How Long Should It Take To Find Your New Home?
Searching for a house to buy is one of the most daunting tasks most Americans will perform in their lifetimes. Not only does it represent a significant investment, but it also signifies the core of the American dream and a hallmark of middle-class stability and wealth: home ownership. More than mere property, homes are, well, homes. They’re the places in which families are built and children are raised. As Americans build their own careers or start their own businesses, their homes are their sanctuary to which they return after a hard day, and the bedrock upon which they base their net worth and security as they go through their lives.
In other words, a lot of things are dependent on choosing the right home. Not only is it a matter of finances (as in, it’s good practice to buy less house than you can actually afford), but a matter of location as well. With so much riding on this purchase, how long should it take for you to find the best home for you?
To be sure, there are several mitigating factors here that are going to influence how you search and how long that search should ideally take. For one, are you a current homeowner, and have you already sold your old home? Are you moving to a new area? What are your financing options, and what’s the best mortgage available to you given your current financial situation and property price threshold? Are you a first-time buyer?
For the most part, these questions can be reduced to three broader areas of concern: how quickly you can secure a commitment to financing from a lender, how competitive the market is in the area you’re looking at, and what your unique needs are as a home buyer. We tell all of our clients and associates, as well as people looking to buy their first home, to take buying any property very seriously and always treat it as an investment, whether you’re a full-time real estate investor or simply buying a home for you and your family to live in. You’ll want to treat buying property like the assignment it needs to be; it is, after all, a significant investment. Just as we tell aspiring real estate investors, set your goals, ensure they are realistic, decide on a target date, formulate a schedule, employ a strategy, and stick to the plan. It’s a method that works equally well for investors and homebuyers alike, and in either case you’re potentially looking at spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, so be sure to do your homework and get the job done correctly.
It’s more important in the beginning to go ahead and shop for financing before you shop for homes, generally. For one thing, the process puts you in a position to know how exactly much you can afford and precisely how much you can qualify for regarding a loan, and both of those things will necessarily narrow your search. That’s a good thing, because nothing is more disappointing than finding a home you like and figuring out later that you just can’t quite make it work in terms of actually buying it. Such things are also an enormous waste of time, and in this business, time is money. You can further save time by having lender’s letter in hand when you make an offer, and in competitive markets some sellers may not even consider offers from buyers without previously approved financing. Save yourself the hassle and the time and get your financing squared away early on.
The second most influential factor in terms of how long it may take you to find a home and close on a sale is the conditions of the market in which you plan to buy, not to mention your proximity to it. In other words, is this a new area to you, or are you moving more or less down the street? If you have to travel to a different area (or move prior to actually buying a house and arrange other accommodations while searching), you will want a narrower field of options and a shorter search time frame, because you’re either spending money on other accommodations if you had to move or, if you’re commuting to the area to look at homes, spending money on fuel and other travel expenses. We’ll talk more about this in a minute, but this is where you need to start understanding exactly how picky you can afford to be, given your needs and wants as a buyer. Where financing narrows your search by price, urgency in one form or another begins to narrow your search by features and of course by time.
Market conditions play a huge role in this as well, regardless of your proximity to the area in which you plan to buy. You can read a little more in detail about what signs indicate a growing market in an older blog by us, found here, but we’re going to try to be as broad as possible in explaining the fundamentals and how they pertain to the concern of actually buying a home in a reasonable amount of time. The best plan is to have a thorough understanding of the current value of properties on the market within that particular location. Is the market in decline, or is it poised for – or currently experiencing – considerable growth? Whether it’s in appreciation or decline makes a huge difference, not the least of which may be your decision to even buy a property in that area in the first place. In a down market, properties may be plentiful and you as a buyer will enjoy the upper hand in both pricing and negotiation, but bargains may still be very competitive; after all, investors may be on the prowl in that area as well and may be able to outbid you or utilize a more streamlined closing process that’s more appealing to a seller. Appreciating markets, on the other hand, can lead to a similar situation as non-investor buyers may be willing to bid more than the asking price.
Finally, where most buyers get tripped up in determining an appropriate amount of time to allocate to their search is, understandably, their own preferences and their wish list in terms of what they want in a property. Remember, time is money, and wasting it, as we’ve seen with some of the scenarios that may apply to you, is going to further limit your search and options. Obviously, taking care of your financing beforehand is a huge help here, as it will help narrow you search to properties you can feasibly afford and qualify for, while eliminating time wasted on properties that just don’t fit your qualifications or budget. Beyond that, you need to have a clear, detailed – and realistic – vision of what it is you need, as well what compromises you’re willing to make regarding those needs. You’ll want to write down what features you want and need, then prioritize them according to what you absolutely must have, what would be nice to have, and things you can either live without or definitely don’t want. It’s a mistake to look at property online and go to inspections without really thinking through what you’re trying achieve out of buying a property. Clarity regarding your goals is absolutely necessary in order to decide what it is you should be looking for, and thus you can save time by increasing the efficiency with which you consider properties because your expectations are clear and realistic.
As a final note, get a realtor you can trust and one whose advice you can take seriously! They have not only professional experience in the business of buying and selling homes, they know the process intimately well in addition to having inside knowledge of the current market in the area in which you’re looking. In other words, if your realtor tells you after five months, several offers, and innumerable house visits that maybe your expectations are a little high or you might need to make a few compromises here and there, maybe consider taking their advice.
Be sure to refer to the other blogs linked in this one for more information and some context on mortgages, buying and selling homes, and signs to pay attention to in real estate markets! There’s a lot of information you need to have a thorough command of when buying a home, and we’re here to help! You can sign up for our email list for more real estate advice and market information, and don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
– Get It Right Solutions