One of the biggest times of year for the housing market is just around the corner: the spring housing rush. Whether you’re a buyer or a seller, this annual surge in home buying activity can be used to your advantage.
You’ll have to move fast and be ready to be flexible when the time comes, so if you’re looking to enter the housing market on either side of the transaction, here are 7 crucial things you’ll need to know first.
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1. Get Your Partner’s Input
Buying or selling a house is one of the largest and most significant transactions you can do as an individual, and if you have a partner or spouse that may be impacted by your decision, whatever it may be, be sure you keep them in the loop. One of the biggest financial decisions that a couple can make shouldn’t be made by only one half of the couple.
If you cohabitate with someone and you’re thinking of putting the house on the market, that can cause significant upheaval in their lives that they may or may not be ready to deal with. There are a ton of variables that go along with such a huge financial move, so it’s always prudent to involve your other half.
2. Make Sure You Know What You Can Afford
This is one of the first steps people take, even when daydreaming about buying a new home. Using a simple mortgage calculator is a great way of getting a very general idea of what kind of loan you can afford at current rates. You would enter the rate of the loan, the term, and then scale the value of the home to fit your budget. While this is only a way to get an average estimate of affordability for purchase or refinance, it can be a great starting point for those just entering the market.
3. Use A Good Real Estate Agent
People will get turned off of using a good real estate agent because they may charge an additional percent or two for commission. What many people don’t realize, however, is that a good agent can be worth far more than the price of their commission. Even after commission costs, agents with more experience and qualifications can frequently negotiate lower prices during the offer stage. This saves the buyer thousands even after commission costs.
4. Be Familiar With The Market
Whether it’s a buyer’s market or a seller’s market, you should watch the market and become familiar with it, beginning from the early stages of your interest in buying or selling a home, like the ever popular trend of putting El Portal apartments for rent. It is commonly projected that the low housing supply and the increasing number of foreclosures are going to put immense pressure on homebuyers in 2022 to move quickly and make winning offers. While buyers are going to be entering the market knowing exactly what they want, they know that to get it, they’ll need to pay the asking price.
5. Know Your Approval Status Ahead Of Time
This will be a vital step for those who have never gone through the homebuying process and may be unfamiliar with the mortgage application and issuance process. For those that get letters of pre-approval, they can usually begin looking at houses right away, but there are some catches that are included. When your pre-approval is issued and valid, you must be sure that you do not take on any additional debt or change any potentially important financial details. Opening a new credit card or missing a payment on something in the month that your closing will take can be disastrous and can jeopardize the entire process.
6. Price Your Property Right The First Time
While a seller’s market can mean most of the power is on the seller’s side of things, it doesn’t mean that it’s all there. The buyer has some techniques for leveraging better and more influential offers, so if you’re selling, be sure you work closely with an experienced realtor who can help you price your home right the first time.
Without this crucial step, you could leave yourself open for buyer leverage later. By being too ambitious, even in the best of circumstances, and pricing the home too high, it could spend too long on the market and risk a price drop. Once the seller reduces the price of the listing, they lose significant power over the entire negotiation process.
7. The Process Takes Time
No matter which side of the contract you’re on, the process won’t be instant, and chances are that it will take several weeks to be completed. In some cases, the process may be completed much quicker by those with powerful enough motivation behind them, but largely, the process will take about a month.
There are many steps to buying or selling a home, and each can take up to a week or more, depending on the availability of inspectors, notaries, and lawyers. Once you find a home you like and submit an offer on it, you are more or less at the mercy of the process. You will need to wait to hear back via your agent if the seller accepted your offer, countered, or requested any terms. Then, the negotiations will continue.
After that, the contract and escrow paperwork and the final loan origination will occur, and the deal will be closed. In most cases, it will take around 30 days to complete the process, with some situations requiring much more or much less time.
Things You Need To Know Before Buying Or Selling Your Home
One of the most important times of year for the housing market is nearly upon us, so whether you’re looking to buy or sell, there are some things to remember. You want to make sure that not only are you entering the situation with the appropriate expectations but that you are as informed as possible. That way, you’ll be in the best position possible to get the most out of your buying or selling experience.
