I think in a hot market, it's not so "dumb" to bid after 1 visit.

But in our OP's market, it's not hot--a buyer would be foolish in the extreme not to look at it at least one more time before putting in a bid.

I know in a hot market things would be much different. My Mom bought her condo in 2005. She had to make her offer after spending 20 min looking on the first day of the listing to have any chance at it. There were 6 offers that first day. She offered 5200K over asking and won out by 200 bucks and the fact she had cash. She said you never offer after one visit or at full price, but that was a crazy time and luckily her Realtor was able to convince her of that.

Don't quote me, but I believe the current DOM for my price point/area is 110 days. So, I realize it's early in the game for me, but I've heard so much about houses getting the most showings/interest when they are new on the market so we hoped we would at least get a few people coming back for a 2nd look...and maybe we still will.

I just found it hard to believe even when someone has seen the competition, they will offer on the first visit. My realtor says buyers usually form an opinion right away if it's something they are interested in, and when they are on a scheduled showing, they just take the time the need to look at everything then. If they just started looking, they will continue to look to see what's out there, then come back to look again if they liked it. People that have looked for weeks before seeing it will go ahead and offer if they know it's what they want. They still have an inspection that will point out potential issues.

Maybe it's my area but I remember when we looked all the houses seemed to look the same, had similar floorplans..they were just on a differnet lots/neighborhoods and were in differnet conditions etc. It was rare to see something "differnet" , that stood out as better then the rest. There was another home we put an offer on before this one. It had been on the market for about 2 months, was unique in floorplan. It was older and smaller than the one we bought, it was also 30K less. Ironically they got our offer and another on the same day, 2 months into the listing. We lost out. I can remember being happy that we did later when we finally got this one. My Husband keept repeating to me, "If not now..better."

Back in 2003, we visited once and were pretty much ready to make an offer. Went back to take another look and wrote that day. Of course, we had gone to many open houses and had a short list of six to view with our Realtor.

I just had a client who looked at probably 15 properties, saw the one that was hers, waited for mom to get out off church to offer her comments, and made an offer. It's vacant, she can see it anytime, but didn't need to. It IS uncommon, but it happens.

I'm definitely in the "Never offer on the first look" camp --
though I'm ALSO in the "know it when you see it" camp.

And I did make an offer after seeing a place once one time (we'd seen the competition), but in retrospect, we would have been in a better negotiating position had we come back a second time and not tipped our hand so early.

I guess it would be harder if all of the houses were in similar tract neighborhoods and of a similar vintage.

My hubby and I are not compulsive buyers -- we've been transfered a lot and still looked at each of the 7 homes we've purchased twice before making an offer. That said though, each of the 6 homes we've sold were sold after a first visit, none of the buyers came back for a second look.

We've make an offer after the second visit. Both times we were out of town buyers with limited time to visit the area.

I've bought two houses, both offers happened after our first visit. The first one we visited over 60 houses before seeing it and jumped on it (it was priced easily $20,000 under market, it was it's first day on the market and there were 3 offers placed that night).

This last house we visited once and it was the first and only house we visited. The market here is really small and we ruled out the other possibilities just based on the fact that hubby needs (ok, wants, but he says needs) cable internet. In the end it didn't matter, I walked in the front door and said, "This is the one".

We did. But this was in Southern California, at the height of the seller's market, in which bidding wars were common, and houses often sold for more than they were listed. We were lucky -- we got to see the house one day before it was listed (our buyer's agent worked in the same office as the selling agent). We saw it, knew it was exactly what we wanted, and made an offer so that we could get it before anyone else saw it. We love our house, and are very happy to have it -- if we'd known the market was going to start falling just shortly after, we might have waited another couple of years to buy (houses around the corner from us are selling for $80,000 less than what we bought at), but on the other hand, we've had these past few years in our house that we wouldn't have otherwise had. And it's a nearly perfect house for us!

Don't quote me, but I believe the current DOM for my price point/area is 110 days. So, I realize it's early in the game for me, but I've heard so much about houses getting the most showings/interest when they are new on the market so we hoped we would at least get a few people coming back for a 2nd look...and maybe we still will.

You are going to make yourself sick if you don't sell quick. A lot of us have been on the market close to a year in other parts of the world. It is a crappy market to sell in.

