The average buyer looks at about 10 to 12 homes before they buy.  However, Bay Area resident Lidia Pringle looked at 298 homes before she found what she was looking for according to the Wall Street Journal.  Ms. Pringle spent 2 ½ years looking for her dream home.

Lidia Pringle looked at 298 homes before she found what she was looking for. WSJ’s Juliet Chung reports on Ms. Pringle’s 2 1/2 year quest to find her dream house. She looked at so many homes, that real estate agents would sometimes ask her for her opinion on new listings that hadn’t seen themselves.

Quoting from the WSJ:

“I’ve always given 110% to whatever it is I do,” says Ms. Pringle. “If I’m looking for a dream house, of course I’m going to follow the same methodology.”

Collecting flyers along the way, she amassed enough data to fill a two-by-three-foot box. She looked at so many homes that real-estate brokers would sometimes ask for her opinion on new listings they hadn’t yet seen themselves.

House hunts have gotten lengthier as buyers have gotten choosier during the housing downturn. A recent survey of California home buyers by the California Association of Realtors found that buyers who used brokers, on average, spent 10.3 weeks searching for homes this year, compared to 8.7 weeks in 2008. National data show a similar pattern, with an average search time of 10 weeks during the second half of 2008 and early 2009, compared to eight weeks in 2005 and 2006.”

Source Wall Street Journal