June 20, 2020

Buying a Home in 2020 - Challenges and Solutions

If you're serious about buying a home in 2020, you will face 2 main challenges. Here is the one solutions to both:

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Are you serious about buying a house or a condo in Winnipeg in the summer of 2020? You're up against two challenges. I'll talk about those and how to get to the head of the line right away.

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 Hello again, everybody. It's Bo Kauffmann Remax Performance Realty. I'm a residential real estate agent in Winnipeg for the past 15 years and I enjoy working with buyers and sellers of houses and condos.

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If you're serious about buying a house or a condo in Winnipeg in the summer of 2020, you're up against two challenges. One is a super active market. And the others is Covid. I'll talk about both of those challenges right away and then give you a shortcut to get you to the head of the home shopping line. Please note I said if you're serious about buying a house or a condo in Winnipeg, I get a lot of calls from people saying, hey, I just want to see your listing.

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And when we talk about it a little bit further, they say, no, we're just starting to look or we're just curious. We just want to see it. So let me explain.

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When a seller hires a listing agent, that agent owes the homeowner a set of duties and responsibilities,.... responsibilities, which I take very seriously. Those responsibilities include not showing the home to anybody who is not pre-approved, not pre qualified, may or may not be able to afford it, and more importantly these days, to show the home only to those people who have been deemed to be covered free to the best of our ability.

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So if you're just browsing, just starting out, just looking, there are plenty of open houses still. You can go online, see virtual tours, even virtual open houses. Now, that's a great way to start, but don't call a listing agent to show you a house, because here is what's supposed to happen if you phone me. My first question to you is, are you pre-approved? Now, even that question has offended some callers, and I'm sorry for that.

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But as I said earlier, I owe the home seller, a responsibility that I'm not going to show the house to anybody who just makes a phone call. You've got to be pre-approved. My next question may be who are you pre-approved with? Because not all lenders are the same. I'm just now dealing with somebody who has gone through their third week of financing, continuing to get extensions on the financing condition. It's not acceptable. And these people were supposedly pre-approved.

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And another example, I met a young couple who came to me pre-approved by one of the smaller credit unions when it came time to make an offer. That credit union wanted a full week financing again in this active market, that's not sufficient. So not all lenders, not all mortgage lenders are the same, and some are definitely better than others. Another example may be that you need to sell your current home before you can buy one. There really is no point in looking at a house, especially these days, because when we make an appointment to get you into a house for a showing, that homeowner has to pack up and leave.

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That's under the COVID rules. The homeowner is not supposed to be in the house at the time. So we are really inconveniencing that seller to show the house to somebody who is not ready to buy. But as I said earlier, there is a shortcut, a way to get you to the head of the line. Talk about that right away. After I discussed the second challenge, which is COVID.


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We're pretty lucky in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In general, we've got very few cases. We want to keep it that way. So each time you phone a listing agent to show you that listing, he or she is supposed to go through a checklist with you. It's basically two pages long. It's like a medical background check list. Have you traveled? Have you been in touch with anybody who has traveled to show any symptoms? Have you been tested?

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So it is quite in-depth and you're supposed to fill that out for every showing that you go to. Imagine doing that for every listing? There is a better way. Call an agent like myself or any other buyer agent and ask them to become your buyer agent. It's really easy, simple and free. Here's what happened once you call me. We'll have a Zoom meeting or an in person if you prefer.

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And during this meeting, we'll discuss your home buying needs and wants and financial capability. We'll also discuss your health status. You only have to do this once with your buyer agent if required. I'll set you up with the right lender, not somebody that takes a week to get things done, but somebody who stands behind their pre-approval. After we've done that, we'll set you up on a search and all the listings that fit your needs and fit your requirements will come straight to your inbox.

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That way, let's say on a Saturday afternoon, you want to look at a couple of houses. You send me the addresses that you want to see and I'll book the showings. You don't have to call three different agents. You don't have to fill out three different forms. You don't have to answer three different sets of questions regarding your pre-approval or your health status. That's already been done. All you do is you sent me a list of houses you want to see.

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I'll book the showings and away we go. What's a great way to pick a buyer agent? Well, check the Better Business Bureau. There are a handful of agents who are credited with the Better Business Bureau, and an even simpler way is just to check Google. Check the agent's name behind that name, put Google reviews and you should come up with with a list of reviews. So if you're thinking of buying a house or a condo in Winnipeg, give me a call anytime.

Cert. Luxury Home Marketing Specialist

Accredited Buyer Representative

Direct:  204-333-2202

Web: Https://Winnipeghomefinder.com