If your DOM are over 100, you need to just go with the flow because you are going to get down in the dumps.

Our house also should have sold fast but it took over 9 months. Since it ain't over till it's over, I still have another 30 days of waiting for something to fall through. I haven't even started packing yet.

We had 3 offers, none walked the house more then once. The 1st spent the least time and was very low although we tried to work with him as it was our 1st in 10 months.

My realtor said most people, unless they have just started looking, will make an offer after the one visit. "They know it when they see it"

Maybe she's right, who knows? I walked a lot of houses and knew the minute we walked into the one we picked. We did go back a few times though. We spent the same as your house, so we weren't going to jump in without checking everything. If they have seen the competition and there is nothing else or new coming on, sure they will give an offer.

You have a beautiful house but you are one of the highest priced houses from what I saw in my search (up to $350), but there are 10 more up to $375, with another 10 going to $400. Start looking at your competition to see what they look like compared to yours for the price.

I don't think it is dumb to make an offer the first time through.
Our home has been on the market for a little over a week now- and last week we had our first showing. She was here for about 45 minutes- left and put an offer of our asking price. We close in less than a month.
We will be putting in an offer on our new home after one viewing- not out of being dumb- but we are several hours away and don't have spare time to be leisurely about the process.
Some people just know when it is the perfect house for them.

If the house is desirable and priced correctly, waiting until the second showing may mean you will be waiting for the next listing.

Why do some think it's important to look more than once before making an offer?

The very first home we bought was after looking at many houses more than once, sometimes three times. We just didn't know, weren't sure of, what we wanted or needed in our first home.

But we put an offer on our 2nd and on our current home after one viewing.

We also plan to make an offer after only one viewing when we buy our next home. We're relocating, we're serious buyers, and if we're interested in a home we'll take the time to throughly look it over and ask questions during our first (and most likely our only) visit. If the house is not right for us then we get out of there pretty fast.

I think that we'd only go back for a 2nd look if we just couldn't find anything else that worked better for us. We'd go back the 2nd time in order to determine if the house was something we could live with or settle on.

I made an offer after NO visits.
We bought sight unseen and couldn't be happier.

I did have relatives look at the home and send me literally 100's of extremely high resolution photos- I could scrutinize the grime in the bath tub.
But the first time I saw it was when we pulled into the driveway to move in.

If you have a very clear and concise idea of exactly what you are looking for you can move very quickly.

Why do some think it's important to look more than once before making an offer?

For us, 95% of the places we see for the first time are seen during an open house. We are taking a serious look at the place, but we're also competing for the broker's attention with the other lookers, and we're trying to envision furniture placement and possible layout changes with the distractions of other people trouping through. We usually know when we leave if it's a place we want to pursue, and then we have the broker get us in ASAP, within the next two days if possible, for a more leisurely private showing. DH and I have purchased three properties over the years and we put in bids on all three after the second viewing.

We'd always take a second visit to any home we were making an offer on because we literally would look at dozens of homes in a weekend of house hunting. The homes would start to blur together despite copious note taking on each home we visited. So we would narrow it down to 3 or 4 homes that were at the top of our list, go back and see those homes and make our offer after our second visit, before returning home after an intensive 3 day home search.

Ah, but consider what you might feel if someone looked once and immediately bought it -- paid full price for it -- was a realtor? Uh-huh, 'seller's remorse'.

Buyers come with all kinds of needs and desires. The transferee with more transfers in his future just needs a decent house that will sell easily in a couple of years. (He sometimes has company help to buy and sell and move.)The investment buyer also has a more 'bottom line' approach; he's not going to live there. The rooted-in-the-community buyer or the younger retiree will be more cautious about getting the right 'fit'. First-time buyers can be a hard sell, at least before they've had a 'real estate education', including determining what they can afford. (They sometimes come with a whole family of second-guessers, too!) Move-up buyers can be very difficult; they don't need to buy and won't unless it's exactly what they want. (But they usually know something about real estate; they recognize quality -- and spot problems!)

Today we have to add in the unease of the economy. 'Tain't easy being a seller right now.

We were move-up buyers of our permanent home -- looked for two years though seldom looked at anything twice. We've also been investment buyers -- bought a condo in Hawaii sight-unseen; trusted the seller to do refurbishment; saw it when we went out for the closing.

