Each season offers certain advantages and disadvantages to home buyers. Unfortunately, many people don’t approach their home buying with any kind of strategy, especially when it comes to the buying season. So when is the best time to buy a home?
The best answer to that depends on a host of variables, including the buyer’s unique personal situation. But here are 3 Wise Reasons to Buy a Home in the Spring in Garner
3 Wise Reasons to Buy a Home in the Spring in Garner
1. Rents Still Going Up
This spring is a great time to buy a home in Garner, because the cost of renting continues to increase. There just aren’t enough affordable rental units to meet the demand, so prices keep going up.
For example, renters can expect to spend a little over 30% of their income on housing costs, whereas homeowners spend about half that – around 15.3% of monthly income goes to mortgage payments. (These figures are from 2015, and the situation has only grown worse since then.) That’s exactly why there has been a 25% increase in recent years in the number of renters wanting to buy a home.
2. Increasing Home Prices and Mortgage Rates
Of all the reasons to buy a home in the spring in Garner, saving money has to be right up there near the top. But if you wait and don’t buy this spring, you’ll be facing both higher home prices and higher mortgage rates.
In just the past few months, home prices have appreciated more than 6%. And all the industry watchers expect home prices to increase at almost that same rate for at least the next year. The bottom in home prices is now long past, so home values will continue to appreciate and sale prices will keep going up. It makes perfect sense, then, to buy a home this spring – and not wait till prices are even higher.
Although lenders have been opening their doors wider and making it easier to get conventional financing for home purchases, interest rates are increasing at the same time. Interest rates for a 30-year mortgage had been hovering around 4%, but experts expect an increase of at least ¾% over the next year or so. If you wait and don’t buy in the spring, you’ll face the prospect of higher mortgage payments owing to the higher interest rates.
3. Summer Moving
If you begin the buying process in the spring, chances are good that you’ll be moving during the summer. It takes months for the long process of negotiations, loan approval, and closing to reach its final end. This can be a good thing because buying in the spring and moving during summer means better weather and no school.
Spring is the rainy season and a terrible time to move. But if you move during the summer, you most likely won’t have to expose your furniture and art and electronics to the heavy rains of spring. It may be a little warmer, but the clear skies more than make-up for that.
In addition, a spring purchase with a summer move will mean moving when school is out. So you won’t have to uproot your kids during the school year, suddenly separating them from favorite teachers and friends. Summer is a slower time of year and so a better time for such a big life change – for both you and your kids.
Now that you’ve considered these reasons to buy a home in Garner in the spring, are you ready to get started? If you are, we have the experience and expertise help you attain your home-buying goals.