Here’s What to Do if You’re Ready to Buy a House and Don’t Like Any That Are on the Market

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It can be frustrating to not be able to find a home when you’re ready to buy one. Check out five steps that could help you find a solution. 

If you are trying to buy a home, you may find yourself facing a market that’s not very favorable. As of July 2023, there was a 6.4% year-over-year decline in homes actively for sale. There was also a 9.1% decline in the total number of houses that remain unsold, which includes those that are under contract but haven’t yet closed. And, 20.8% fewer homes were newly listed in July compared to the prior year.

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Homeowners are not selling homes for a number of reasons, including the fact that mortgage rates are high right now. People with low-rate loans likely don’t want to give up their affordable interest rate and be forced to take out a much more costly loan to buy a new place to live.

This is really bad news, though, if you’re looking for a place to live and you can’t find one. Once you’ve got your down payment saved and your financial ducks in a row, it’s frustrating not to be able to find a home to make an offer on. If that’s your situation, these four options could potentially help.

1. Wait it out

One option you have is to simply wait until something comes on the market. This isn’t a great option, necessarily, as you won’t be able to start building home equity until you’ve moved in — and you could be stuck living in limbo for months or even years as you wait to find something.

Still, there are benefits to just delaying — including that mortgage rates could come down in the meantime, which could ultimately make your purchase more affordable.

If you decide to wait it out, set up alerts on as many real estate sites as you can find so you know when new houses are listed. Most allow you to set specific parameters so you can be alerted if a house in a particular geographic area with a specific price and a set of desired features comes up for sale. This way, you’ll be sure to find a house ASAP if one comes on the market.

2. Expand your search

You could try becoming more flexible in what you’re looking for as well, which could help you find new homes. This could mean looking in a wider geographic area, or being willing to compromise on more features of the house such as the number of bedrooms or an updated kitchen.

While expanding your search can make sense, don’t compromise on things that really matter to you. You don’t want to make your commute longer, for example, as this could impact your daily happiness. You also don’t want to buy a home that’s too expensive, as stretching your home-buying budget could be a major regret. Keep your housing costs to about 25% of your income so you have money left over for other things.

3. Approach people whose homes aren’t on the market

You don’t necessarily have to wait for a home to be listed for sale in order to buy it. You can approach people whose homes aren’t actually for sale.

I found the house I’m currently buying by looking for homes in my desired area for rent, approaching the owners, and asking them to sell to me. You can also look up the addresses of homes in your desired area to see if any were on the market in the recent past but have come off. The “Property History” section of homes will show when they were listed, what they were priced at, and when they were withdrawn. You can contact the owners whose homes went on and off the market and see if they may still be interested in selling.

Attending open houses in neighborhoods you’re interested in is another possible option even if you don’t like the specific house. Some neighbors might come and you can alert them you’d like to buy in the area if they’re interested in selling. Or, if all else fails, you can try sending letters to people in your desired areas and letting them know you’re looking and to contact you if they might want to move soon.

4. Consider a new build

If you can’t find a house you like that’s already for sale, building one yourself could be a possibility. You would need to find land and a builder, though, and new construction homes tend to cost about 5% to 10% more than existing houses.

Of course, the benefit of a new house is that you can get exactly what you want and will have a home warranty to protect against any major repairs for a while. Just be sure you stay within your budget and research builders carefully to find one with a solid reputation for building a quality house at an affordable price.

Trying out these techniques could hopefully help you to find a house that’s right for you — even during these difficult times when the market isn’t in a buyer’s favor.

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