It’s a seller’s market in real estate, which means that buyers have much to feel anxious about. But sellers have reasons to lose sleep, too. What if they make an expensive mistake? It’s easy to find lists of common homebuying mistakes, but home selling errors are harder to describe. They’re subtle, often involving mindset and attitude. Here…
It’s a good time to be a home seller — homes are selling fast and for a premium — but that doesn’t mean you can jump into the market ill-prepared. Knowing what to expect can position you to make the most of this seller’s market. Roughly 1 in 6 (17%) homeowners plan on selling their…
Andy Hill discovered he was house poor soon after he bought his first home in 2004. When Hill put 10% down on the 1,200-square-foot house in Royal Oak, Michigan, a suburb outside of Detroit, he was surprised to find out he had to pay private mortgage insurance, which initially was $158 a month. Heating the poorly…
Last fall, when planning a move from North Carolina to Stillwater, Oklahoma, for a new job that would start in January, Andreza Conti Patara and her husband, Marcelo Patara, decided to buy a house. But the couple wanted to avoid air travel due to COVID-19, and buyers were snapping up homes in Stillwater soon after…
Shopping for their first home in New Jersey, Alyse Storzieri and her boyfriend Robert Engel faced a tough market. So when they found a house they loved last June, the couple followed their real estate agent’s advice to make their offer stand out. They went over the asking price, tripled their down payment amount and…
Real estate agents have an urgent message for homeowners: Now is the time to sell. “A lot of people are missing the best market now by waiting,” says agent Kris Lindahl. Home sellers wield formidable negotiating mojo because demand outweighs supply. Buyers outnumber sellers, as relatively few owners are putting their homes on the market….
Buying a home is a major endeavor, no matter when you do it. For those hoping to buy in 2021, an ongoing recession and global pandemic only add to the headwinds. More than 1 in 10 Americans (11%) say they plan on buying a house in the next 12 months, according to NerdWallet’s 2021 Home Buyer…
It’s hard to afford a house if you’re a first-time buyer. The Biden administration has a plan for that: giving first-timers up to $15,000 to apply toward a down payment. Frustrated would-be homeowners might favor that proposed solution. But it almost surely would drive house prices even higher. The proposed First Down Payment Tax Credit…
Whether you’re having trouble finding an affordable single-family home or you’re simply fed up with renting, a condominium can be a way to wade into homeownership rather than diving into the deep end. Condos tend to come with lower price tags than single-family homes. They offer significantly greater independence than renting, but you aren’t on…
When Philip Weiss, a systems engineer in New Jersey, saw the rustic house on a four-acre lot in the Poconos, it was love at first sight. He was preapproved for a mortgage, placed an offer on the home and the seller accepted. Nearly one month later, the unexpected happened. Weiss says despite having a 700+ credit…