I think it's easier to buy a 'generic' -- a condo in a known complex or a house in a development of X number of models. There are few variants to consider and you can calculate their values. (One has a larger lot, or an extra bath or garage stall, etc.)

We have purchased three house over the last 30 years. Each one we visited at least twice before making an offer.

Our last purchase was a little over three years ago and we made 4 visits before we purchased. The visits were necessary because of the cosmetic condition of the house. We needed to make sure that beyond the cosmetic issues, damaged range, rusted dishwasher, damaged wood floors & etc., there were no structural problems. Having done a lot of construction and remodling over the years, I was driving our realtor nuts with all my notes. We also were at the house when the building inspection took place.

So make as many visits as you believe are needed before you make on offer.

Enjoy the journey.
eal51 in western CT

We bought several homes over time

1 visit

.5 visit (spouse visited because it was out of state, I didn't see the place until we moved in )

1 visit

0 visits (designed and built it..there was no model to see. Bought the lot after one visit.)

I'm not dumb, but we did buy our current house after 1 visit. We had looked at probably 50 homes, I knew what I wanted, so when I saw it I took it. Absolutely no regrets. Our previous home we looked at 3 or 4 times, and I hated it for the 4 years we lived there.

I also have to say that I've bought two different places after one look and no, I'm not dumb, just very clear in what I'm looking for.

The first was a condo. It was the first one we looked at, I walked in and that was it. We were completely happy there.

By the time we decided to move up to a house, I'd spent a winter going to open houses (though just for fun - we weren't even thinking of moving at the time) so I knew what was in the area. This house was the second we looked at. We drove through the neighborhood, on Sunday, looked at the house on Tuesday, and had our offer accepted by the end of the week. We've been here 4 years and I still think it's perfect. As long as we don't move out of state, this is our "forever" home.

Best of luck to you as you sell your home. I know how hard it is to be patient!

I saw our current house by myself the first time and knew immediately it was what we were looking for, but I wanted my husband and stepsons to see it too. We did make an offer after the second visit. We toured the house again during the inspection.

With the house we sold, one couple came back three times and were at the house well over an hour on the third visit. They never made an offer. Another couple also visited three times and did make an offer.

I think people who have been looking a long time are more likely to make an offer after just one visit than people who are just starting to look or who are first-time buyers.

Good luck with your sale!

Just because somebody hasn't scheduled a second visit right away, don't be discouraged. They may be comparing it to other homes and it may not be out of the game yet. That's pretty common.

There isn't a 'right' way to do it. I've done it both ways. I usually know immediately whether I want a house or not. It either plunks my twanger or it doesn't. I don't have to think that part of it over. But, once I decide I do want it, sometimes go back (especially in an older home) and check it out more closely. I've also bought houses I've never even been inside.

It's not so much about having to see it again, but only twice have I made an offer on the spot. Mostly because I don't like to be caught up in the moment. I want to think about the money side of without the emotion attached.

We have purchased three houses-two after one look, and one after 2 looks. We dithered the first two times for up to four weeks (can we afford it, do we want to move, etc.) and then this last one we jumped on what seemed to be the perfect place for us. (It is.) The realtors had given up on us by the time we finally called to make an offer. We never needed to move; it was just an upgrade situation in the same town. So you never know!

I'm not dumb. :) We've bought houses with just one look. It doesn't take me long to know when something speaks to me.

We must be really really really dumb....we bought over the internet. Looked at the photos, not even a virtual tour. First time we walked in the house was 2 months after the closing :0)

"Ignore that poster who said "anyone who would buy a house after 1 look is dumb." That same poster enjoys making insulting remarks to people."

Only when they're merited. ;)

That's fine that you all are so comfy with making an enormous purchase after 45 minutes of looking. I think it's dumb!

Houses have a lot to hide, and like spouses, just impulsively jumping on one and running can lead to disaster. But of course, I'm sure I'll now heare just as many stories about how you found the perfect spouse after 1 week and ran off and get married.

I think such a large purchase should be a considered, deliberated, carefully weighed decision, not based on a quick walk through...

But hey, that's just me. I know nobody ever thinks they're dumb...

