Home Buyers Be Ready!!
As I am out showing homes to potential buyers I come across more vacant homes than ever before! There are more listings available than the last couple of years.
Total residential listings for 2005 in York County was 8,268. The number sold was 6,388, that is 77% sold.
Total listings for 2006 was 9261 with only 6052 sold for 65% sold.
And in 2007 9,747 were listed and only 5,367 were sold for a lower 55% sold. Meaning more homes are still on the market!
To be ready to take advantage of this supply and demand situation you need to have yourselves ready to buy. work on saving money and getting your credit score up as high as you can. Get rid of your debt!! Pay your bills on time.
Be realistic about how much house you can afford. The bank or mortgage company will tell you how much you will be approved at but that is not always the same amount you should borrow. I tell buyers that there Principle and Interest portion of there mortgage payment should be around 25% of their take home pay.
An example would be...
If your take home pay(net) is $50,000 a year, that is about $4,167 a month. So, 25% of that is about $1,042. Remember, that is only the principle and interest to pay your loan off. You will be adding money for taxes and home owners insurance, possibly around $325 more a month!
At a fixed rate of 6% with a 30 year mortgage, your maximum mortgage amount would be $173,667. Most people want to buy more of a house than that so they will need to have the rest available as cash.
You have two choices, make more money or have more available to lower the amount you need to borrow. They are in your control but the rate and price of homes is not.
I hope this helps as you prepare yourself to buy a home. If you have any questions on any of this, you know where to find me!