New Year’s Tips for Buying and Selling

If your 2018 resolution is to buy or sell a home, here are some suggestions to help you along the way. For everyone else, we’ve added some tips about building equity and investing in updates to your home.

Buying:

If you’re in the market to buy your first home or if you’re upsizing/downsizing, here are some ideas that can help you make this dream a reality:

• Create a buying timeline and work towards your goal
• Check your credit scores and work to improve your rating
• Start or increase your savings for a down payment
• Start the loan pre-approval process
• Meet with your real estate agent
• Start looking for homes

Selling:

If you are planning to put your home on the market in 2018, here are some good places to start:

• Create a selling timeline to work towards having your home ready for market
• Make a list of home improvements and a plan on how to manage them
• Get rid of the clutter
• Contact a real estate agent (If you don’t have an agent, click here to be introduced to a Windermere Real Estate agent.)

Building Equity:

You may not be moving this year, but you can create a plan to increase your equity in the home you have now.  Here are some tips:

• Take advantage of low interest rates by refinancing to a lower rate
• Consider refinancing to a shorter term loan
• Make extra lump-sum payments. Consider using your tax refund, cash gifts, work bonuses, garage sale money, or any other unexpected income toward paying down your principal.
• Pay every two weeks instead of once a month. A biweekly payment plan can substantially reduce the amount of interest you pay because you are breaking the interest accrual down from 30 days to every 15.
• Pay a little extra each month. Even if you’re only rounding up to the next $100 increment, putting a little extra money towards your principal every month can add up.

Investing In Your Home

You can add a lot of value and additional enjoyment to your home by investing in improvements and upgrades.

• Choose a home improvement project that will yield a good return on investment when you do choose to sell
• Create a home checklist to track maintenance projects over the year
• Make eco-improvements to increase your home’s sustainability and reduce your utility payments over the long-term. These improvements are generally a good return on your investment when reselling.
  • Upgrade furnace to an efficient model
  • Upgrade windows for better insulation
  • Add alternative energy resources, such as solar power
  • Update toilets and showers to low-flow
  • Install a programmable thermostat
  • Update to energy-efficient appliances