Author: Marlowe Clark

The secret to making sure you are buying the house that is best for you is knowing what your basic needs are before you proceed, and what are simply things that would be nice to have. In order to do this, remember that many wants can be achieved later if basic needs are met. Once you decide what you can live with and without, you can budget accordingly.

Basic needs include health and safety items, which should be your first priority. A solid foundation and floors and walls without defects are important features for safety and are difficult or costly to fix later. The condition of your HVAC is also a health concern, though that can be repaired. Good location is also a priority, despite not necessarily being a safety concern, since that can’t be changed later. Anything else on your list would be want-to-haves rather than need-to-haves. For example, you can later change paint, countertops, and fixtures or do remodeling.

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Virtual tours and showings are a great way to speed up home viewing, but because you are not physically in the space, there are a lot of negatives. A virtual tour guides you through the best features of a home that has been properly staged with touched-up photos. This makes it look good, but doesn’t show how it actually looks. Camera angles and zoom levels can avoid defects or distort room sizes. The tour may even completely ignore some walls, rooms, or the ceiling or floors.

Find out exactly what you are seeing and what is not being shown. If something is missing from a virtual tour, it may be because it doesn’t look good, or the tour wasn’t done very professionally and might misrepresent the home. Virtual tours don’t always include the basement, so be sure to check if there is one and what its condition is like. Even if you use virtual showings as a preliminary screening, you should also check out the home in person before purchasing. If you can’t view the home in person for whatever reason, have your agent be your eyes in your absence by checking for any defects, such as wall cracks, evidence of past water issues and any other flaws.

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In the winter, there’s less real estate activity, but that also means that the most motivated buyers will have fewer options — which might just include your home. So, if you’re planning to sell in the winter, it’s important to not get lazy, even if demand is low. Good maintenance is important this time of year, whether you’re selling or not. This is especially true in areas that get snow. Drafts, fogged windows or heating that struggles to keep up can raise concerns quickly. Before listing, service your heating system, seal any gaps around doors and windows and address any lingering repairs.

Once you’re ready to list, make sure prospective buyers actually want to look at your home. Snow or no snow, first impressions matter. Keep walkways clear, salt any icy areas and trim dead branches or leftover fall debris. If you have outdoor lighting, use it to brighten the pathways and highlight your entryway, as shorter days mean buyers may be arriving after dark. Be sure to keep everything clean and clutter free. Winter boots and coats can multiply fast at this time of year, so create a neat entry space and hang any winter clothing out of the way. Fresh rugs, clean floors and organized storage areas will go a long way toward improving your home’s appearance.

Make the inside of your home comfortable as well. Warm temperatures, soft lighting, and subtle seasonal scents help buyers imagine themselves settling in. If you have a fireplace, showcase it. Consider layering throws, arranging comfortable seating and ensuring windows are spotless to maximize natural winter light.

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Open houses are a very useful tool for learning about a property. But it’s not just about walking in, taking a look around, and walking out. Full advantage of visiting an open house is achieved if you can time your visit when there are very few lookers roaming through the house. Too many visitors, and you won’t be able to take in details and may not have an opportunity to speak to the agent or homeowner. If you’re the only visitor, you might miss out on insights from others looking at the property from a different perspective.

You can also learn about more than just that one property. If you’re focused and paying attention, you can learn about an entire neighborhood just by visiting open houses. Observe your surroundings as you’re traveling and notice patterns in traffic and what the neighbors are doing. Once inside, use the information you learn not only to decide whether you want this home, but what some of your expectations can be for other homes in the area. This is particularly effective if you are visiting more than one open house in the same neighborhood. And this is just from the open houses — you can absolutely use this opportunity to directly speak to neighbors. Sometimes neighbors even visit open houses without any intent to buy.

