Seven Tips to Make Buying a House Easier

 
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Purchasing a home is in the top five most stressful events. Buying a house can be a complicated process but there are ways to make the process easier. Here are seven things you can do to simplify the process of purchasing a home.

1. Get your paperwork in order

 

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Getting your paperwork in order such as two years’ worth of tax returns, current pay stubs, bank statements for the last three months, cancelled rent checks, or copies of your lease for a loan application is one of the first steps. You will need to be pre-approved for a specific amount. This will help you with how much you can afford on a house. Realtors and sellers both want to see a pre-approval letter that lets them know you can afford the home and you are a serious buyer.

2. Find a real estate agent you can trust

 

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Finding the right sales agent is a very important step in the process of purchasing a home. Before choosing, interview at least three real estate agents. You will not only want to have a good rapport with an agent, but you will want to make sure they are well-rounded in the community you are looking to purchase a home in. You will want to choose an agent with the best track record of sales in your area, the best online or personal recommendations, and the one you like best. Staging, keeping a home show-ready, and listening to tactfully delivered feedback from people who’ve viewed your home means you’re going to be interacting with your agent a lot.

3. Start researching banks, credit unions, and loan officers

 

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Just like choosing the right real estate agent, choosing the right place to apply for a loan for your home is just as important. There are many types of loans and different institutions to choose from. Sometimes it might seem best to use a bank or credit union, but this is not always the case. Many times the banks and credit unions have vested interest and might push you to use certain Realtors, attorneys and home inspectors because they receive a portion of the commissions.

4. Get your financing in order

 

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After you have chosen your mortgage lender, you will need to get pre-approved. As mentioned earlier, you will need to have your paperwork in order along with your finances. The pre-approval letter is your ticket to let sellers know you are a serious buyer who can afford their home.

5. Find a home inspector you can trust

 

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A home inspector is a key factor in the success of your home purchase. You want to choose an inspector you can trust who is looking out for your best interest. In an older home, a trustworthy inspector will point out areas of concern such as problems with termites, water seepage, or shoddy construction. Find an inspector who would not mind if you tag along during the inspection. This is a good time to ask questions and get their advice.

6. Consider investing in title insurance

 

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Purchasing title insurance is a safety net against anything that could pop up on the property such as a lien. Title insurance cost from $1,000 and $3,000 on average, or .05 percent of the purchase price and is worth the cost. In many cases, mortgage lenders will require you to get title insurance.

7. Get your tradespeople lined up

 

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Renovations or repairs are a big part of homeownership. Have tradespeople lined up so that when something does go wrong, you can call on the spot. It is important to make sure they are reliable and honest. Ask around at places such as an independent home supplier. An independent home supplier will usually have the low down on who does sloppy work and who does good work.

Remember never try to purchase a home on your own. Follow these steps to simplify your home buying process. A local real estate agent can guide you through the process.

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Construction Jobs Are Up In Residential Construction

March 2021 saw the employment total payroll increase by 916,000. The unemployment rate also dropped in March 6%. As the country is slowly reopening from the pandemic, the labor market is improving. In fact, the residential construction employment is beyond the level seen in February 2020. There were 37,000 residential construction jobs added in March 2021.

This is good news for the US job market. During the pandemic, 22.7 million jobs were lost in March, April and December of 2020. For the jobs lost, 14.3 million have been recovered in the last 11 months.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics broke the increase down by industries. The top industry to see employment changes in March 2021 was the leisure and hospitality industry with 280,000 month-over-month change. Government followed with 136,000, construction gained 110,000, professional and business services saw 66,000, while educational services had 64,000, manufacturing 53,000, transportation and warehousing 48,000, other services 42,000, health care and social assistance 36,000, durable goods 30,000, wholesale trade 24,000, nondurable goods 23,000, retail trade 23,000, mining and logging 20,000, financial activities 16,000 and utilities 0.

Out of the 110,000 construction employment, 37,000 were in residential construction alone. In fact, 518,000 residential construction jobs have been created in the past 11 months. Residential employment was reported at 3 million in March 2021. Builders included 873,000 and 2.2 million were in residential specialty trade contractors. Over the last 12 months, home builders and remodelers added 87,900 jobs on a net basis. Since the low point following the Great Recession, residential construction has gained 1,047,900 positions.

