10 Outdated Advice From Seniors About Buying Real Estate

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Many boomers love to drop pieces of “wisdom” on the younger generation believing that the advice they give is useful. When it comes to buying property, this seems even more so to be the case. Little do they know that most of the advice they give is not helpful at all.

1. Just Sign Up for the MLS

For most boomers, this would have been a really good piece of advice… for when they first bought their homes. Unfortunately, nowadays the housing market is so hot that simply signing up for an MLS service is not enough. Everybody has access to the MLS and almost every property listed is already getting many bids placed on it already.

2. Can’t You Wait It Out For a Crash?

It’s always funny to hear a boomer, who likely purchased their house decades ago when the prices were a fraction of what they are today, talk about the housing market as if they know exactly what is going to happen. Even the most experienced real estate professionals don’t know what the housing market is going to do in the future, so a boomer saying to “wait for a crash” is definitely some unneeded advice.

3. You Need To Negotiate That During Your Offer

Indeed, in the past, if a seller wrote something untrue on their listing, a prudent homebuyer would point it out and try to negotiate the price down. Unfortunately in today’s market, there are so many offers made on every single property that almost any offer under listing price will be immediately thrown out. When supply is very low and demand is very high, the power is in the hands of people who are selling houses.

4. Increase Your Search Radius

Long gone are the days in which a homebuyer could simply choose to live in a town over and all of a sudden, tons of real estate opportunities would open up. In the current market, the market is basically the same in all towns and a buyer will need to sacrifice a little more than 10 minutes of commute time to realize significantly better prices.

5. Have You Checked Out This House?

It’s a sweet gesture when boomer relatives send over houses they think are nice, but chances are the homebuyer will have already seen it many times. In today’s fast market, most serious buyers are aware of any new listing that hits the MLS and market within a couple hours of the posting. When the boomer notification gets to the buyer, it has already been three days or more since they have already become acquainted with the house.

6. You Have To Be Aggressive

For some people, being aggressive is a great strategy and can help them win homes quickly. However, most people don’t have the budget to offer a ton over listing price. Additionally, some people need to get mortgage insurance so can’t place offers right away. This piece of advice might work for boomers who have paid off houses, but for a lot of younger people, it’s not that helpful.

7. I Had Already Started To Plan How You’d Use The Rooms

Sometimes a deal falls through due to factors outside of the buyer’s control. It may be that an inspection issue came up or that the house turned out to not be the right fit in the end. The last thing somebody wants to hear when they just lost a house is a boomer relative telling them that they will miss the house (which wasn’t even theirs to begin with).

8. When I Got My Rates Back In Any Year Before 2020

One major part of the home buying process is mortgages and specifically mortgage rates. It’s no secret that the current interest rate environment is very tricky and it’s hard to find a loan that is affordable. With that in mind, almost any advice from somebody who got a loan back when rates were low is going to be viewed with a big grain of salt.

9. I Found Another House I Think You Might Like

Most people are too nice to be able to flatout tell a boomer relative that they don’t want their help anymore, but there will often be many hints. For example, if a buyer kindly thanks a boomer for sending over a listing but doesn’t go through with it, it could be a signal that they don’t need any more help from the boomer.

10. The Shrubbery From the Previous Owner Looks Nice

For most potential buyers, having successfully purchased a home is a huge accomplishment and the fruit of all of their labor. Now that they finally own a house, they probably do not want to hear unsolicited advice from boomer relatives about what they should and shouldn’t do with the home. If anything, buyers will likely want to do the opposite of what boomers tell them to do.