Buying a home is one of the most exciting parts of life. This is when you get to pick where you’re going to live for a long while and where you’ll get to entertain and show off for guests and loved ones.
The housing market has been a wild mess for the last couple of years, leaving many to assume that it’s still sky-high and unattainable: but now is the best time to buy a home since mid-2020.
These are the top reasons now it’s the best time to buy a property and what to look for!
Home Prices Are Falling
Home prices were reaching terrifying heights through 2021 and 2022, and they’re finally dropping and slowing down. Nobody wants to pay double what a house is worth, and a hot market like that makes it impossible to slow down and look at everything a property has to offer.
Thankfully, since prices have slowed down, more people can afford a great home! This means looking at whether or not you like the manufactured stone veneer instead of just making an offer the moment you see it’s on the market.
Prices are expected to continue dropping, but there’s no way to be sure if they’ll continue to do so through the next year. This is the time to stop and shop seriously.
Start Building Your Equity
The first five to ten years of your home payments are simply paying off how much interest you owe. After that, you begin building equity into your investment. Building equity means you can sell and make a profit, or you could get a loan against your equity and use it to repair or update your home down the line.
The important thing to remember is that the sooner you build your equity, the better off you’re going to be in the long term.
Save Money on Energy Costs
Many of the homes on the market right now are updated with great HVAC systems and smart thermostats! This is so much better than you could find in many apartments or rentals, where heating and cooling bills can be horrible for anyone to deal with. Instead, you can save money and focus on other parts of your property.
If your new home doesn’t already have a smart thermostat, this is an awesome tool you can put in later and still get the same perks. These are one of the best parts of a modern home since they let you heat or cool on a timer and control it from anywhere.
You can push this perk further by pairing it with great polyiso exterior wall insulation and ensuring the house soffit and fascia are as well sealed as possible.
Home Repairs Are Finally Affordable
In 2020 when the pandemic originally hit, the market screeched to a halt, and the industries that create building materials froze along with it. This created an immediate shortage of materials, and the prices never fully recovered until recently. Building materials, labor, and repairs are finally becoming affordable to the average person.
This price leveling means that more people can afford to fix up a home with fun perks like composite patio pavers after they’ve bought it instead of fearing a huge price tag for repairs right after dropping tons of money on an imperfect property.
More Options On the Market
There are tons of options on the market that weren’t there a year ago! In January 2022, many homes were off the market within a week, and most had an offer within the first three to five days. This made it almost impossible for some people to get their foot in the door, and many put in countless offers but were unable to snatch any home up, much less one they actually wanted.
Now that the market has slowed down, buyers are able to find far more options they couldn’t grab otherwise! This means there are tons of other options, from houses with more space to those in unique styles that were hard to get hands-on with just a year ago.
The Chance to Create a Place of your Own
Making your own home-sweet-home is a big step that can save you from a lot of drama and stress that comes from renting. You can put nails in the walls, paint, redecorate, change major parts of the property, and know that it’s yours and you’re safe to depend on it.
This is especially important for your couples or those starting a family that wants to put their own prints on something. There’s nothing as special for families as getting to grow up in one single place together. Although you can still get this with apartments, there’s stability that can only come from owning a home.
This Is The Time to Buy!
Whether you’re buying a home as an investment you can sell in ten years or you’re trying to start a family, it’s important to know now’s the time to get going! Consider getting into the market and grabbing the home of your dreams before it’s gone.
Max Shafer is a freelance writer that loves sharing his knowledge and expertise on real estate. He lives in Land O’ Lakes, Florida where he enjoys spending time with his wife and researching real estate trends in his free time. Max’s work as a freelance writer can be found on Building Product Advisor, a new construction industry resource.