What type of home to look for in this buyers market to ensure you get a great deal?

Lets to get a few things straight before we begin. In 2008 we are in a real estate buyers market. What does that mean? It means that there are lots and lots of homes available for sale, but there are very few buyers. Many home sellers seem to be confused by that fact, and make statements such as if it is a buyer's market where are all the buyers? That is just the point, in a buyer's market there are very few buyers, which means those few buyers who are out there looking, have control, not the home sellers.

OK, that it out of the way. As a home buyer who wants to make sure he / she gets the best possible deal on purchasing a home, but like most home buyers you don't want to go though major renovations (at least not right away). Short of looking for foreclosures and such things, which everyone starts off talking about, I will give you the tried and true things which will get you a home at a great deal.

What to look for physically: Look for homes which are structurally sound, your not going to have to rebuild things, tare things down, go get a home equity loan to pay for repairs. These homes you want to find, have little curb appeal because the home owner has not taken care to keep the landscaping up, has not kept up with painting the house, keeping the front lawn well manicured. Inside the home look for walls that need to be painted, carpets which need to be replaced, appliances which are out of date and ugly. Why are you looking for these things? You are looking for these things because if you find them all ugly everyone else will as well. Why is that important, at least in the North Eastern part of the country, better than 90% of the home buyers are looking for homes they can just move into, they don't have to do much if any work.

What to look for in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) sheets that you're REALTOR gives you? Look for homes which have been on the market for more than 100 days, pay particular attention to those that indicate they are vacant, or have a renter. These home owners will tend to be more motivated than your typical home owner who is still living in the house they want to sell.

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