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Baby Boomers Are Taking Advantage of the Current Home Seller's Market

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The current housing market is the hottest it has been since before the Great Recession. According to the National Association of Realtors® 2021 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends Report, sellers made a median of $66,000 on the sale of their homes this year. This is a $6,000 increase from the same time in 2020. Sellers are reaping the benefits and the majority of sellers today are baby boomers.

"In a real estate market that is tipped in the favor of sellers, boomers and older homeowners are really the ones holding the cards," says realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale. Those who are selling homes can use the profits to help them buy new ones, she adds, pointing out that they're "generally better equipped to deal with market conditions."

Record low mortgage rates and lack of home inventory have buyers in a big competition. This buyer frenzy means homes are selling quickly and for high prices. Today sellers are getting roughly 99% of their original asking price for their home. Some sellers are even seeing bidding wars, getting a higher price than the original asking price. Current inventory is lasting only 3 weeks before they are sold.

When looking at sellers by generation, baby boomers make up 43% of those currently selling a home. Baby boomers are in a stage of life where they want to downsize. The pandemic has also shifted many baby boomers to want to move closer to family members in the same sized home.

Millennials make up the largest share of buyers at 37%. Out of the 37%, 31% of those buyers were first-time homebuyers. This market is a difficult market to navigate for first-time homebuyers."Millennials have a lot of headwinds entering the real estate market," says Jessica Lautz, NAR’s vice president of demographics and behavioral insights. "There's not enough homes to go around for the buyers who want to be able to purchase."

Another surprising fact is that younger buyers are more likely to pay over the asking price in this competitive market. “In a market where competitive bids are the norm in many areas, it’s interesting to note that younger buyers are more likely to pay over asking [price]," says Hale. "They've got longer working careers, so they [may be] more willing to take risks."

Of those homes that are in most demand, detached, single-family homes made up 81% of the sales so far this year. Buyers want a detached home with a backyard and a garage. Families want their own space and more space to accommodate home offices and remote schooling. Existing home sales are in more demand due to cheaper pricing and more in inventory. Only 15% of homes sold so far this year are new construction.

Generation X made up 18% of buyers that purchased multigenerational homes. This generation has aging parents that might need assistance. "They're purchasing multi-generational homes [to] take care of aging relatives and keep them out of nursing rooms or for caregiving of young children who may not be able to go to daycare or child care because of the pandemic," says Lautz. "The other big reason is pooling incomes to be able to buy a larger home."

The study indicated that today's typical buyer has a median income of $96,500 in 2019 with 65% married. 18% single women, 9% single men and 9% unmarried couples. “Single women remain a large buying force,” Lautz said in a statement. “A number of divorced women and those who were recently widowed purchased a home without the help of a spouse or roommate.”

Eighty-seven percent of buyers financed their homes while young buyers were the most likely to put all of their savings toward a down payment. Older buyers, such as baby boomers, purchased homes using money earned off a home sale.

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Unique Little Free Libraries Popping Up Around Town

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Little Free Library is "the world’s largest book-sharing movement" across the world. The nonprofit, founded in 2009, allows communities to have volunteer-led libraries. The book-sharing boxes allow neighbors to exchange and have access to books 24/7. According to Todd Bol, the founder of Little Free Library, the purpose is to inspire a love of reading, build community, and spark creativity by fostering neighborhood book exchanges around the world.

New Orleans has welcomed these Little Free Libraries around the community. In fact, several of the book-sharing boxes around New Orleans have their own unique look. Destany Gorham and George Johnson, who live in the Carrollton neighborhood, are the instigators behind these unique structures. The couple decided to create little free libraries that match the homes where the book-sharing boxes are located.

It all started when a homeowner who lives on Audubon Street asked the couple to build a Little Free Library in front of their home. “Destany and I really like working on projects together, so we talked to them and decided to build a replica of their house,” Johnson explained.

Once completed the owners of the Audubon Street little library posted an image on Nextdoor of the miniature duplicate of their home. It began to get a lot of attention and others in the community wanted, Gorham and Johnson who work in Tulane University’s music department, to build a replica of their house as a little free library in front of their homes.

“We're doing it for fun and covering a little bit of our costs and labor, but really it's more of a hobby than a business,” Johnson said.

The couple, who have lived in New Orleans for 10 years, says the most rewarding part of this project has been to connect with the community.

“The community aspect of it is just incredibly important,” Gorham said. “We really love our neighborhood and we really love the city of New Orleans. We made a very active choice to stay here. And very often when people move to a new city, they try to make it where they were from. And all I want to do is just uplift the community that's here. That's why we do this.”

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