{"id":8628,"date":"2018-03-28T11:11:21","date_gmt":"2018-03-28T18:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/?p=8628"},"modified":"2018-03-23T09:21:41","modified_gmt":"2018-03-23T16:21:41","slug":"spring-homebuying-season-could-be-most-competitive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/2018\/03\/spring-homebuying-season-could-be-most-competitive\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring Homebuying Season Could Be Most Competitive"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Spring is here, and with it comes the most popular time of year to shop for a home. But if prospective home buyers don\u2019t prepare properly, they could be in for an agonizing search.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Across the country, many housing markets are seeing a record low number of homes up for sale thanks to fewer existing homeowners opting to move and home builders constructing fewer new homes. Tight housing inventory is, in turn, fueling rapid appreciation in home prices, all while mortgage rates have generally increased at a steady clip.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Not only is that making it less affordable to buy a home for many Americans, it\u2019s also making home purchase process more stressful. This year, perhaps more than ever before, prospective home buyers need to prepare. \u201cIt\u2019s probably the most competitive spring housing season we\u2019ve seen since right before the housing crisis,\u201d said Tendayi Kapfidze, chief economist at online lending marketplace LendingTree (TREE)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Here are some of the most important steps they need to take, according to housing and personal finance experts :<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Before searching for a home, they should ensure that their finances are in check. This doesn\u2019t just mean having an emergency fund in place for any unforeseen costs.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Review your credit report, said Kirk Licata, an Atlanta-based certified financial planner and senior adviser with LongView Wealth Management, a financial planning firm. And keep an eye out for errors.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Consolidate existing debt, Kapfidze recommended. That could lower monthly debt payments and improve a consumer\u2019s debt-to-income ratio, which is one of the factors lenders consider when deciding if a would-be borrower is creditworthy. \u201cThat will help you over the hump to get a mortgage,\u201d Kapfidze said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">This is what happens when homes are made permanently affordable Community Land Trusts (CLTs) have created over 15,000 affordable homes across the country. Here&#8217;s how it works.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Decide what type of house you want ASAP<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Buyers won\u2019t have time to rest on the laurels in today\u2019s market \u2014 and that means they need to hit the ground running. The typical listing on Realtor.com now sells 8% faster than it did a year ago, said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Consequently, indecision can easily jeopardize a home buyer\u2019s success in securing a purchase. \u201cA lot of buyers getting into the market for the first time don\u2019t know the difference between a Craftsman, a Cape Cod and a Colonial-style house,\u201d said Rick Sharga, executive vice president at Carrington Mortgage Holdings, a real estate company in Aliso Viejo, Calif. \u201cUnderstand what house you want to get and what amenities you\u2019re interested in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Figure out what you can actually afford<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Many buyers may find themselves in a bidding war. Don\u2019t flirt with a home price that\u2019s vastly unaffordable.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A housing budget should include everything from insurance and utilities payments to homeowner association dues and maintenance costs. Plus, property taxes.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">One good rule of thumb: Target a monthly mortgage payment equivalent to 80% or less of what you pay in rent, said Joel Cundick, a McLean, Va.-based financial adviser with Savant Capital, a wealth management firm.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Get pre-approved for a mortgage<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Getting pre-qualified or pre-approved for a mortgage is a step that most housing experts now suggest buyers take. A pre-approval letter from a lender will state the maximum amount they are willing to lend to a borrower to finance the purchase of a home.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cIt gives you a competitive edge against buyers who don\u2019t have pre-approval letters,\u201d said Holden Lewis, a research analyst at personal-finance website NerdWallet. \u201cHome sellers don\u2019t want to get burned by wasting time accepting an offer from someone and then a couple of weeks later it turns out they can\u2019t get a loan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">But getting a pre-approval doesn\u2019t just ensure you will have a better shot at competing with other buyers \u2014 it can also help you stay true to your budget. Because a pre-approval sets a maximum amount that a lender will give, it restricts consumers from buying a home outside their price range, Lewis suggested.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Shop around for the right lender<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Rising mortgage rates have cut into the refinancing business \u2014 and to make up for that lost revenue, lenders are competing more to attract home buyers.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cNot all lenders are increasing rates at the same rate, they have different strategies,\u201d Kapfidze said. \u201cLook at multiple lenders.\u201d Compare their fees and negotiate lower costs for services like the home appraisal.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Don\u2019t expect a computer to do all the work for you<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Don\u2019t be overly reliant on online searches, Sharga said. In hot markets such as Seattle, listings may be scooped up before they are even posted online. As a result, most housing experts suggest working with a real-estate agent throughout the process.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Real-estate agents do more than just help find a potential home. \u201cThe realtor can tell you what the local tax rate is and give you a sense of what insurance costs,\u201d Sharga said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/money\/realestate\/spring-homebuying-season-could-be-most-competitive-since-the-recession\/ar-BBKv5t6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Spring Homebuying Season Could Be Most Competitive Since The Recession<\/a> by Jacob Passy | MSN Real Estate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Spring is here, and with it comes the most popular time of year to shop for a home. But if prospective home buyers don\u2019t prepare properly, they could be in &hellip; [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/2018\/03\/spring-homebuying-season-could-be-most-competitive\/\">read more<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-real-estate"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Spring Homebuying Season Could Be Most Competitive &#8226; Rory C Real Estate | Oakwyn Realty<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/2018\/03\/spring-homebuying-season-could-be-most-competitive\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Spring Homebuying Season Could Be Most Competitive &#8226; Rory C Real Estate | Oakwyn Realty\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Spring is here, and with it comes the most popular time of year to shop for a home. 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