Have you considered purchasing a home this year? Were you hoping to take advantage of the federal tax credit of up to $8000 if you qualify as a first time homebuyer? Then please consider starting the process soon.
To qualify for the federal tax credit, you need to have settled on your home by December 1, 2009. This means that your inspections, appraisal, financing, and all negotiations have been competed AND you have completed settlement. In other words, the legal process of property transfer has taken place, all by December 1, 2009.
Why are we talking about this so soon? I mean, it's only June 23rd, right?
Let's look at the process a typical buyer goes through and see how much time you really have left.
The typical homebuyer spends about 6 weeks researching homes for sale prior to contacting a realtor. Most of this is done on the internet (according to the NAR, National Association of Realtors, 87% of buyers start their search on the web -- Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, etc.). They might visit open houses, model homes, ride through neighborhoods, etc. Hopefully they have contacted a lender during these 6 weeks to estimate how much home they can afford to buy.
Then hopefully, they contact a qualified realtor who will assist them in identifying a property they love, write an offer, negotiate a ratified contract, arrange inspections, financing, appraisals, final walk-through, and title preparation with the help of a title company or real estate attorney. This process can take up to 45-90 days, depending on which type of financing is involved, and the type of listing chosen (short sales and foreclosures can take even longer).
We do live in a society of procrastinators, so if owning a home is your goal, please start now. If everyone wakes up on September 1st and decides to finally 'get in the game', there will be a terrible crush of activity and lots of anxiety to make sure we get settled and tucked in before December 1st.
Lots of luck and good hunting. Coldwell Banker office in Severna Park, MD stands ready to offer our expertise.
"We do live in a society of procrastinators, so if owning a home is your goal, please start now."
ReplyDeleteThe most challenging of transactions occur when feet are being held to fire and deadlines are quickly approaching. The house-hunting process need not contain that anxiety, if one starts early enough. If nothing else, heed this advice!