Sellers and Buyers: What You Should Do Before Hiring a Real Estate Agent

What do buying and selling a home have in common? There are moving boxes galore being shuffled around by your expert moving team, plenty of home showings, and a real estate agent to tie everything together. Before you bring a realtor into the mix, there are several things you can do to get ahead. These tips from Youngstars Moving & Delivery will help you prepare.

Hire Movers

Whether you’re buying, selling, or navigating both processes, an expert moving team, like the one at Youngstars Moving & Delivery, can take a lot off your plate. We are full service movers who can do everything from packing up your items to long-distance moving. Our fully-equipped trucks and professionally-minded movers will help you rest assured that one of the most tedious parts of moving will be taken care of hassle-free. Call us at (972) 803-7186 or book your service online!

Buyers

Do Your Homework

Before a realtor can begin to show you potential homes, you’ll need to see if you have the green light on the financial end of things. This is a step every buyer must make to determine how much mortgage you are approved for. In order to get pre-approved, you must provide proof of work history (two years worth of W2s, one to three months of pay stubs, two years of tax returns), total debt, down payment, investments and assets, and residence history. Keep in mind that some pre-approvals are denied, but this doesn’t mean all hope is lost. Your lender will tell you why you were denied, which gives you an opportunity to correct it and try again.

Budgeting for the long-term can be tricky, but there are many things you can do to keep your monthly payment low. A larger down payment is a sensible solution, as is buying down points on your loan. Crunch some numbers to figure out exactly what numbers make the most sense for you.

Figure Out Your Wants and Needs

There are some home details you know right off the bat will be a deal-breaker, such as not having a garage or a backyard. To avoid wasting your or your realtor’s time, start out by creating a list of your needs. It is important that you differentiate between wants and needs.

A want is something you can do without for now or add to your home later such as paint, hardwood floors, a patio, or something as simple as granite countertops. A need refers to something you absolutely must have in your future home to make it a solid investment. This is often something that wouldn’t be easily adjusted, such as a specific number of bathrooms, yard size, school district, or the location of the home in proximity to work or school.

Sellers

Determine Your Reason

Rarely does someone just wake up one day and decide they’d like to sell their home, but knowing the reason will help your realtor. Sellers should determine what they want their final goals to be: is it level of income over sale prices, to get out of the home quickly, moving to another location, or something else? Perhaps you need to move quickly due to a new job, new baby, or a health issue. If this is the case, your realtor can work with you to set the right pice from the start to take advantage of that initial time period when your home is considered a new listing. If selling your home isn’t urgent, then you’ll have more time to make improvements to increase resale value, such as making minor improvements or adding cur appeal. Determine what track you are on (fast or slow), and stick to it.

Start Thinking About a Mortgage

If you’re selling your home, you’ll need to buy another home to live in, which brings the mortgage into play again. Sellers should pull their credit report and know how much per month they can afford to spend on mortgage using current rent or mortgage as a reference point to begin with. However, this is a tricky situation, especially if you are selling and buying at the same time. Most homebuyers use the proceeds from selling their current home to buy their future home, but what if you are in a rush? Qualifying for a second mortgage is possible if your debt-to-income ratio is able to support two mortgages, but this might not be the case. If you don’t qualify, you might look into taking out a home equity loan or a bridge loan.

Once you’ve taken the proper steps to prepare to buy or sell your home, it’s time to bring in a realtor. A realtor is there to help you navigate the process, and make it as painless and stress-free as possible. With the right realtor, you’ll be handing over or receiving those keys in no time.