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Home » buying a house

How Long Does it Really Take to Buy a House?

July 17, 2017 by admin 1 Comment

Buying a house is a scary move and many first-time buyers are still very apprehensive about the process. However, the more you know, the easier it can be. One of the biggest questions that many first-time buyers have is how long the process really takes. Here’s a good breakdown of the process and timelines when you buy your very first home.How Long Does it Really Take to Buy a House?

Many buyers take several weeks, even months deciding that they’re even going to buy a house. It may be a split-second decision or it may be something that buyers contemplate for quite a while. Statistics show that buyers under the age of 50 tend to search for homes about 11 weeks before actually finding one, whereas those over the age of 50 tend to look for about eight weeks. (According to the Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends Report 2015)

On average it takes about 30 to 45 days to finalize all the documents necessary in order to close on a home. Finances take about a month and negotiations can take anywhere from an additional 10 days to 45 days.

Read More:  How to Find the Perfect Real Estate Agent in 5 Easy Tips

If you need to get your credit in line this can take at least about eight weeks. If you’re just under the score for an FHA or conventional loan, you may want to spend a couple of months getting your finances in order and raising your credit score in order to get the best rate and terms.

How Long Does it Really Take to Buy a House?If you already have a good credit score it takes about a week to research different mortgage options, which is a vital part of the home buying and borrowing process. You can literally save tens of thousands of dollars in interests and fees by researching the best loan for your needs. Buyers have choices of FHA loans which require a 3.5% down payment or conventional loans which typically require at least a 5% down payment and a credit score of 680. VA loans are also an option to help veterans and their families obtain excellent home financing.

Once you’ve decided on the mortgage, you’ll need about two days to a couple of weeks for preapproval. You want to seek preapproval prior to beginning your home search so that you have the documents in hand and you know exactly how much home you can afford. This process can take literally hours but could take up to a month depending on the type of loan you’re looking for, grants, personal assistance or increasing your credit score.

Next, you’ll need to find a real estate agent and this can happen in one day or can take up to a month if you’re interviewing different agents. You want to get an agent that specifically helps buyers. There are many listing agents and solely buyer’s agents and some do both. You’ll want to find an agent that is proficient in the market, understands homes that could be overpriced and knows how to find a great deal. Your buyer’s agent is your advocate during the home buying and negotiating process so it’s crucial that you find someone with whom you feel comfortable and can trust.

More:  10 Tips for Buying Waterfront Property

How Long Does it Really Take to Buy a House?

Researching potential homes and neighborhoods could take several weeks but it also can happen at the drop of a hat. You might be surprised as to all the homes you look at only to go back to the very first one you ever viewed. Start your search online by browsing all homes for sale in Sunset Beach and outlying areas. You might find something more affordable and larger in the city just outside or Brunswick County. Talk to your real estate agent about commute times, neighborhoods, school districts and what you really are looking for in a home purchase.

Once you’ve made the decision to purchase a particular home the process is a little more streamlined. Negotiations can go on as long as the buyer and seller cannot agree. If buyer and seller agree to all negotiations from the first presentation of documents they can take no more than three days to have the property under contract. From there, you’ll move on to the home inspection.

Buyers typically have seven days to order and conduct a home inspection. The inspection will take anywhere from 2 to 4 hours and you want to a company your inspector to learn as much about your home as possible. After the inspection, negotiations will start up again if necessary. Buyers and sellers typically have three days to respond to certain requests and changes on the inspection report. This can go back and forth for several weeks until a mutual agreement is made. Again, this could happen immediately if the inspection is approved right away.

See: What if I Have Buyer’s Remorse After a Real Estate Purchase?

How Long Does it Really Take to Buy a House?Once the inspection is approved the sale goes on to “pending”. From here, it can take anywhere from one week to several weeks for the final closing to happen based on the initial terms in the purchase and sale agreement. Perhaps the seller asked for a little bit more time to move out. There’s usually a date on which the closing is to happen. If it needs to be changed it will also require mutual acceptance. On average, after the inspection, it’s typically 3 to 4 weeks before the buyer can receive the keys to the new home.

Again, based on finances, negotiations, and terms in the purchase and sale contract, most real estate transactions last anywhere from 30 to 60 days.

If you’re ready to get started looking at homes throughout the Intracoastal Waterways,  please contact my office today or let me know if you need referrals for home inspectors or lending options and feel free to browse the site for all properties for sale throughout the area.

