Fall home buying According to recent real estate survey reports, approximately 27% of individuals who purchased a home during this specific time of year are first-time home buyers. Despite the fact that the spring season is often considered to be the peak time of year in terms of real estate activity, the overall market during the fall season should often result in a more healthy spike of real estate activity.
Here are four of the most useful tips to help with making the best of purchasing a home during the fall season.
*First and foremost, perhaps one of the best tips to help make the best of purchasing a home in the fall is to take the time to search for homes that are open. Oftentimes, the market will always be more gung-ho during peak buying seasons; however, the overall benefit of the fall season is that typically, you’ll end up discovering a lot more open houses in one single area due in large part to outdoor temperatures that are cooler and much more comfortable. This means that you should take the time to look at websites that focus more on your current area of residence or even speak to an agent and request that they provide you with more information in order to determine where some of the best open houses are being held close to you.
*Another great tip to help make the best of purchasing a home in the fall season is to always become connected. Many first-time home buyers often believe that they have some sort of understanding of their local real estate market by simply reading the daily headlines. Even though it’s always a great idea to remain on top of all of the headlines involving the real estate market, it’s also equally as important to keep in mind that overall property prices always fluctuate from month to month and area to area. This means that if you end up purchasing a home and aren’t linked closely to a neighborhood, you can become connected by utilizing the services of an experienced real estate agent who actually is connected to a neighborhood.
*One other useful tip to help with making the best of purchasing a home in the fall season is to clean up your credit. When you choose to purchase your new home during the fall rather than waiting until the spring season, you will be able to take advantage of an extra amount of months in order to ensure that your credit score is in order. Home buyers should typically have a FICO score of 720 or better in order to obtain the best available mortgage rates. Whenever you request it, the Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion credit agencies are required to provide you with a free printout of your own credit report once per year.
Fall home buying *Another great tip to help make the best of purchasing a home in the fall is to take the time to save money. Oftentimes, putting off buying during the fall season and, instead, waiting until the spring will provide you with a few extra months of being able to save money. Typically, you will want to consider saving enough reserves for approximately six months of house payments, as well as a minimum down payment of 3.5% of the total home price in order to cover both the down payment and closing costs.