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The appeal of a condo over a single family residence or an apartment unit is that is a mix of independence and convenience. This isn’t the right choice for everyone, but even if it is, that doesn’t mean everything is necessarily perfect. There are plenty of hidden pitfalls to consider, some of which apply to any purchase, but some of which won’t necessarily apply to other types of homes.

It’s not uncommon for condos to have deferred maintenance, particularly since the HOA often needs to agree to it. A fancy entrance lobby can hide deeper problems. Take a good look at hallways, stairwells and elevators. Peeling paint or broken lights often signal bigger maintenance issues. Sometimes the issue isn’t deferred maintenance, but foundational problems. Walk the grounds and check for cracks, uneven floors or other signs of sloppy workmanship.

Check the finances. If monthly condo fees seem high compared to nearby buildings, find out why. Ask to see the condo association’s financial statements. Ensure that there’s a healthy reserve fund to deal with unexpected problems. Check to see if the owners are up to date on their payments, as well. If lots of owners are behind on payments, that’s a warning sign. It could mean the community’s financial stability is at risk and that repairs might get delayed.

Spend some time visiting, including at different times of the day. This will help you get a feel for the actual day to day living. You might not notice thin walls until you can hear your prospective neighbors at night, and you want to be prepared for what rush hour traffic is like in the area. Talk to current residents, as well. No one will know better than those who live there what living there is like. They may also be more willing to discuss complaints they have about management with a potential neighbor than they would be sending in a complaint to management.

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Deciding to sell your home can seem very daunting. After all, the decision of which home to buy is very important — and typically, when you’re selling your home, you’re also buying a home at around the same time. Coordinating all that is difficult. While this is all true, knowing when to sell is actually a lot simpler than knowing what to buy.

Many of the reasons to sell are primarily personal. Do you need to upsize because you have a kid coming soon? Are you ready to downsize because your kids have moved out? Did you switch jobs? It all pretty much boils down to: Does your current location no longer serve your changing needs? If that’s the case, it probably is a good time to sell, as long as the market isn’t tanked. Much of the time, even your finances are better served in a home that caters to your needs than a slightly less expensive home that simply doesn’t work for you.

Sometimes the reasons are purely practical. If maintenance starts piling up, keeping up with it can be both more expensive and more time consuming than switching to a lower maintenance property. This can be one that doesn’t require as many, or any, repairs, or just a property that is smaller or easier to maintain. It’s also possible in any given moment that the numbers just simply make sense. Maybe your home value has risen, and you know you can sell and purchase a property with a better fit at a similar or lower price. Recognizing this does require keeping a critical eye on the market, and acting on it requires adaptability and a willingness to let go of any sentimental feelings about your current property.

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Any time you’re looking to buy a home, you want to know exactly what it is you’re buying. That doesn’t only mean knowing information about the building itself, but also being familiar with the neighborhood. While it’s true that the seller will have to disclose major issues with the property, there could be problems that don’t need to be disclosed.

When someone is selling a home, there’s always a reason for that. The reason could be entirely innocuous — such as changing jobs or moving in with a new partner — but it could also be that the home has deferred maintenance or that the crime rate in the area is spiking. Ask about what repairs and renovations have been done and should be done. Ensure you know about all potential issues, not just the ones that legally must be disclosed. Consider the neighborhood, including crime rates, amenities, and schools, as well as future plans such as upcoming developments, zoning changes, and road work.

Even if there’s nothing wrong with the property or the area, there could be some unwanted surprises. It’s difficult to consider every possible factor in the cost of owning a home, but one that people often forget about is utility costs. These typically aren’t high, but you still need to budget for it. You also need to ask the seller what’s included in the sale. It’s not uncommon that things such as furniture and appliances aren’t included. Once you’ve decided to buy a home, there’s still more useful information. Learn about the state of the market — what prices are like, how competitive the market is right now, how long properties usually stay on the market before selling. Having this knowledge could give you an edge in negotiating.

