Personal Real Estate Shopping & The “New Normal” for Home Buying

Working in a resort market like Park City means most of my buyers do not live here full-time. Over the years, I have worked to perfect a concierge-style personal real estate shopping service for many of these clients. I had no idea how well this, combined with my virtual home buying strategies, would serve my clients right now, at a time when it can be challenging to tour homes in person.

Here are two recent examples of how my clients have benefitted from this style of personal real estate shopping.

Last summer, I met with a lovely family from Pasadena, California. They were experienced home buyers and had carefully evaluated other mountain communities before targeting Park City. We toured many homes on that first buying trip, they didn’t see anything they loved.

Like many of my clients, both husband and wife worked and they were a busy family. A second trip to Park City to view homes proved difficult. So, anytime they found a home that was of interest, we did FaceTime tours. We wrote some offers that didn’t work out and we kept looking.

About 4 or 5 months after their initial visit to Park City and a few offers later, I previewed a home that I knew was perfect for them. They were on vacation at the time, and I told them they needed to immediately write a full price offer. After months of working together, they trusted me and signed the offer on their phones.

Their offer was accepted and later that day another offer came in that was over full price. After the home was under contract, we did the virtual FaceTime tour and they were happy. The wife flew out to see the home for the first time on the day of the inspection. The husband did not see it until closing. Their experience is the “new normal” way people are buying homes.

Fast forward to January, 2020. A client who I represented in the sale of her family’s Park City home called to inform me her family was moving back. They were hoping to move in June, after the school year finished. We started the home search in earnest just before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down businesses and made travel much more difficult.

From there, the process was pretty much the same as with my clients from Pasadena. We toured many homes via FaceTime. We wrote some offers. Because inventory was so low, I even sent out an email to all Park City realtors asking if anyone was listing anything that matched my client’s criteria. Last week, a home hit the market that was perfect. We immediately set up a virtual tour and wrote a full price offer. Unfortunately, this time the seller did not accept our offer before another higher offer came in.

We strategized and the next day my clients were under contract for this home. In this case, my clients may not see the home in person before closing. We will conduct all due diligence virtually.

What made these two transactions work?

1. I developed an understanding of what my clients were looking for in a home. I knew the right home for my clients when it materialized.
2. My clients trusted me. When I told them they needed to write an aggressive offer, they believed me. When I told them the house was right for them, they relied on my judgment. This is because I was very honest about the pros and cons of other homes we toured and wrote offers on. I never pushed them and I never tried to “sell” them.

Personal real estate shopping to help my clients find their dream home is extraordinarily satisfying to me and it’s the reason why I wake up every day excited about my work.

The home photos presented in this post are from my new listing at 4641 McKinney Ct. in Park City. Let me know if you’re interested in seeing more.