First time buyers and this market

I spent most of yesterday with a young couple looking to purchase their first home. It was a fun day, rewarding, a little exhausting and it made me realize how much I enjoy working with folks purchasing for the first time. I don’t actually get a lot of first time buyers. our prices in this area often preclude people from purchasing their first home here; additionally, finding work here that pays well enough to allow one to save enough to purchase or to make mortgage payments can be challenging.

I realized yesterday how much I enjoy working with first time buyers. I had not given it much thought before but yesterday I was driving around and listening to an audio book by Mel Robbins called Work it Out and she was speaking about paying attention to what it is about a job that gives you energy and it dawned on me that I enjoy this aspect of real estate. New buyers have a lot of energy themselves, they are super excited to see what is out there and what they might buy and what that new life will look like. They also have a lot of questions and I enjoy explaining the buying process to them. I enjoy sharing knowledge and this gives me that opportunity.

We viewed several properties and at one home that was vacant we stopped for a lunch break and I got to spend a while answering a lot of questions. This reinforced my feeling that I enjoy this part of my job. I get some of this from my more common clients - folks who have bought and sold before but have not bought “country” property before. They have the usual questions about wells and septic systems but they already know about down payments vs. deposits or about inspections. With first time buyers I get to really share all the knowledge I’ve gained over the past 12+ years.

Most of my business is confined to the Anderson Valley but I found myself in Fort Bragg yesterday showing a property and also on Albion Ridge. Part of the reason for this is that my buyers haven’t settled on a location yet, but a large part of it is because there isn’t much available right now in Anderson Valley. There are 15 residential listings and two of these are in escrow. Of the remaining ones, eight are priced over $1,000,000 with four of those near or over $2,000,000. That is not a lot for a first time buyer to look at. And it really isn’t much for anyone to choose from; the buyers in those price ranges are fairly limited. Most properties in the lower ranges are moving and we need more to sell; I’ve said it a couple of times recently - if you’ve been on the fence about selling, now is a good time.