Additional:  5 Local Things to Check When Buying a Home

Filed Under: Buyers Tagged With: brunswick county, brunswick county homes, buying a home, buying a house, buying timeline, how long does it take to buy, how to buy, sunset beach

How to Buy a House in Your 30s

April 10, 2017 by admin Leave a Comment

Buying a home in your 20s is quite different from buying a home in your 50s. And somewhere in between, usually in your 30s or 40s, you might be buying your first house or even your third house. But are there things you should know about buying a house in your 30s that differ from buying a house in your 20s, 40s, or even 50s?

How to Buy a House in Your 30s

Buying a house in your 30s is all about your lifestyle. You are probably not buying a house that you will be in the rest of your life, but there is a slim chance that you could be. Also, this may or may not be your first house. If you got on the real estate ball early and bought a house in your 20s, you may already have built up enough equity to put a hefty down payment on your next house. If you’ve been renting for a while, you are already accustomed to making a monthly housing payment moving that into a mortgage will probably not be that big of a deal.

[Read More: Self-Employed? Plan Ahead for Buying]

When you’re buying a house in your 30s you want to consider your lifestyle and reevaluate your priorities. Are you planning on taking a lot of trips or spending a lot of money on lavish entertainment? You might not be ready to settle down and deal with the responsibilities of maintaining a house. If you’ve already done that or have plans to do that when you retire, now might be the perfect time to put that money towards a down payment and maintenance on a home of your own.

Consider how much space you’ll need. If you are a married couple and you are considering a family or you already have a family and you might be adding to it, consider what you will need over the next 5 to 10 years. Most people to purchase a house in their 30s will hang onto it for at least 5 to 15 years. This home will potentially carry you through the adolescents of your children so you might need extra rooms for additional children or as children leave the home, find new uses for those spare bedrooms.

[Read More: Getting Ready to Buy? Do This first]

Consider the location. Buying a home in your 30s means that you probably have a stable job in which you go to on a daily basis, kids might be in a particular school or school district, and you have a daily routine that you like to be consistent with. Finding a home that will work for all of these different factors is essential to buying a home in your 30s.

Find a home that doesn’t need a lot of work. Because you are in your 30s (and this is a generalization, I know) you probably are very busy. Kids have soccer practice, school, one or two jobs for one or both parents, and you have a social life. Finding a home that needs a lot of work is probably not the best idea. You may not find the time to improve the home the way you want it. It’s important to find a home that you already love just as it is. Yes, you might find time to paint a wall or two, but don’t get a house that needs a lot of TLC and try to stay away from a fixer-upper unless you have the time, energy and finances to put into that house.

Try to plan the sale of your existing home with the purchase of your new one. Now, this is only if you already own a home. This can be a stressful transition so find a real estate agent that can do both; sell your house and help you buy a new one. A simultaneous closing can happen with the right real estate agent by your side planning and preparing all the timelines.

If you are in your 30s and are considering buying a home in Sunset Beach or surrounding neighborhoods and communities contact our office today.

Additional Resources:

Buying and Selling Simultaneously – by David Watkins

How to Buy a House in your 20s – by Marcus Brown

Filed Under: Buyers Tagged With: buying a house, buying in 30s, sunset beach

How Long Does it Really Take to Buy a House?

November 9, 2016 by admin 1 Comment

Buying a house is a scary move and many first-time buyers are still very apprehensive about the process. However, the more you know, the easier it can be. One of the biggest questions that many first-time buyers have is how long the process really takes. Here’s a good breakdown of the process and timelines when you buy your very first home.How Long Does it Really Take to Buy a House?

Many buyers take several weeks, even months deciding that they’re even going to buy a house. It may be a split-second decision or it may be something that buyers contemplate for quite a while. Statistics show that buyers under the age of 50 tend to search for homes about 11 weeks before actually finding one, whereas those over the age of 50 tend to look for about eight weeks. (According to the Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends Report 2015)

On average it takes about 30 to 45 days to finalize all the documents necessary in order to close on a home. Finances take about a month and negotiations can take anywhere from an additional 10 days to 45 days.

If you need to get your credit in line this can take at least about eight weeks. If you’re just under the score for an FHA or conventional loan, you may want to spend a couple of months getting your finances in order and raising your credit score in order to get the best rate and terms.

