So, you want to buy a home in Grand Rapids or West Michigan. You've read that the Grand Rapids real estate market is strong, and you've seen yourself how homes are coming on and off the West Michigan real estate market rather quickly. You're starting to feel a little stressed out, because winter is fast approaching, and you don't want to have to worry about a move during the holidays or restarting a home search after the New Year. If you have a personal deadline for buying a home on a hot market, you can meet it, but you'll need the help of a Grand Rapids Realtor, such as a member of the Pyxis Realty team. What can you do to make sure you're closing before it's snowing?
First and foremost, you need to be ready to move on a property when you are sure it's what you want. Pre-qualifying for a mortgage is the best move. That way, you don't have to be stressed about how much home you should be looking for while home shopping. Instead, you'll know exactly how much you can afford and how much you can offer when it comes to your dream home.
Once you've found a home in your financing (or cash purchase) price range, you need availability to view it as soon as possible. Call your West Michigan Realtor immediately and ask for a showing. Or, when your Realtor calls you with a potential match, be as open and flexible as possible about getting in to see the home as quickly as you can. Know what you're looking for and as soon as you know a home meets your personal criteria, move! Because the market is hot, you need to be aggressive if you want to close within a certain timeframe.
Keeping in mind that many sellers will get multiple offers within a day or two, you want to make your offer as tempting as possible. No one wants to overpay for a home, but chances are good that if you lowball, your offer will be ignored. Depending on how constrained you are for time, opening with your best offer may be a solid idea; if it's your dream home, you wouldn't want to lose it over a meager $5,000, would you?
Flexibility in terms of neighborhood and amenities can help make it easier to find and make a successful offer on a home in a fixed period of time. Of course you shouldn't compromise on the big, important factors (like enough bedrooms for all of the kids). Knowing what is a need and what is a want in terms of the home you are searching for can help quite a bit!
In brief, to buy a home quickly on a hot market, you need to be willing to make a market-value offer, quickly, and to be flexible. With some help from a professional Realtor, like the team at Pyxis Realty, you can surely find a home worth jumping on within your preferred time frame!