It was a buyers market before the pandemic, but the housing market is now in favor of the seller – and they know it. Landing a dream home doesn’t come at a dream price at the moment, and buyers everywhere are being priced out of the market. It’s hard to say why a pandemic has shifted the housing market so much, but it has and yet there are still so many people out there trying to buy their own home.
Housing inventory is down from several years ago in some markets, but not all of them. Yes, increasingly expensive high-end homes for sale are on the market and it makes it impossible to feel like you’re ever going to buy your own home. However, there are methods to beat the buyers and get the house of your dreams. So, with this in mind, here are seven tips for landing your dream home.
- You need to know what you need, and what you want. You have to split a list into needs and wants so that when you go house shopping, you’ll find the house you want with all the things that you need. There will always be things that you can live without! Likewise, you need to know what you want when it comes to a home. Whether you want to live in a Duplex or a cabin, choosing the type of property that you want to live in (and weighing up its pros and cons) beforehand will make the house finding process a lot easier.Get pre-approved. If you hope to land your dream house, you want to know that you have pre-approval for the amount you can borrow. If you get pre-approval, you will only need to look at houses that you can afford, not ones that go above and beyond that. You need to be set apart and pre-approval does that.
- Get to know the ‘burb. Do you have a neighborhood in mind for your dream house? Go and drive around in it! You can do much better when you make a first offer but you can only make this offer if you are going to like the suburb that you’re in. Go and drive around and get to know it!
- Get in with the real estate agents. Sometimes, homes go up on the market that aren’t necessarily available right away. You can get in with a good real estate agent, and they can let you know if any properties are coming up that you can see before anyone else.
- Differentiate yourself. What do you have that other buyers don’t have? You have to figure out what’ll differentiate you from the rest so that you stand out as people that should have a house. You deserve the best!
- Stick close to or just above list. You want to offer what the buyer wants or more. If you lowball a seller, you’re going to get yourself ignored and that won’t buy your dream house for you. Don’t barter in your dream home.
- Keep a clean offer. Don’t offer an amount but only if the buyer redecorates/replaces the roof etc unless you need those things done to ensure that the house is liveable. Decor is something that you can do yourself and you can get your dream house if you forget this bit!