What is up with this forum lately? I've read two threads so far today, and both have contained really nasty posts.

Perhaps the rudeness is a symptom of the economic downturn. Sad.

Assuming that you have your criteria established and have done your homework on the market and neighborhood, deciding whether or not to make an offer should not be that exruciating. Houses may have things to hide, but with financing and inspection contingencies, there are still ways to find an out if you need to do so. In my market, buyers don't normally bring in an inspector before there is a contract, but I know that might be different elsewhere.

disneyrsh, buying a house should indeed be a carefully considered & deliberated decision...about (a) whether to buy, (b) where to buy, & (c) what criteria you're looking for in a house. Once someone has determined these three things, and once they've been looking and looking and looking for months or, like us, years, it's perfectly reasonable to put an offer in on a house after one walk-through, and it's not dumb at all. Depending on where you're looking, NOT offering on one walk-through can be short-sighted (or dumb, as you might put it), because you could lose the house. Decision speed re: real estate purchases is totally regional. If you wanted to buy a place in my neck of the woods, for example, and wanted to visit a well-located, well-priced, desirable house 3 or even 2 times, you'd miss your chance period.

I've bought three houses. The first one, my husband put in an offer while I was out of town. So I didn't see it at all. He saw it one time, for about fifteen minutes.

Our second home we saw at an open house. It was a ten minute walk through - had to be quick because I had groceries in the car including ice cream. When we got home, I sent my husband back down the road to put in an offer.

Our third home we also only saw once, for less than half an hour.

We were quite pleased with all three houses, lived many years in each, made good money when we sold the first two. We're still in the third house. Every time we were house hunting, we did see lots and lots of houses -for our area. Maybe it was easy for us because there's less choice compared to other places. There are very few housing developments in my area (that's what they're called, right? The neighborhoods with one builder and an HOA?). So our choices were among a lot of older homes, many of them very small or on tiny lots.

We have always looked at houses twice before deciding to offer. I know on the first visit if it's one I like and I know almost walking in the door if it's a no go.

I always look twice to give myself time to see a couple more houses after the one that I like, then go back to look closer for anything that was missed.

Coincidentally, when we sold our house in Flagstaff, both offers we had were on first looks, but I would never offer after looking once. Just my personal preference.

The last one we put an offer on we looked at only once, we'd already made a few offers before this one and had been looking for a year in an area with limited supply. We're happy with our choice. The other ones we made offers on we looked at twice though as they needed a lot of work and we wanted to make sure we didn't miss anything before making the offers.

The buyers of our old house looked only once - of course we were in a hot market and they had been looking for a long time too (they managed to see before I listed).

I think if you know what you want and have seen enough of what is out there then yes you can make an offer on the first visit. If you are unsure about something then you'll go for a second visit before making the offer.

Our first house we made made an offer on the first visit, first house after touring it for 5-10 minutes. The realtor was a bit stunned. We had actually looked on the web a lot and knew exactly where we wanted to be.

We sold that house and looked at 25-40 (lost count) for #2. #2 we visited 2 times prior to the offer and then a couple times before closing for various inspections, etc.

The fellow who bought our last house spent 45 minutes in it & made an offer 4 hours later. He spent $730,000.

I know if I like a house and would consider it pretty quickly after walking in the front door, but I have always gon back at least a second time before making an offer. I like to look the second time to make sure I am confident about the condition of the property (thinking more about the pricing of my offer as much as perhaps deciding between 2 or 3 houses), to verify things like furniture placement, kitchen storage, etc. I will also drive through the neighborhood in the evening to see what age the kids are, if there are 6 pickup trucks parked in front of the house across the street (actually happened), etc.

Still no second visits. Well, unless you count the couple that walked though 2 (different) times during our open house yesterday! They liked the house but have a house on the market across the country that they need to sell before they can consider buying.

There was one couple that said they LOVED it and it was "just right" for them, so we have our fingers crossed they will be back but I'm not holding my breath until I hear the appt is scheduled.

Oh, and scheduled showings are way down too. I've had one in the last 3 weeks, after we made a 12K price reduction.

My friend has a relative that's an agent in a nearby town. She says she is having trouble getting anyone to buy since there is soooooo much to look at they're afraid to commit!
One agent that showed our place told our agent he had over 50 homes lined up to show his clients. Yikes!

