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buying in oregon

Be Ready to Buy

October 24, 2022 by Jessica Berger and Tekela Fisher Leave a Comment

You need to be ready to buy when the market shifts. 

We still have an inventory crisis, and that will keep the market from crashing.  Pricing will continue going down as long as the interest rates continue to climb. As soon as inflation is back under control, they will drop the rates again.  When they do, you want to be ready to buy so you can enjoy the climb and build wealth.  

What do you need to do to be a ready to buy? Here are the 4 things I would focus on to best position yourself for a future purchase. 

Save your money.

You’ll need a downpayment and the more money you can put down, the better the house will be. Set aside a percentage of every paycheck, somewhere you can’t touch it, and let it build up as much as you can. If the bulk of your money is tied up in investments, I’d pull it and hold the cash so the stock market isn’t deciding how large of a downpayment you have. Of course talk with your financial advisor about this strategy, but stocks are also predicted to continue declining.  

Pay down your debts.

Your debt to income ratio is a huge part of being able to buy a house. Start with paying off your smaller debts and then wrap those payments into the larger debts. This will put yourself in as strong a position as possible.  

Work on your credit score.

This will improve naturally as you pay your debts down. You also want to make sure you stay up to date on all your payments and remove any past delinquencies that may still be showing up.  Free credit report sites can give you a quick overview, but for a better look I’d head over to one of the actual reporting agencies.  

Hone what you want to buy.

Once interest rates come back down, there will be a frenzy again because we don’t have any inventory.  Knowing exactly what you want to buy will put you in the best position to immediately jump on it when it comes on the market.  

This market is different than anything we have ever seen before, and as such we are all learning something new everyday.  If it were my money, I’d be buying homes as soon as the interest rates hit 5.5%. If you want to talk about a buying strategy, or what this could mean for you, please reach out!

Want to meet with us? You can schedule with us HERE

Why Use a Realtor

December 22, 2020 by Jessica Berger and Tekela Fisher Leave a Comment

So now that you are ready to buy a house why on earth should you use a realtor? Well, watch the video below to find out! Or skip ahead and read about it!

I get it, realtors have a bad reputation and tons of people think we are under qualified and over-paid.  So why would you hire one when you can just do it yourself online?  Well, here are our top 5 reasons that you will want to hire us. 

#1 – It’s Free

That’s right, as a buyer, you don’t have to pay me. If you could get 10 years of sales experience for free wouldn’t you want to use it? I only get paid when we successfully find and close on a house and the seller pays that fee so there is literally no cost to you for using me. 

#2 – Home Tours

You need a realtor to get access to most houses.  You can’t just knock on doors and expect to get a  tour, you could try, but people will think you are crazy and that is not what you want when you are trying to convince someone to let you buy their home.  Of course you can go to open houses, but not everyone hosts them, and some houses sell before they have had a chance to be open on the weekend.  Hiring me means we can go see that house anytime that suits your schedule so you can e one of the first people in the door. 

#3- Pocket Listings

Not all houses get listed on the market.  We see houses all the time that are offered as office exclusives that sell before they hit the market.  If I know what you are looking for I am going to be searching within my network to see what they have coming up.  This can give you the upper edge if we are able to get into these homes before the reset of the public sees them. Zillow can’t offer you that. 

#4- Paperwork and Contracts

I can help you understand and write a way stronger contract.  Real Estate contracts are no joke, it’s a 13 page document that outlines all the important timelines, who pays for what, who gets to keep what, and when you get to move into the house.  There are also over 30 addendums that could apply to your transaction.  We know the paperwork and how to write things so you are getting as much as you possibly can, even in a seller’s market.  

#5 – Gifts!

Lastly, you’ll get a cool present. I love giving gifts, so you’ll get something nice when you close on the house, plus a home-anniversary gift, plus a holiday gift or party, plus some random thing  at some point during the year.  We love our clients and believe in taking care of them before, during, and after the transaction.  We won’t pick up a paycheck and then disappear on you, we like you too much! 

Now you might be thinking, this all sounds great, but I don’t want to buy a house right now. Even if you aren’t quite ready, we can start narrowing down neighborhoods and keeping our eyes on good deals for you, you never know when they will come up or when you will be ready to jump in.  The more we know about you, the better we can help you!  If you want to set up a zoom call to just going over basic questions and criteria, we would love to chat, just send a message over! 

I appreciate your time today, be sure to follow us on facebook and Instagram to stay up to date with what we are doing!  You can also search for homes with the button below, or fill out the contact form and we will get in touch with you!

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