Buying or Selling in the Next 12 Months: What You Need to Know Today

There are many different reasons you might be thinking about selling your home. Perhaps you want to downsize (or upsize), perhaps you want to take advantage of the market, or maybe you need to move to another area of the country for your company. Regardless of the reasons, there are many things to consider before you speak with a real estate agent.

You probably already have a good grasp of how the home-buying process goes since you've done it at least once before. But if this is your first time selling a home, there’s plenty more to learn. Even if you have sold a home in the past, the market is always changing. 

If you're thinking about buying a home within the next year, or buying a home after you sell your current one there are a few things that you can get started on to make the process that much smoother when you are ready to go house hunting.

Deciding To Sell Your Home: What You Should Do First

Once you do decide you want to sell your home, there are several things you can do before you contact a real estate agent. The first is to prepare your home to be sold, and that usually means a lot of cleaning and sometimes some maintenance and repairs.

Even in a seller’s market, you’ll want to make your home look as inviting and attractive as possible in order to receive a great offer. Homebuyers who will be looking at your home are more likely to make an offer right away if your home appears desirable, as they’ll be hoping to secure a home before another prospective buyer comes along.

Get started on this list of cleaning and home maintenance but avoid making any upgrades or major investments in your home until you speak with your real estate agent. You'll want guidance on what TO and NOT TO spend your money on before listing your home. 

Declutter Your Living Space

When you were a first-time homebuyer, you probably saw several houses that still contained furniture and the occupants’ belongings. This is normal when the homeowners haven’t moved out yet. But you might also recall that some homes appeared a lot tidier and well-maintained than others. Think about that when preparing your own home for future sale.

You’ll want to spend a good amount of time getting rid of any clutter and stuff you don’t need. Even old, worn furniture and décor items should be removed - its a great time to make a few trips to your local donation center or rent a short term storage unit. The idea is to present a neat living space to prospective buyers that they can see themselves moving into.

Make Necessary Repairs

In a seller’s market, you can likely get away with not making every repair that your home needs but it is important to put your best foot forward when selling. Buyers will likely complete an inspection on your home and when there are obvious minor repairs that could have been taken care of before listing, it can get buyer's questioning what other home maintenance was lacking. Additionally, big repairs such as roof, AC, and water heater maintenance can cause a snag in the deal, so getting guidance on how to address those is important if you know that you might have some issues there. 

If you’re unsure which things you should spend your money on, focus on the most obvious maintenance issues that a home inspector will definitely point out and ask your real estate agent for guidance on the rest. After thousands of transactions, we've got a good handle on what to spend your money on before you list and what could cause a hiccup down the road and prevent you from closing. 

Check Out the Market

Have any homes similar to yours in the area sold recently? That might give you a good idea of what you could get for your home. The online sites providing estimates can serve as a good baseline, but they don’t always know the specifics of your local area or any specific improvements you’ve made in your home. Take this into consideration before you talk to a real estate agent.

The agent will, of course, be more familiar with the current conditions of the market and how things are selling in your area. And once the agent sees your home, they will be able to give you a better idea of what it might sell for. Just remember to price it realistically. Even in a seller’s market, pricing your home too high could mean you’ll be waiting a while to sell. Doing your research ahead of time will help you have an informed conversation with your agent on price.

Finally, Contact an Agent

Once you’ve done all of the above, you are ready to contact an agent - and of course if you don't know where to even start, feel free to reach out sooner. A good real estate team LOVES being called in on the process early so that we can help eliminate the stress of home preparation. Our expertise is in giving you the step by step guide for preparing, marketing, staging, and listing your home for success. We highly recommend interviewing agents unless you have worked with someone in the past and know you are working with the best and we can give you a list of some of the best questions to ask when interviewing.

You'll be spending quite some time with your real estate advisor and you'll want to be sure you feel comfortable with them handling such an important asset for you. Ask each agent you meet with for a comparative market analysis, as well as the details of their plan on how they will market your home and how they operate. You want to ensure that the agent will have time for you and your home so ensuring they have a team to deliver their promises they've made to you is critical and roles like transaction coordinators, operations and marketing staff members, and showing partners only ensure that you are well taken care of along the way. Understanding their experience in your market and markets like yours is important and ensuring they have the best brand, reputation, and professional network when representing you is critical.

Deciding To Buy a Home: What You Should Do First

Once you do decide you're ready to buy a home, there are several things you can do before you contact a real estate agent. The first is to prepare your list of non-negotiables and really decide what you need from a home. You will go through this process with your Realtor in your first meeting, called a buyer's consultation, but this is some good homework to think about before that meeting.

The real estate market moves quickly, so understanding the current market, interest rates, and more will be important closer to the time when you're getting ready to purchase and you'll have plenty of guidance with that process. 

Make Your List of Must-Haves

Do you need two or three bedrooms? Are you open-minded to a townhome or do you prefer a single-family residence? We'd recommend that you sit down and think deeply about what you need from a home and make your list of things you can't live without. This will make the house hunting process much easier, and you'll be able to share this information with your real estate agent when the time is right! It also helps if there are two people making the buying decision that YOU'VE had a chance to talk with each other before meeting the agent. 

Cushion Your Savings

Buying a home can bring several unexpected expenses your way, so the more that you can plan in advance the better. Of course, you'll need to pay the down payment on the home, but there are also closing costs and taxes. Once you move in, you'll likely need some furniture, and what if the HVAC system needs repair? Some experts recommend having six months of expenses set aside in your savings account, while others recommend having up to a year’s worth - we know that it will be different for everyone. A common misconception is that you'll need 20 percent down to buy a home and this simply isn't true. Whether you are leveraging down payment assistance programs or your VA benefits, there are many options to get into a home with no money down and many more ways to get into a home with assistance for closing costs. 

Get Your Documents in Order

Securing a pre-approval from the bank is going to let your real estate agent and the sellers that currently own the home that you're serious and ready to purchase. This will also give you a sense of your purchasing power and help you understand the budget that you'll need to stay within. Most real estate agents have preferred lenders as part of their teams - these are lenders that are vetted by the real estate team to provide several options to clients for programs as well as have a proven track record of closing on time. While your real estate advisor will help you with the pre-approval process, getting the documents in order that you will need like tax returns and pay stubs is a great way to get started!

Finally, Contact an Agent

Once you’ve done all of the above, you are ready to contact an agent - and of course if you don't know where to even start, feel free to reach out sooner. A good real estate team LOVES being called in on the process early so that we can help eliminate the stress of home buying. Our expertise is in giving you the step by step guide getting ready to enter the market, whether its your first time or your tenth time by arming you with the knowledge you need to compete in any market. We'll help you with everything from your initial buyer consultation where we'll talk about the process, the funds you'll need, how to get pre-qualified, what to expect during the offer and negotiation process, what the closing timeline and key day will look like and al the ways that we can help you even after closing day! 

You'll be spending quite some time with your real estate advisor and you'll want to be sure you feel comfortable with them handling such an important asset for you. You want to ensure that the agent will have time for you and your home so ensuring they have a team to deliver their promises they've made to you is critical and roles like transaction coordinators, operations staff members, and showing partners only ensure that you are well taken care of along the way. Understanding their experience in your market and markets like yours is important and ensuring they have the best brand, reputation, and professional network when representing you is critical.