Helicopter Buyers

You may recall all of the articles and stories several years ago about helicopter parents. These are parents that ‘hover’ over their children to organize, direct, supervise, encourage, engage, protect, and insulate their children’s lives. The concept is not complementary and child development experts argue that this behavior is very bad for the children. Children need to engage their own world. They need to develop problem solving skills, coping techniques, and a sense of self worth, of purpose. Helicopter parents may not live through their children, but they clearly interfere with the kids’ development.

In the real estate market of 2008, we have seen the advent of a new type of buyer: the helicopter buyer. He, she, or they are not like helicopter parents. The description is much more elementary. Helicopter buyers, are in the lingo of the industry, “ready, willing and able buyers.” who have identified the ‘right property’ for themselves, but do not buy. They hover around the property. They set up showings. They visit the house repeatedly. They come to open houses, over and over. They watch every marketing element of the property. They are not just professional students of the market; they are professional students of the property.

Each visit produces a new list of questions and queries. With the internet, most property information is easily available. Helicopter buyers want to know the ‘why of the data.’
Tax records, real estate transfer records, DEM environmental records, Google earth, etc are all libraries. It is in fact smart and appropriate to engage this research approach as part of due diligence for purchasing a property. Realtors encourage buyers to become knowledgeable and to do their own independent investigations. It is a major and important purchase that requires focus and action.

The challenge of this market is the lack of a final destination, a landing. A significant number of purchasers do exhaustive ‘due diligence.’ But never make an offer, or rather a formal one. They will ask what will the seller take, but not make the offer. The reasons for this are numerous, varied, and individual. Some buyers are simply trying to wait the seller out, expecting that they will become desperate and ‘give the house away.’ Some buyers are trying to time the market at the absolute bottom. Some buyers are waiting for rates to come down. Some buyers are waiting for ‘signs.’ Many buyers are waiting for their current residence to sell. Many buyers are looking for signs of encouragement. Most buyers are discouraged by the news about the market. Ironically, this is after they ‘know’ they have found and researched the right home for them.

The advent of the helicopter buyer is particularly frustrating for sellers. To have multiple interested parties visiting their home and no offer is most challenging. “There must be something wrong.’ Can’t you get any offer? Recently, we had a buyer view a house four times with private appointments and come back to four open houses. They have yet to make an offer on anything including this original house. They are well fueled ‘helicopter buyers.’ Oh and in case you are wondering, there are a lot of great choices, at great prices, in this market. If you find the right property, make the offer. You might be pleasantly surprised. At some point, you will need to land. Do it now, when the choices and values are great.