This article was sponsored by Movin. You can read my full disclosure here)
Are you trying to navigate buying a home right now?
Unless you have been living under a rock, you probably know that the housing market has been absolutely nuts lately. This is a great thing and a bad thing because for the people selling their homes, they are getting amazing deals that line their pockets.
On the other hand, once you sell your place, you need a new home, so you are going to have to turnaround and buy a new house and compete in this market. If you are tossing around the idea of selling your home and/or buying a new home right now, you might be wondering what to expect. Let me fill you in! Here is some information on how to buy a home in a crazy housing market, and what you should be expecting during the process.
Should you even buy right now?
A lot of people have the question of if they should buy right now or not. Nobody has the exact answer to this, because nobody (or at least not many people) can predict exactly what is going to happen in the world and in the housing market over the next 1, 3,5, 7, and 10+ years.
One thing that we do know is that although interest rates do seem high right now, they were historically low over the past few years, and now they are balancing out again. They are going to continue to rise, so if you could lock in an interest rate right now, while they have not risen *too* much, you would be better off if you do plan to buy within the next 6 months to a year.
On the other hand, home prices are pretty expensive, however, as interest rates rise, home prices will probably fall a bit, as well. As a seller, this would mean that you would probably want to go ahead and sell as soon as possible, to get the most that you can for your home. And historically, we know that home prices continue to rise year after year. Meaning, the house you will spend $500,000 on today should increase in value over the next few years. Again – nobody has the correct answer, but I don’t think it’s a bad time to buy, even though home prices and interest rates seem high. It is all a balancing act and nobody knows what the future holds!
Get pre-approved
The first thing you need to do is get pre-approved. Any lender can help you with this, but I always recommend a small, local lender that has great reviews (word of mouth reviews are always best!).
When you apply with a lender, get ready to submit a ton of documents and answer a lot of questions about your financial status. How much money you have in your accounts, how you are funding the house purchase, how much money you make, how much debt you have, etc. etc. While getting pre-approved does take a bit of effort on your end, it makes your offer much stronger…which is what we are talking about next.
Make a strong offer
So, you found the perfect house. Now what? It’s time to make an offer, but in this market, your offer needs to be strong. Unfortunately, most homes are going for about 10,000 over the asking price right now. Crazy, right? To get an accepted offer, your contract has to be pretty clean, as well. So, you will have to consider going without contingencies or negotiations.
My friend just made an offer on a home for the asking price, with a contingency on her home selling. Other than that, the offer was clean….and she didn’t get it because they didn’t want the home sale contingency. Luckily, she found another home she loved a few weeks later, put an offer on for 7,000 above asking, with no contingencies other than a financial contingency for 7 days, and an as-is offer. Her offer was accepted! So, this shows exactly what sellers are looking for. Above asking price, and low stress for them (as-is, no contingencies, etc.). People are even making offers with no appraisal contingencies, which is mind-boggling.
Consider off-market homes, when possible
If it is possible, find off-market homes and make offers on those. It will save you so much time, effort, and the fact that you don’t have to compete with others is a game-changer in this market.
Buying a home right now can be stressful, but it’s also so exciting and if you play your cards right, you can get the home of your dreams! When you find that home, don’t forget to make the moving process as easy as possible by planning ahead, making checklists, having a great agent and lender, and hiring a moving company. If you are in my area, I recently heard about Movin’. One of their specialties is office moving Salt Lake City, but they also do typical moving services like residential moving, packing services, interior design, storage, home staging, and so much more! Hiring a moving team, such as Movin’, will make the process much easier for you.