Thanks for sharing your experiences & opinions--

I wonder why people are so afraid to commit?

Is it because they think that the perfect house is going to appear on the market the day after they put a contract on a house?

I wonder if it's the flip side of the coin from the super hot market where people would buy *any* house they could get their hands on the minute it appeared?

So what are buyers now so afraid of?

Before, they would buy before the prices went up...

Now they wait because they are afraid that prices will drop further!

(But NOT in my area... we did not have the bubble so the bubble did not burst. Prices are about 6% over last year....)

"Is it because they think that the perfect house is going to appear on the market the day after they put a contract on a house"

I think that's part of it. That, and the fact there are so many to see and more added all the time. (in my market anyway) Then, theres the foreclosures and distress sales.

...And prices keep dropping... who wants to feel they overpaid? -- 2 yrs ago a home with the same floorplan as mine (different neighborhood though) went on the market at 369K (it was later reduced to 359K, but I don't know what it sold for) 6 plus weeks ago the comps justified my asking price of 347K. After viewings came to a standstill but there were no negative comments, my agent did another market analysis. He first suggested an 8k drop to 339, then after we thought about it for a week or 2 he revised it to 335, citing still more comps added...

So far, 1 week into the new price, we have had 1 scheduled showing. I'm now concerned that the new construction home that we made an offer on (contingent on the sale of this home) will be overpriced by the time we are built and ready to sign.

Well, after about 8 long months we FINALLY got and accepted an offer, and it was after just one visit. We are THRILLED beyond belief!!!!!!

We were far from our original asking price, and about 20K off our current listing price, but it was at our pre-determined bottom line, and are ok with it.

We were about to do yet another price reduction this week anyway (based on the latest comps) and hold a 2 day open house when the offer came in (the first showing after a 2 month holiday lull) They came through once and the feedback was that they really liked it but found one they liked even better, then out of the blue a week later, without a 2nd visit they sent over an offer.

Over the months we've had people on the verge of offering (according to their agents) and have had a couple people come for 3 visits only to find another house they liked a little more. We are SO ready to move on.

So, there we have it, people DO make offers after one visit. We accepted their offer on Sunday and they have the inspection scheduled for today already. Moving fast! My Agent thinks it's great. Shows commitment and motivation to get everything lined up.

Please cross your fingers for me that it goes smoothly and the sale goes through!!

We lost our new construction home months ago and I'm ok with it. THere are so many deals out there right now, and prices/interested rates are good! I feel a price we agreed upon almost a year ago would be over-priced in today's market. We hope to make up some of the price concessions we made on the purchase end with the added benefit of a great interest rate! I highly doubt however that we will be offering after one visit.

Thanks for the insight!

Fingers crossed. Thanks for the follow up and best of luck for a smooth closing.

Hey, I loved this house years before I ever dreamed of being able to own it. I never even let myself go there. I passed it every single day - twice at least - and every time I drove past, throwing love at the house.

When I finally saw it at an open house, I literally got lost... Where is "out?" I had never been in a house this big. Never even been in such a house. The asking price was way too much. Our electricity bill would prove to be more than our current mortgage.

We under balled the asking price by $50K, demanding our realtor submit the offer against all his protests. He called to say the house had a full price bid and we had lost.

We spent the next three weeks looking at everything else on the market before the phone call came. The house fell out of escrow. We upped our offer $4,000. We said we'd pay $154,000 for a $199,000 house. We got it!

We laugh today about getting lost in our own house, but company still does. We've been here for 19 years and it's been a total black hole for the checkbook but I still love it just as much as the time when I used to just drive past it on my way to work.

I guess I was only invited once to look inside but I loved it before for 12 years passing. My situation improved a bit during this time.

"So what are buyers now so afraid of?"

For lifestyle reasons I would like to buy but......I'm pretty sure I won't be in my current location longer than 8 years, maybe a little less, or a little more.

Given that Ohio has a high unemployment rate, little to no house appreciation - I don't feel confident that I can sell in 8 years. I'm not concerned about making money - I'm concerned about breaking even more or less or just being able to sell at all at the 8 year point.