If you already have a good credit score it takes about a week to research different mortgage options, which is a vital part of the home buying and borrowing process. You can literally save tens of thousands of dollars in interests and fees by researching the best loan for your needs. Buyers have choices of FHA loans which require a 3.5% down payment or conventional loans which typically require at least a 5% down payment and a credit score of 680. VA loans are also an option to help veterans and their families obtain excellent home financing.

Once you’ve decided on the mortgage, you’ll need about two days to a couple of weeks for preapproval. You want to seek preapproval prior to beginning your home search so that you have the documents in hand and you know exactly how much home you can afford. This process can take literally hours but could take up to a month depending on the type of loan you’re looking for, grants, personal assistance or increasing your credit score.

Read more: What is a Good Faith Estimate

Next, you’ll need to find a real estate agent and this can happen in one day or can take up to a month if you’re interviewing different agents. You want to get an agent that specifically helps buyers. There are many listing agents and solely buyer’s agents and some do both. You’ll want to find an agent that is proficient in the market, understands homes that could be overpriced and knows how to find a great deal. Your buyer’s agent is your advocate during the home buying and negotiating process so it’s crucial that you find someone with whom you feel comfortable and can trust.

Researching potential homes and neighborhoods could take several weeks but it also can happen at the drop of a hat. You might be surprised as to all the homes you look at only to go back to the very first one you ever viewed. Start your search online by browsing all homes for sale in Sunset Beach and outlying areas. You might find something more affordable and larger in the city just outside of Myrtle Beach.  Talk to your real estate agent about commute times, neighborhoods, school districts and what you really are looking for in a home purchase.

Read more: 5 Ways to Save for a Down Payment

Once you’ve made the decision to purchase a particular home the process is a little more streamlined. Negotiations can go on as long as the buyer and seller cannot agree. If buyer and seller agree to all negotiations from the first presentation of documents they can take no more than three days to have the property under contract. From there, you’ll move on to the home inspection.

Buyers typically have seven days to order and conduct a home inspection. The inspection will take anywhere from 2 to 4 hours and you want to a company your inspector to learn as much about your home as possible. After the inspection, negotiations will start up again if necessary. Buyers and sellers typically have three days to respond to certain requests and changes on the inspection report. This can go back and forth for several weeks until a mutual agreement is made. Again, this could happen immediately if the inspection is approved right away.

Read more: Homebuyers Checklist

Once the inspection is approved the sale goes on to “pending”. From here, it can take anywhere from one week to several weeks for the final closing to happen based on the initial terms in the purchase and sale agreement. Perhaps the seller asked for a little bit more time to move out. There’s usually a date on which the closing is to happen. If it needs to be changed it will also require mutual acceptance. On average, after the inspection, it’s typically 3 to 4 weeks before the buyer can receive the keys to the new home.

Again, based on finances, negotiations and terms in the purchase and sale contract, most real estate transactions last anywhere from 30 to 60 days.

If you’re ready to get started looking at homes throughout the Sunset Beach real estate market please contact my office today or let me know if you need referrals for home inspectors or lending options and feel free to browse the site for all properties for sale throughout the area.

Filed Under: Buyers Tagged With: buying a house, closing, real estate buying, sunset beach real estate

Are Interest Rates Finally Rising?

November 2, 2016 by admin Leave a Comment

For several years now we’ve been enjoying low-interest rates under 5% but we always knew it was eventually coming for interest rates were rising. A few months ago,Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen held a committee to get rid of thrift rates eventually by a quarter percentage point. This would go from 0% to .25%.Are Interest Rates Finally Rising?

It’s one of those things that you know eventually will come but you’re not exactly sure when. If rates do rise it would be good news for our money savers and bad news for debtors. However, financial advisers are telling people not to do anything extreme just yet. Here is what you can do if you’re watching the market closely and would like to stay ahead of the game.

Consider fixing your existing mortgage rate. If you have a floating interest rate which could get more expensive over the years, it might be time to move that to a fixed rate mortgage. Your rates may initially go up but might not go up as high as they would if you had a floating or adjustable rate mortgage.

Consider paying off your debt immediately. Higher interest rates means that debt would already increase in payments could spike on home equity loans, credit card debt and other loans with variable interest rates. It would be a good idea to pay down those debts as quickly as possible.

