Buying without viewing is becoming the norm

[William Hull]

Per the Berkshire Hathaway market update, new homes sales are up and so is the housing market confidence. With this new confidence, a new trend is emerging with millennials in the home buying market. Recent market surveys indicate that about one-third of millennials will purchase a new home without physically viewing it first. This trend is up significantly since the baby boomer’s generation of which only twelve percent would buy a house sight unseen. This is even up from last year’s numbers in which about 1 on 5 millennials would buy a house without viewing first. Other trends that emerged from the study was that only about 25% percent of persons said that interest rate fluctuations would not have an impact on house buying. Almost a third of people said they would slow down the home purchasing process to get a lower interest rate and a quarter said they would speed up the process to lock in an interest rate before it could go up. One other trend that was surprising to see is the negotiation of the real estate agent’s commission. Millennials are more likely to negotiate a lower commission to save money. Whether these trends will continue to change will likely depend of the continued increase in housing confidence and sales.

Key Takeaways:

• Millennials are making offers on houses before viewing them. They are setting new trends in the real estate industry.
• Home buyers will still purchase a home even if the interest rate is above 5%
• Home buyers will also try to negotiate a lower commission with real estate agents.

"American homebuyers are increasingly buying homes without viewing them first according to a new survey."

Read more: http://www.mpamag.com/market-update/buying-without-viewing-is-becoming-the-norm-71925.aspx