The market is picking up speed š”
I hope your year is off to a good start!
Last weekend saw a big uptick in buyer demand on the ground, and this week is shaping up for more of the same - back to multiple offers, over-asking offers, and lines (lines!) at open houses. From what I'm hearing from my clients and my colleagues, there are great homes prepping to hit the marketĀ - and sellers and buyers who are ready to act fast are going to be ahead of the usual spring rush.
Regardless of where you are in your home ownership timeline, I wanted to shareĀ a few resources that might be helpful as you're looking ahead in 2021Ā - some very first steps, especially to evaluate whether buying or selling might be the right move for you right now.
FOR SELLERS, the benefit to hitting the market sooner rather than later is that buyers who are in the market now are motivated and prepared: they're well-qualified, pre-approved, and dedicated to making a purchase happen before spring, leading to smooth transactions. The benefit to a true spring sale, assuming COVID counts hold and the market stays hot, is potentially a broader audience (more buyers) and more market history to support pricing.Ā
If youāre thinking of selling at any point this year, you can start now:
Work on thinning storage and closets: if people open doors and cabinets during showings, they need to be able to shut the again, easily.
Make a relocation plan: are you already out? Do you have access to a temporary or second home? If youāre using proceeds from a sale to fund your next home, youāre going to want to coordinate with a lender and an agent early, to be sure your timeline is in sync.
Take a Magic Eraser to your door frames, and start touching up scrapes and dings in walls and woodwork. Check overhead light fixtures for dead bugs and clear those out. Youāll want a deep cleaning before listing photos, but for now, take small steps to tidy up.
Revisit your own home inspection report, if you have one from your purchase: is there anything you should disclose to prospective buyers, or anything worth addressing that you havenāt already?
Have your heating system serviced if you havenāt recently, so that you can advertise accordingly when it comes time to hit the market.
FOR BUYERS targeting a purchase this year, early steps include:
Getting your paperwork in order: take time pull copies of pay stubs and tax returns so you have them ready for a pre-approval. If you need to spend time digging for these or unearthing old passwords, better to do before you're on a deadline.
Revisiting recurring expenses and subscriptions: is it time to pause your lease favorite streaming service or your plant-of-the-month club? Freeing up a bit of extra monthly cash might feel empowering heading into a home buying season.
Introspecting a bit on your current home: what works, and what doesn't? If you can translate your current likes and pain pointsĀ into searchable parameters, that will help your web search and your agent down the line.
If you're moving from a rental, re-read your lease: are there explicit terms on a lease break? When is your lease up, and when do you need to give notice? If I can help talk through strategy from a landlord's perspective, or if you'd like to work together to back into a buying timeline (attached) based on your lease parameters, please reach out.
Also, a few of my favorite tools for approaching the numbers:
Mortgage payment calculations: this tool allows you to adjust variables to see the impact on preliminary monthly payments:Ā https://www.consumersadvocate.org/mortgage-rates/lp/mortgage-rate-calculator
This version from NerdWallet is also useful, and gets at the (very subjective) concept of "affordability" by asking about your other obligations and income, compared to the market by zip code:Ā https://www.nerdwallet.com/mortgages/how-much-house-can-i-afford
I also love the NYT rent-or-buy calculator: the visualization can be helpful in trying to process data, though let's discuss in more depth if you have questions, because the rental market in Boston has shifted dramatically post-COVID so there will be discrepancies here:Ā https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/buy-rent-calculator.html
And, one last thing: I'm rolling out a (free)Ā email version of theĀ home buying masterclassĀ I've offered through Instagram DMs in the past - if that would be helpful to you, I'm happy to get you started. Just let me know.
Be well,
Kate