You can’t turn on the news lately without hearing about the current housing market. Supply is low right now which is pushing prices up. According to a recent article from CNBC “ the median price of an existing home sold in March was $329,100. That’s a 17.2% increase from March 2020.” (Article linked below)
So then how do you get a good deal on a home and where do you begin? Let’s explore together!
When it comes to buying houses I’ll be the first to admit we didn’t know a single thing when we purchased our first home almost 7 years ago. Walter and I had been saving for awhile and were able to pay cash on a fixer upper and having a mortgage didn’t even cross our radar. While this was GREAT at the time we have now hit a period of life where we are outgrowing our home. We have a 5 year old, a child in college ( soon to be living with us), and a dog. Our home is currently AT CAPACITY. I repeat, we are AT CAPACITY. The amount of time we have been spending at home this year, thanks COVID, has made it crystal clear that it’s time for us to upgrade. BUT OMG where do we even begin? What can we afford? How do we get a deal? Gahhhh. I’m overwhelmed. Well I consulted some realtor friends and I started researching online and here’s some helpful info I’ve found along the way and I’m passing it your direction.
First, How much can we afford? In my online browsing I came across a Mortgage Calculator that helped us figure out what we could afford. Here’s a link below if you are curious https://www.mortgagecalculators.info/
They had a lot of handy calculators you can plug your info in to and figure out what kind of mortgage payments you can afford, what the down payment on a house will be etc… It was super easy to navigate and gave us an idea of what kind of payments we would be able to handle.
All of these questions can also be answered with a realtor you trust, but both Walter and I like to know what we can afford before even crossing paths with a home so this was a handy tool.
According to CNBC you should use the 30/30 rule. Which means you don’t spend more than 30% of your monthly income on your mortgage. This is easy to figure out using the mortgage calculator available on this site. They also suggest having 30% of the home value saved in cash if possible. (article linked below)
If you Google “How to land a good deal on a new home” the top three tips will be,
Find a good realtor
Get pre approved
Know what you can afford
Since we know what we can afford now thanks to the mortgage calculators it’s time to find a good realtor. Word of mouth is everything in this game so ask your friends who they have used and loved. We are blessed to know a handful of amazing realtors I would trust my home with but if you aren’t ask around for a reference. If you are in the Dayton Area check out our friend Dan Nichols from Glasshouse Realty Group. https://www.facebook.com/dan.nichols.9210256
He recently gave us some great advice when going to buy a new home.
“Don’t buy a new car, don’t open a new credit card, don’t quit your job, and get a home warranty.”-Dan Nichols, Glasshouse Realty Group
This is great advice because, although I would love a new car right now, we plan to wait until after we’ve purchased our home to think about upgrading. This is something I would’ve never even thought of so having a great realtor pays off! It’s so important to find a patient realtor to answer all your questions, because you will have a ton of questions during this process!
Getting pre approved for a mortgage is the final piece to the puzzle. A quick online search will show your 100s of sites and companies to pre approve your home loan. Lending Tree https://www.lendingtree.com/ and RocketMortgage http://www.rocketmortgage.com/ were both easy to operate, user friendly, and they answered all my questions with good customer service.
Getting pre approved wasn’t as scary as it sounds. Your realtor can also work with you to suggest a local lender and walk you through the steps to get pre approved. Utilize your realtor!
Buying a home can be a very stressful process but with a little prep work, research, and the right realtor the process can go off without a hitch. Walter and I are looking forward to the day we find our next house and continue building a home together.
Articles Cited linked Below.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/23/as-home-prices-rise-heres-what-buyers-can-do-to-land-a-deal-.html
The Chandler Crew 