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Proximity to one’s workplace is often near the top of the list of priorities for buyers. While living close to where you work can offer convenience and save time, there are both pros and cons. The correct choice for you is the one that best fits your lifestyle and long-term goals. Consider ranking your priorities to see how important a short commute is to your situation.

It goes without saying that one of the biggest advantages of buying near your workplace is the reduced commute time. Less time spent in traffic and more time for family, hobbies, or rest can improve your overall quality of life and reduce stress. Additionally, living nearby can make it easier to handle unexpected work demands or emergencies.

That’s not the only potential advantage, though. Many workplaces are in commercial districts, which would mean they are also close to amenities, shopping, restaurants, and entertainment. There is also a long-term advantage to living in commercial districts — consistent demand means home values won’t tank. If these other factors are important to you, it may be beneficial to live near your workplace, even if a short commute isn’t high on your list of priorities, perhaps because you work from home all or part of the time.

Living in a major commercial area has its downsides, too, though. They’re frequently dirtier and noisier than residential districts. In addition, the resistance to economic downturns means homes closer to major employment centers or urban areas often come with a higher price tag. This means your budget might be tighter or you may need to compromise on home size or features.

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Spring and summer are the most common times to buy or sell a home, but that doesn’t mean the autumn market is without its advantages. And the advantages aren’t exclusive to either buyers or sellers. Both parties can benefit, though the seller might need to put more thought into the right way to attract buyers.

There are a couple major perks for buyers. The first is reduced competition. Because there is less activity in the fall compared to spring or summer, there are fewer other buyers competing with you for the property you want. This means more room for negotiation on prices or repairs. The second is that autumn typically has quicker closing times, so you don’t need to wait as long before moving in. However, you should be careful not to neglect heating, window, and roof maintenance. Winter will be fast approaching, and you don’t want to rush these repairs, especially if your area gets snow.

If you’re a seller, you can probably expect more serious buyers in the fall. People don’t look for homes in the slower seasons without a reason for doing so. The good thing about this is that you likely aren’t wasting your time or money showing your property to them, as long as you’ve set the right price. The difficulty is that more serious buyers are looking for exactly the right property for them. That means the seller needs to put in more effort to make the home look presentable. Fortunately, merely getting ready for the holiday season tends to do just that. Whether you’re showing your home or not, you might have already planned to make your home more inviting for holiday guests.

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Investment property is typically thought of as something owned by people with significant amounts of wealth to throw around. While it’s true that investment by definition requires an upfront cost, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a big cost. Furthermore, it’s possible for your investment to be in a property you plan to live in as well, so you aren’t forced to buy multiple homes to invest.

Long-term investments, which rely on home values appreciating over time, don’t have to be costly at all, particularly if you plan to live there anyway. Foreclosures and auction sales are generally significantly lower price than the average home in any particular area. However, you should be careful about repair costs — homeowners whose homes are on foreclosure or auction typically couldn’t afford to keep their homes, which means they often also have deferred maintenance. You could also look in up-and-coming neighborhoods that aren’t pricey yet, but might be in the future.

Alternatively, there are strategies to reduce the upfront cost of purchasing a home. These include government programs to aid first time homebuyers, enlisting the help of other investors, or utilizing seller financing. Seller financing involves making monthly payments directly to the seller of a home instead of to a lender. Because it’s rarely advantageous for the seller and benefits greatly from knowledge of legal procedures, this is not a common financing method. But if the seller agrees to it, it can help to waive large down payment requirements, and possibly even grant a better interest rate. You might also choose not to purchase an entire home, but just part of one — a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) involves trading a percentage of a property on the stock exchange.

One of the most common strategies is actually quite simple. Just buy a home and rent out part of it, while living in it. This is called house hacking, and is usually done with multi-unit properties such as duplexes and triplexes. But if you can’t afford a multi-unit property, you can also buy a single-family residence and rent out specific rooms. This won’t generate as much income as renting out entire units, but frequently has a lower upfront cost.

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