Click here to learn what it is like to compete when buying a home
Let’s dive in. Here are 3 things to know at the start at the home buying process.
1) Understand the market conditions you are buying in. Remember that different locations and different price points can impact how much you can negotiate. The housing market can be favouring buyers, sellers or balanced. By studying statistics your realtor can inform you on what you will be facing when you go to make an offer. Some locations and housing types are so strong that you may be competing when you are ready to make an offer. For example currently the condo and townhome market up to around $1M is very strong in the Vancouver Westside and you will more than likely be competing with other offers. The single family market is this same area at over $3M is currently favouring buyers.
2) Be specific on what you are looking for, but not too specific. What do I mean by this? Well, if you narrow your home search to a small search area like a 5 square block area, you may not have enough choices. If you make your search area too large, the opposite can happen and you can be easily overwhelmed with too much choice. Also it is possible to be too specific on the type of home. For example if you limit yourself to a home 1000 to 1200 square feet that must be on 2 levels you will not get too many choices. Especially if you combine this with a limited search area.
3) Know how much you want to spend and get a mortgage pre-approval. This is important because obviously it makes no sense to start looking at homes that you can’t afford. A mortgage professional can help with this because the rules around how much of a loan you can qualify for are always changing and interest rates change frequently. For example this month interest rates were lowered by ½%.
Some great resources on my website. I’m going to link to the Buyer section of my website where you will find a video on what it is like to compete with other offers. Please feel free to contact me at 604-808-9796. I specialize in helping home buyers looking to purchase a home in the Vancouver West Side. My name is David Setton with Oakwyn Realty and answers in real estate and you can reach me at 604-808-9796.
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