If you are looking into buying a home in Northern Virginia and haven’t heard yet, let us be the ones to tell you: prepare for an uphill climb. It’s a hot seller’s market right now not just in this particular region, but from coast to coast. What does this mean? It means that prices are higher, inventory is tighter, and competition for the best houses is stiffer than before. Buyers need to be realistic and know what they are getting into before they start their house hunt. The following are pro tips on how to rise above the crush of buyers out there and land your perfect home.
1) Have Your Mortgage Pre-Approval in Hand
First of all, know that you won’t be taken seriously unless you walk into your housing hunt with a mortgage pre-approval in hand. If you haven’t yet secured financing, do it before you start looking at houses. To make sure that you are getting the best deal on a mortgage, it is best to get at least three “good faith estimates” from different sources - banks, credit unions, or mortgage brokers. Your real estate agent can give you recommendations. You’ll want to compare the mortgage rate, estimated closing fees, and other conditions to choose the best fit.
2) Give Yourself Three-to-Six Months to Search
Secondly, in a hot housing market, prepare for your search to take a long time. Gone are the days of heading out with your Realtor and finding a perfect house in a day or so. Expect your hunt to take at least three to six months, with some buyers taking as long as a year to find what they need. Buyers today are more likely to encounter competition for the “good” homes and end up in bidding wars, which seriously complicates the process. If you are selling your own home and have a time limit on when you need to have a new place to move into, start the buying process NOW.
3) When You Find the Perfect House, Make Your Best Offer
When you do find a home that makes your heart go pitter-patter, come out of the gate with your best offer. This is not the way of the bargain hunter, we know, but it’s necessary when you could be dealing with multiple other buyers trying to poach “your” home. Be prepared to offer the full asking price, if the home hasn’t been on the market long and your agent advises you that it is priced fairly. You might even have to offer above the asking price. But don’t diddle around with lowball offers. This is not the market for that.
The long and short of it is that, to find your dream home in a hot seller’s market, you need to come with your “A Game” firmly in place. It can mean a bit more work and money on your part, but these are the measures you need to take to find a home you will love and make it yours.
