Well, Spring has finally arrived and it's about time! If you've been house shopping recently, you may have found a trend a bit different than you expected. I personally have buyers out shopping who are finding the same thing. The trend is something we've not been used to and seems to be increasingly more common. Houses are selling! Forgive me if I sound sarcastic, in all reality this is what is happening over the last 30-60 days and the proof is everywhere.
What we're finding is that banks are listing foreclosed and short sale homes aggressively and holding to that number. There may be some wiggle room for assistance with closing cost's or reasonable offers excepted, but many buyers are finding that when they go back to make that second offer that the home is sold already. The fact is, two counties in N.H. have sold more homes than have been listed in the last two months. It's been a while since we've seen that. So, if you've been waiting for the market to bottom out and getting ready to start your search for a home...get moving. It's going to be a busy Spring and realtor's are aware of it. Mortgage companies are gearing up for it as well. Lending practices have changed dramatically and realtor's phones are starting to ring, so while you are out looking at homes, here are some things to keep in mind.
1. Bank owned and foreclosed properties are almost always going to be a lengthy transaction. In some cases I've heard, as long as 3 months until the buyer was able to move in. Plan on this and be happy with the deal you get, your investment is sure to pay off over the next 5-7 years. Which, statistically is the length of time first time buyers are in their first home.
2. Don't expect to "steal" the home of your dreams. You've found the house you want and due to the state of the market you ask your realtor to offer $20,000.00 less than the listed price. You may not even get a response on an offer like that although your realtor is required to make it, you may in fact, just insult the selling party and they can chose not to deal with you at all. This is not to be taken lightly, I'm absolutely telling you the truth. The seller can chose simply not to deal with you and that's that.
3. Don't even attempt to make an offer without a strong pre-approval from a mortgage officer/company you feel comfortable with. In fact, go one step further and ask for a pre-commitment from your lender and realize that it's worth it's wait in gold in this market. With good reason too, a pre-approval means someone looked at your credit and got some income figures from you to base their personal decision on whether or not they can get you a loan. It's become much more difficult to gain a mortgage approval than many of us were used to. I personally prefer to get all the information from my customers as if they have found a home and run the loan through the program I think will work for them to actually get an approval. It's like having cash in your pocket and can often mean your offer is accepted over the person with the "pre-approval" only, in some cases, even if your offer is slightly less.
So, I've provided you with a bunch of information today and as always, this blog is based on our opinion and what we're seeing daily in the market. Make your offer when you find the home you love, because while your thinking it over, someone else has likely made their offer and it's being accepted and written up. This is where we're heading and though the increase in homes may not be much, it's our opinion, based on what research we've done, home prices will be going up slightly over the next year. $5,000 may not seem like much when you're considering spending $150,000 on a home, but ask yourself this, is that $5000 better in your pocket or someone else's? As always, our contact info is listed above, don't hesitate to get in touch. Stay well, soon enough we'll see tree's budding and green grass ;)
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