Home Buyers Taking More Time with Home-Buying Process

In contrast to peak years when they were at record lows, inventory levels over the past several months have been in the range of the long-run average.

With many homes available on the market at more affordable prices in the past year, home buyers have been devoting more and more time in each of the past couple years to consider and carefully select their home during the research and buying process.

In general, home buyers devoted more time from start to finish during the home buying process. On average, they spent:

• 8.4 weeks considering buying a home in 2009, compared to 7.2 weeks in 2008
• 6.6 weeks investigating homes and neighborhoods before contacting an agent, compared to 6.2 weeks in 2008.
• 10.3 weeks searching for a home with their agent, compared to 8.7 weeks in 2008
• Home buyers on average visited 15.5 homes in 2009, compared to 15.1 homes in 2008.  

In the past, home buyers spent more time with their agent partly because they visited more homes. The increase in the number of homes visited in 2009, however, was not significantly different from 2008. The additional time spent with an agent could be attributed in part to the increase in the complexity in viewing distressed properties.

Rick Bonetti | Alain Pinel Realtor | 408-857-8800 | DRE# 01237009

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