It’s going to shape up as an intriguing 2024 in real estate. With predictions for rates coming down in spring, we anticipate a surge in buyer interest to purchase in our market come spring. If you are in the market for a new home, your first home, or maybe a second home and want to take advantage of the market, here are four purchasing power points we suggest you consider before you purchase. 

PREPARE - Our first purchasing power point is to prepare your buyer profile before you begin the process. What does that mean? Well, we start with WHO: who is buying this next home? A single person, a couple, an entire family, an entity, a generational family (more than one family)? It’s important to know who is purchasing, as this may determine factors such as location, price point, amenities, financing, and more. Begin the conversation now so that when you get to step two, you have this information handy. Next, it's WHAT, meaning, what type of information do you need as a buyer? In other words, do you need information about financing? Do you need assistance with your credit? Do you just need to know the whole process because this is your first time? Do you need a specialty lender, as you will be buying something unique? What questions do you need to ask to get started? Pull together your research list of questions and then head to your network to find answers. Next is the WHEN, meaning what is your ideal timeline for this purchase? Pretty simple: when do you ideally want to be moved into this next home? From there, work backwards for about 6 to 24 months, depending on the type of home you will be purchasing. Finally, ask WHY. It's time to really dig into the WHY behind your decision to move. I mean, packing all your stuff and hauling it across miles, or states, is not a walk in the park! What got you in the mood to pack the boxes in the first place? Dissect this and really study how this move will help you. Be ready to ask some tough questions about the housing option so that you can really get to the right home. Knowing your WHY behind the move will help you easily say NO to the wrong house and YES to the one! You might be wondering why we didn’t cover where. That’s because you can’t get to a WHERE without knowing a WHY. In addition, the WHERE comes a little later on, so keep reading!

PRE-APPROVE - Our second purchasing power point is to get pre-approved for your loan. Well, if you are using a loan, statistically, over 70% of buyers use a loan to purchase a new home, so we are going with the majority here. Why would you want to get pre-approved? Can’t you just shop for a house first? Short answer: You can shop first, but why would you want to do that when you don’t know how much of a check you can write? Think about it this way: you know you need a new car; yours just broke down for the final time, and the mechanic said last time there was no fixing it if it broke again. So you start shopping for a car online. You look everywhere, and finally you find that bright yellow convertible two-seater you fell in love with when you were 16. It’s a great deal too, only $39,000.00. You don’t have that cash, so you go on down to the dealership, and they run your credit and tell you that you are approved for $15,000.00. Your heart sinks! That is literally the only yellow two-seater convertible on the entire eastern seaboard, not to mention the south! What are you going to do? You walk home heartbroken and start your search all over again! That’s how it works with a house! Especially if this is your first home. Don’t fall in love with the first one you see until you know your budget. If this is your move up, don’t fall in love yet until you know your equity position. We strongly recommend you talk with a lender to find out your options first. The icing on the cake of a great home purchase is your pre-approval. We recommend this step to create a complete buyer profile of a buyer who is ready, willing, and able to purchase this home from you, Mr. and Mrs. Seller, so that your offer is accepted in a bidding war should you enter that process. Don’t prepare and skip pre-approve, then loose out of the home of your dreams because someone else got pre-approved and the seller wanted a sure bet!

PURSUE: Well, looky there, it’s purchasing power point three; pursue! Hot dog! We get to look at houses! “Finally,” said Flynn in the back! “I’ve been waiting for this lady to get around to saying, Let’s look at houses! I mean, that’s what we are doing here, right?” Yes, Flynn, that’s what we are doing! Hold on to your seat’s though; I have a twist to this step! How many houses do you think exist for sale today in, let’s say, Dallas, Texas? (For the record, on January 2, 2024, when this article was written, 2266 homes were for sale inside the actual city of Dallas; that does not include surrounding areas.) You might say, Well, that’s good; I have options. But do you? Are all of these homes a match for your criteria? This is where the game of pursuing a home needs a precise touch. Meaning a process! Instead of just pulling a list of 100 houses in your location and looking at them one by one to eliminate them off the list, what if we applied a process to the pursuit and gave you valid options to truly assess if they answered the WHY questions we mentioned above? This is where we need to focus—not geographically but intellectually. To get to the geographic location, we need to first apply a process intellectually that will help us maximize your time and really provide viable options for you to consider. Want to know more about the process? Ask us how! Contact us here.

POSITION: It’s the finish line! It’s time to position yourself for the win. Our final purchasing power point is position. What does that mean? Why do we even care about our position? It’s to buy a house, right? Trust us, if you are positioned right, then when the time comes to pounce on that deal, you will be ready. If you are missing steps, information, or other assets, then you can’t pounce on the opportunity when it arrives. Opportunity is always knocking. Houses go on the market daily, so the very best thing you can do for yourself as a buyer is position yourself to be ready, willing, and able to take down the deal. To accomplish this step, you want to have down all of the prior three purchasing power points. We recommend doing them with the assistance of a local licensed real estate agent, as they can help you with this step the most, and a great agent will want to know that you have done the other three first, either with their help or on your own, and now you are ready to engage their agent for this last step. So what is this last step exactly? Well, in short, it's pitching you to the seller. Now, that doesn’t mean we are violating any Fair Housing laws here; it means we are wrapping up all the loose ends, and when an offer is presented, it is clean and concise. How do you do that? You ask your rock star Real Estate Agent for all the intel on this property you want to purchase, and then you strategize what your position looks like and pitch away! Got it!

Now go out and get started with these purchasing power points. Remember, prepare, then pre-approve yourself, followed by pursuing the property and wrapping it up with your powerful position pitched properly to the seller, and you just got yourself a property!

Want more tips and information? Check out our insights and reach out by emailing: [email protected] to find out the date of our Spring Home Buyer’s Seminar.