So MANY Homebuyer Concerns.....153

#homebuyer #realestateagent #concern

Deerwood Realty and Friends Podcast

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Wanted to go over some homebuyer concerns with you and what strategies we use to (hopefully) lessen the concern

Thoughts:

1. Rising mortgage rates The concern here is that the mortgage rates will go up before homebuyers will find a home causing them not to be able to afford a home with as many features as they would have hoped. There are basically two ways to help with this concern

A. Always be looking to add to your savings for a down payment on a home. If you have reason to believe that rates are going to go up and you aren’t having any success in the housing market, the option to save cash makes a lot of sense because you are going to be ultimately lowering the financed amount. So, even as rates rise, you still have a chance to buy that home you are looking for…as a bonus, as rates go up, home prices should go down…but that’s not likely to happen overnight
B. The second thing you can do is buy now. Look for that house that needs work..the one that is dated but has the “strong bones” that everyone is so fond of talking about. Preferably this purchase should be at the low end of your budget so that with time, and some sweat equity you should be able to move from that house comfortably should you decide to do so in the future.

2. Taxes New homebuyers are rightly concerned about taxes. In this case, real estate taxes. I don’t know how it works throughout the rest of the country, but real estate taxes vary significantly here in St. Louis County depending on where you live. It’s based on the value of the home. There are two concerns most associated with taxes for the new homebuyer.

3. Buying in an unfamiliar area New Homebuyers are especially concerned about where they buy for a whole host of reasons. This is where your experienced and professional real estate agent should be able to help.

4. Finding a suitable home within a budget Given that it’s such a large investment, things can go wrong with budgeting for a home. I mean, the 30 year fixed mortgage is based off of your employment and income today…who really knows what is going to happen 5 days from now, much less 5 years? When we look for homes, one of the most important questions up front is where you might like to live. And, that’s kind of a 2 part question.

Overpaying relative to the market, I can certainly understand that concept. This comes from not researching or physically seeing a bunch of homes in an area with which you have interest. After you see 10, 15, or 20 homes in a certain area, you are going to understand the pricing and I doubt you will end up overpaying.

6. Crime Crime is a reasonable concern, of course. Unfortunately, crime is subjective for many people.

7. Proximity to family and friends Your family, your friends…many buyers want to be closer to people they know.

8. Commute times Those in the laptop class have almost totally eliminated this issue. It’s why we’ve seen a significant shift out of big cities.

9. Home Values The minute you actually buy a house, all of a sudden stable home values matter. Here are some of the ways I look at finding a home with a stable home value.

10. Uncovering a major issue after moving in The biggest concern I think most home buyers have is buying a home that has major issues they were not aware of before their purchase. This can happen for a number of different reasons…but one that I wanted to focus on is buying a home as is with no inspections. This is a recipe for disaster. ALWAYS keep the option to have a professional inspection before buying any house. If a house comes up for sale and you aren’t going to be able to beat an offer without inspections, move on to one there is.

Finally, it’s completely normal to have concerns about buying a home. There are always issues that can come up. I’m biased and I believe that a good real estate agent working for you on the buyer side is the best way to buy a home…you’ll always have concerns, even during home ownership….but at least you have someone working on your behalf to hopefully eliminate most of them.

Sources:
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