Question 3 of 11 · Before you buy the condo
Who Will Buy From You Next?
Before you buy, imagine selling ten years from now. Who is standing on the other side?
“Imagine you're selling this home ten years from now. Who is standing on the other side?”
Benny, Best Buy Condo
Your exit begins on the day you buy. Not because you plan to leave — because someone eventually will.
The next buyer doesn't have to be you
Most people buy the home that suits them and quietly assume the next buyer will be a version of themselves. Sometimes that's true. Often the household ten years from now looks nothing like yours.
This isn't about forecasting demand — nobody can do that honestly. It's a much simpler question: how many different kinds of household could plausibly want this home, at that price, in that location?
A wide buyer pool doesn't guarantee anything. It just means that when you sell, more than one type of person can say yes. A narrow pool isn't automatically wrong either — it simply means the eventual sale depends on finding a more specific person.
What Benny is looking for
Five things that widen or narrow the pool of people who could buy from you.
01
Absolute quantum
The total price sets the financing reach of everyone who could buy from you. A quantum only a narrow group can carry is, by definition, a narrower exit.
02
How many household types the layout serves
A layout that works for a couple, a small family and someone working from home is understood by three groups. A highly specific configuration is understood by one.
03
Whether the location is useful to more than one niche
Some addresses only make sense to one profile. Others serve commuters, families and downsizers at the same time. That breadth is quiet, unglamorous value.
04
Owner-occupier and investor appeal
Homes that make sense to both have two demand sources. Homes that only make sense to one have one.
05
The compromises that shrink the pool
A difficult facing, heavy noise, an unusual internal arrangement. You may happily live with it. I'd want to know how many other people would.
Where I'd push back
“You only need one buyer to sell — but I'd rather own something that makes sense to more than one kind of buyer.”
Benny, Best Buy Condo
People often answer this question with 'someone will always want it'. Probably true. The real question is how long you'd be waiting for that someone, and what you'd have to concede when they arrive. Understanding the pool now is cheaper than discovering it later.
Two homes, similar price
Home A
A conventional layout that works as a 2BR or a 3BR, near daily amenities and a transport line.
Several plausible buyers
Home B
A distinctive, highly specified product with an unusual internal arrangement and a particular lifestyle in mind.
A specific buyer
Which sells more easily?
I won't say one always performs better — specialised homes can be exactly right for the person who wants them, and they sometimes command real affection. But the honest answer is that they depend on that person appearing.
Do the work instead: for each home on your shortlist, name three different households who could plausibly live there. If you can only name one, that's worth knowing before you commit.
Benny's 30-second check
Four questions. Nothing here is saved or sent anywhere.
“If your three households all look exactly like you, I'd widen the question before I widened the budget.”
Benny, Best Buy Condo
See this thinking in practice
One review where buyer-pool breadth and quantum do most of the thinking.
Penrith
We work through who the likely future buyer is and what total price that buyer can reasonably carry.
Read the Penrith reviewWhere this thought leads
The total price is the first filter on your future buyer pool.
The same layout question, asked about your own household.
Where this thinking is taken all the way to the sale.
Benny's closing thought
Got a condo in mind? It sometimes helps to describe your future buyer out loud to someone else.
