I’m trying to buy a home in Perth before we sell or we’ll end up homeless - but cash offers win

“Expressions of interest”, “offers”, “set date sale” – if, like me, you’re struggling to budget in a property market that doesn’t know its own limit, know that you’re not alone.

A quick online real estate search reveals an increasing number of properties listed with no suggested price guide.

According to Strategic Property Group managing director Trent Fleskens, real estate agents are ditching the price guide in favour of open offers as the property market ceiling reaches new and unpredictable heights.

It’s tough navigating the property market as a buyer in a seller’s market says WAtoday reporter Claire Ottaviano.Credit: Claire Ottaviano

As a prospective buyer, I now spend many hours scrolling real estate websites looking for that elusive “just to market” home that ticks all the boxes.

Those boxes for us are: northern suburbs nearer to family and friends, a block larger than 400 square metres, proximity to the beach, two bathrooms if possible, and above all else – at a price within our budget.

For us, that budget sits in the mid-to-high $600s – the current median Perth home now stands at a record $757,399.

But without price guides, how does one even begin to narrow down the search?

Two weeks ago, we had our sights on a neat two-by-one duplex on 350 square metres in Ocean Reef, it ticked most of the boxes, but what about the price? – while there wasn’t one advertised, we did our market research and thought we could offer somewhere around $650,000.

So off we went and fell in love with this cute-as-a-button sweet home with ocean views that we would trade the block size and extra bathroom for.

But here’s the kicker: by the time we’d arrived the agent already had more than 20 offers and advised us it would go well into the $700,000s.

We said our goodbyes and headed to Wanneroo.

Just a few streets back from Lake Joondalup sat a three-by-one 1980s home on a more than 700-square-metre block complete with enclosed patio – perfect for our indoor feline fur baby.

Untouched since the ’80s with peeling wallpaper and decades’ worth of carpet stains, it badly needed some love, but the “from $599,000” price would leave us with some renovation money.

We offered $658,000. They took a cash offer in the $680,000s.

While it’s been hard as a buyer, the shoe is now on the other foot as we prepare our eastern suburbs three-by-one for sale, reasoning that we’ll need to be ready to sell as soon as we find a place.

Our agent has told us they will put the house on the market with no listed price because according to him, no crystal ball can predict what the market will do.

He mirrored similar sentiments to Fleskens’ – why set a price when sales records are smashing all expectations month-on-month? We would only be undercutting ourselves.

Our agent has also turned to online auctions as a way of coping with the sheer number of offers coming in for single properties and to incentivise higher bids.

How it works is: when offers open, buyers have 24 hours to make a digital bid.

One hour before the auction closes, each buyer can see at what position they sit on the bidding ladder, causing a secondary rush of offers to outbid those above them.

As a buyer, the prospect of entering a digital bidding war in a daunting one – but would we subject our home’s buyers to that pain?

It’s certainly a possibility as the extra equity may be the difference between ticking all those boxes and not.

For all those thinking I should count myself lucky for being in the housing market to start with – you’re right, I have bucket loads of gratitude for my position.

Equity is a wonderful thing, but in this world where cash offers are king, “subject to sale” offers – offers that are conditional on the sale of the buyer’s own property – are also falling by the wayside.

As another agent told me at a Ballajura home open, there are currently stacks of houses out there just waiting to go on the market.

But those house’s homeowners, that need to buy and sell at the same time to unlock their equity, are stuck in an endless “subject to sale” merry-go-round.

But I digress; while this seems all doom and gloom, I remain positive.

I am taking on the advice of Fleskens to effectively, “get on the train before it leaves the station”, in an alert but not alarmed manner.

Because as in life, there are many stations with many trains going to different destinations, and if one train leaves the station, we have only to look to the departure board to see where else we can go.

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