So marys1000 have you figured out how much you are paying for rent vs after tax mortgage? You may be paying a lot more to rent over the next 8 years than if you purchased today and sold for the exact same amount in eight years. There is also, as you indicated, a lifestyle reason.

congratulations! SOOO happy you sold. Good thoughts going out that you will have a smooth closing. And as you said, there are probably some great deals out there now. Maybe it's a blessing that you "lost out" on the new construction house you had dibs on.
Everything happens for a reason, when it is supposed to. I hope you find your new dream house when all is said and done. This is GREAT news, especially in today's economy. Hurrahh!! ;o)

We bought after seeing the house only once. We were in a back-up position--someone offered and they accepted before us. Luckily the first offer was from an inexperienced buyer and they ended up backing out and we moved into the first position. We overlooked some of the faults with the house and instead see it as an investment. Our first house was an investment as well. We loved living there and I'm sure we'll eventually fall in love with this house, but our priority is to make sure we get all of our money or more back when or if we sell.

I looked for months and found nothing I liked that had all my needs in my price range. Then I found a rental new apartment (1.5 years old) that was two floors with the central air, a dishwasher and a stackable washer/dryer. I had missed these amendities since moving out of my home when I was 18 and for years saving for a place in the expensive area I live in.

Three years later, I outgrew my place and looked at 10 homes and hated them all. Then my realtor faxed me a diagram that was exactly what I was looking for until she told me she had not shown me that home since it was a townhouse. I caved in and looked at it. It was love at first sight. I loved the outside (each unit is a little different), loved the balcony, loved the woods in back of my fenced in backyard, loved the soundproofing between the units, loved all the closet space, loved the layout, loved the location..... on and on... But it was just making the top of my budget so I asked to see a few other townhouses. Then another realtor called with a Bi-Level home that met my criteria for a home office separate area in a similar price range with 4 bedrooms instead of 3 and a 2-car garage instead of a 1-car garage. I tried to like the house but I was already in love with the townhouse. I made an offer and the buyer barely budged from his price. I ended up paying market for my home over 11 years ago and I still really like my townhouse and so does just about everyone else that visits me. Hence, I knew it was home the minute I saw it.

Congratulations to the OP!

I've bought and sold more than 30 homes over the years. It's part of my business. I've never seen them more than once before I made an offer. The place we're in now I happened by on an Open house one evening, put in an offer the same night had it accepted and told my wife later, "we're moving."

Thanks everyone for their insight.

Our house finally closed yesterday. Of course you go through a lot of emotions, at least we did, (Couldn't wait for it to sell, then became sad at the thought of really leaving it...etc) but now that we've settled into a rental, we're happy to be done with the whole selling side of things. We also feel grateful to have had a sucessful sale in this market.

Now that we are in the buyer's seat we still doubt WE would be able to make an intellegent decision based on one visit. Our needs/wants are a bit more unique than the average buyer though. If it were just my husband and I, I could see falling in love with something perfect for the two of us when I walked in the front door...in fact I did:

We made an offer the other day on a home that I DID fall in love with on the first visit. I loved it when we pulled up and throughout the whole house. Had it not been an evening visit and we couldn't see most of the yard, I'm sure I would have talked my Husband into offering then and there. Come to find out, it was a short sale and in reality it was perfect for US, but not for our son. We convinced ourselves that we could make the modifications needed to make it work for everyone. Our Agent explained it could take months to hear back so we could offer and continue to look and pull the offer at anytime so we decided to go for it. We have since rescinded the offer when we realized no matter how much I wanted it, and modifications included it wasn't the right house for ALL the family members. I would have always felt it was a selfish decision.

Since then we've gone back to another house we've been watching for a 3rd visit..... and now plan to offer on because it's a good compromise house for everyone. I guess it took 3 visits to convince me that I was doing the right thing by choosing this one. It's not that I didn't like it, it was just not what I had envisioned we would buy which was a forever dream home. I've realized it might not be possible to mesh what is perfect for me with the needs of my son. So, after that really sank in and I became ok with it, I feel good about this offer. It's a low offer (I think it's overpriced and part of the reason it's been on the market 10 months) so if we get it, we will be able to make the changes I want that would make me happier with it, and it is an AWESOME place for my son's needs. Wish us luck!