Consider a bank that rewards deposits. As the Fed rate increases, banks should be expected to raise rates on mortgages and credit cards faster than savings rates. Large banks have a lot of deposits of a have little incentive to try to attract new money. Try to transfer money to smaller banks and online institutions that are eager to attract new deposits and new clients. However, this is not the time to buy a five-year certificate of deposit. Don’t make any large sudden moves but makes small, wise moves that put you in a better position should the Fed rate increase. [Source]

Consider buying a home now. This is really the best time to buy before rates start to rise. I don’t suspect we will see any major jumps in 2017 but they probably won’t drop. We’ve been enjoying these rates for some time now. 

Get on the bandwagon and so something with that loan; either readjust, buy or consolidate. Call us today if you’re interested in learning more or would like to find out how much home you can afford. You might be surprised considering the rate. Most people can afford a larger home now than ever before.

Filed Under: Market Reports Tagged With: buying a house, finance, interest rates

What our clients say

Ken and Linda Foltz

“Life will lead you to where you belong. Five years ago life led me to meeting Karen Baker at an...
Sunset Beach and Beyond Realty
2015-03-16T20:16:32+00:00
“Life will lead you to where you belong. Five years ago life led me to meeting Karen Baker at an Open House. Our relationship continues as Karen and her husband Frank have been outstanding not only in helping my husband and I find the right retirement relocation home, but we have watched their commitment in helping many others find their homes. She and Frank treat every client as if they are the only ones that exist. They provide thorough research of areas and homes of interest and present you with the options. They are not your typical hard sell, must-buy-now realtors. They are here to help you find your next home?. You won’t go wrong with the Bakers!
https://sunsetbeachandbeyond.com/testimonials/ken-and-linda-foltz/

Steve & Jean DeVito

“The Bakers treated us like family during our whirlwind weekend of looking at houses. Prior to our on-site visit to...
Sunset Beach and Beyond Realty
2015-03-16T20:17:46+00:00
“The Bakers treated us like family during our whirlwind weekend of looking at houses. Prior to our on-site visit to Sunset Beach they created a portal and populated it with properties that met our ever-evolving criteria. By time we arrived we had a good feel for what we could afford and what was available that met our criteria. The Bakers, especially Karen, were able to make sense of what we thought we were looking for and eventually matched us with a house that we ended up purchasing — Karen called it the “This is it” house and she was right. We are loving our 2nd home and appreciate how painless Karen and Frank made the process. All the paperwork was done seamlessly and quickly and the closing went off without a hitch. The Bakers do not believe in the hard sell — they gave us the knowledge we needed and the guidance we needed to make our dream a reality.”
https://sunsetbeachandbeyond.com/testimonials/steve-jean-devito/

Matt & Amy Carver

Amy and I have bought and sold four properties in the past twelve years. Both of you are the best...
Sunset Beach and Beyond Realty
2015-03-16T20:18:22+00:00
Amy and I have bought and sold four properties in the past twelve years. Both of you are the best realtors we have ever dealt with. Amy and I both felt we could trust you to look out for our interest. The level of service you provided was outstanding, from taking the trash out, helping the buyer with inspecting the irrigation system, dealing with our tenants, always being there if we needed to ask a question, providing constant updates on the market and always keeping us informed on the sale of our house. I think your next venture should be training other realtors, because both of you have mastered the art of providing excellent service. I will be sure to recommend the Frank and Karen team to anybody looking for a trust worthy, knowledgeable and top performing realtor. It was a pleasure working with both of you.”
https://sunsetbeachandbeyond.com/testimonials/matt-amy-carver/

Ernie & Carol G.

“Karen & Frank Baker are the best. They are very knowledgeable with the area & showed us many homes. When...
Sunset Beach and Beyond Realty
2015-03-16T20:18:50+00:00
“Karen & Frank Baker are the best. They are very knowledgeable with the area & showed us many homes. When we made up our minds which one we wanted, they got us the best deal on it. We were very satisfided with them. After the purchased was made & we moved in, they were still there to answer any questions or problems that we might of had. Like I said, they are the BEST.”
https://sunsetbeachandbeyond.com/testimonials/ernie-carol-g/

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“Thanks again for all the time you spent with us, As overwhelming as it was, you two made it fun”
Sunset Beach and Beyond Realty
2015-03-16T20:19:23+00:00
“Thanks again for all the time you spent with us, As overwhelming as it was, you two made it fun”
https://sunsetbeachandbeyond.com/testimonials/dave-rose/
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