Top real estate advices for 2021? Okay, this is probably the hardest real estate trend to swallow—so brace yourself: Inventory has been incredibly low! For perspective, inventory was down 22% in November 2020 compared to the previous year.2 There just weren’t enough houses for sale over the year to meet buyer demand. But don’t worry, we’ll walk you through what to expect if you enter the market. Low inventory means you need to be on your toes when you go house hunting—the best homes will likely be snatched up fast. In November 2020, more than 7 in 10 sold homes were on the market for less than a month.3 That doesn’t leave much time to hem and haw over your home search. If you want to find a good home in this slim market, here’s some advice: Sacrifice some wants. If you can’t find the house you want, be willing to give up some “nice-to-haves” for your “must-haves.” Find the least expensive home in the best neighborhood you can afford and upgrade over time.
Any Realtor will tell you that homes that do not get shown have a tough time getting sold. The last thing you want to do is make it difficult for your agent to get their clients into your home. If you require buyers to make appointments during a restrictive timeframe or way in advance, they will more than likely go to other places that are easy to get into or even cross your home off the list. See extra details at this website.
Yes, if you’re prepping to buy a home in 2021, expect to be shocked, and not in a good way. At this point in the cycle, home prices have eclipsed old all-time highs in many parts of the country. And even if they haven’t yet, there’s a good chance you’ll be paying more than the Zestimate or Redfin Estimate for the property in question due to limited inventory and strong home buyer demand. The bad news for renters is home prices are expected to rise another 10% this year, so things are just getting more and more expensive. In short, expect to shell out a lot of dough if you want a home in 2021, and that could often mean paying over asking price, even if the original list price seems high.
Break Down Your Income & Expenses: Credit for this one goes to user GeekLimit on Reddit – one of my favorite personal finance tips! This is an odd little trick that can change the perspective you have about your money, and help you budget better. It’s all about breaking your income and expenses down into daily values, like this: You make $2,500/month = ~$83/day. You pay $800/month for rent = ~$27/day. You pay $200/month for car insurance = ~$7/day. Everything else (food, phone, gas, etc.) comes to $750/month = ~$25/day. That means you’re left with $24/day in spending money. Want to save $1,000 for a nice vacation? You’ll have to save about 42 days worth of your spending money. That means 42 days of not spending a dime. Want to buy a new $10,000 car? That’s about 416 days worth of your spending money. This will help you see how far purchases are going to set you back and affect your spending ability. Find even more information at Dezert Properties.
After narrowing the search to 2 or 3 homes, your agent will do whatever research is necessary to aid you in making your decision. Ultimately, however, it is your decision. Some tools that can help you make that final decision include school reports (if you have or are planning on having children), statistical information from the local chamber of commerce, future zoning or road expansion from local planning offices, etc. Whatever the factors of importance are to you, have your agent help locate that information. Once you have selected a single home to focus on, your agent will conduct a comparative market analysis on that property. This involves determining “fair market value” by looking at what other buyers were willing to pay for properties similar to yours in the same neighborhood or area.
There will be times when you have the opportunity to create more space through proper organization and utilizing it efficiently. There are also some homes that just won’t allow you to store much stuff because there is no attic or basement, and the storage closet outside is relatively small. Millennial attraction to homeownership has grown significantly in recent decades. Mostly because there are now options where a 20% down payment is not the requirement. This gives a much larger pool of buyers the ability to buy a home. Especially, first time home buyers who receive a lot of help! See extra info on http://www.bing.com/maps?ss=ypid.YN873x7840607033861453545&mkt=en-US.
Draining your savings. Spending all or most of their savings on the down payment and closing costs is one of the biggest first-time homebuyer mistakes, says Ed Conarchy, a mortgage planner and investment adviser at Cherry Creek Mortgage in Gurnee, Illinois. “Some people scrape all their money together to make the 20 percent down payment so they don’t have to pay for mortgage insurance, but they are picking the wrong poison because they are left with no savings at all,” Conarchy says. How this affects you: Homebuyers who put 20 percent or more down don’t have to pay for mortgage insurance when getting a conventional mortgage. That’s usually translated into substantial savings on the monthly mortgage payment. But it’s not worth the risk of living on the edge, Conarchy says. What to do instead: Aim to have three to six months of living expenses in an emergency fund. Paying mortgage insurance isn’t ideal, but depleting your emergency or retirement savings to make a large down payment is riskier.