My favorite tips for first time Boston condo buyers in 2023

Boston Condos for Sale

My favorite tips for first time Boston condo buyers in 2023

Are you prepping to buy your first home? If so, one of the steps you should take early on is making sure you’re financially ready for your purchase. Here are just a few of the financial fundamentals you’ll need to focus on as you set out to but a Boston condominium.

Build Your Credit Before Applying for a Boston condo mortgage

Your credit is one element that helps determine which home loan you’ll qualify for. It also impacts your mortgage interest rate. While there are many factors that go into your mortgage application, a higher credit score could lead to a lower monthly payment in the long run.

So how do you make sure your credit is in the best shape possible when it’s time to buy? A recent article from NerdWallet lists a few tips you can use as you work to build and strengthen your credit. They include:

• Tracking your credit and disputing any errors that show up on your reports.
• Paying your bills on time. This includes making loan payments and paying down any open lines of credit.
• Keeping your credit card balances low. Paying more than your minimum monthly balance when you’re able can help.

Automate Your Savings for Your House Fund

You might also be wondering how you can achieve your down payment savings goals. Bankrate provides buyers with a number of tips to help you save, including searching for down payment assistance programs and ways you can save more, faster. As the article says:

“One of the best ways to save for anything — including a down payment — is to set it and forget it. If you receive a regular paycheck, ask your employer to direct a portion of that payment into a savings account. If you’re a freelance worker or independent contractor, set up a recurring transfer from a checking account to a savings account to establish the routine.”

Get Pre-Approved

As you prepare for your purchase, you’ll also need to have a good grasp on your budget and how much you’ll be able to borrow for your home loan. That’s where the pre-approval process comes in.

Pre-approval from a lender lets you know how much money you can borrow for your home loan. And having that knowledge, plus an understanding of your savings, can help you decide on your target price range for a house.

From there, you can start browsing for houses online and see what’s available in your area in that general price point. This can help you really understand your options so you can start to picture your future home.

For Customized Advice, Build a Team of Professionals

Finally, the best way to make you’re prepared for your purchase is to connect with trusted real estate professionals. Having expert advisors in the industry will help you make strong decisions throughout the homebuying process based on your specific goals, finances, and situation. They know the market and can guide you toward the home of your dreams.

Bottom Line

If you’re ready to get the homebuying process started, let’s connect so you can begin to build your team of professionals today.

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If your goal is to a downtown Boston condo for sale this year, you might be looking for any advantage you can get in today’s sellers’ market. While competition is still fierce for homebuyers, there are ways you can win and secure the home of your dreams, even in a hot market.

Boston condo buyers: Act Early and Save

The earlier you act this year, the more affordable your purchase will be. That’s because experts project mortgage rates will rise as we move deeper into 2022. According to Freddie Mac, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is expected to be 3.5% by year’s end. Experts forecast home prices will rise as well.

That means the longer you wait, the more it will cost you to buy a home. Instead, act early and purchase your home before rates and prices rise further. Not to mention, the sooner you buy, the sooner you can experience the benefits of continued home price appreciation yourself. Once you have your home, you’ll be able to watch its value rise, giving you confidence that your investment is a sound one.

Boston Condo Buyers: Buy Now, Move Later

Keep in mind, with high Boston condo buyer demand like we’re seeing today, you’ll be competing against other potential homebuyers, which means you need to find a way to stand out. One way to accomplish this is to negotiate with sellers and present terms that meet their ideal needs. Danielle Hale, Chief Economist for realtor.com, explains one lever flexible buyers can pull to entice sellers:

“For buyers with more flexible timelines – such as those making a move from a big city – offering a couple extra months on the closing date could sweeten the deal for sellers who also need to buy their next home.”

In other words, if you’re eager to purchase a home now before it becomes more costly and you don’t have to move right away, you could extend the date of your closing and provide the seller with the time they need to find their next home. That’s a deal that could benefit both parties and help you stand out from the crowd.

Of course, it’s important to work with a Boston real estate broker for expert advice on how to make your best offer. Your trusted advisor knows what’s working in your market and what may appeal to sellers.

Boston Condos for Sale and the Bottom Line

Experts project home prices and rates will increase in 2022. That means buyers who are ready should act soon and find ways to strengthen their offer to meet sellers’ needs. Let’s connect today to learn how you can win in today’s market.

Boston Real Estate Blog Updated 2022

Click Here to view: Google Ford Realty Inc Reviews

Updated: Boston Real Estate Blog 2022

Boston Real Estate for Sale Search

These days, almost everyone uses the Internet to search for Boston condos for sale. With a wide variety of resources available to search for Boston Seaport condos online, how can you ensure that you are best using these tools to find your perfect home? Here are 3 quick tips for setting up your home search online to help you find your new Boston condos for sale.

Modern internet downtown Boston condo search systems found online come in a variety of styles and each can have unique functions to help you find the right home for your needs. The search systems all are capable of accessing the Boston condos for sale database of information about individual homes and neighborhoods while allowing you to specify in detail your search parameters.

For example, you can set the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the price range, the neighborhood or area for your search, and the general size of the home. Most search systems can drill down to even greater detail, depending on your needs in a home, including whether or not there is a pool or a fenced rear yard.

Let’s get right into the 3 quick tips to help you use the internet to find your perfect selection of Boston condos for sale

Tip #1 – Before starting your search online, take a moment to write down and prioritize your needs and wants in a home.

Your needs are going to be the things that you cannot live without, such as the number of bedrooms or a specific price range, and your wants are going to be things that you would like, but don’t have to have, such as a 2nd bathroom or a private Beacon Hill condo roof deck

Once you have written down your needs and wants, you can use that guide to help you stay on track when searching, plus you can use it to help you fill in the online search forms with the right information. Once you start looking at long lists of Boston condos for sale, it is easy to drift away from what you need most in a home, and by writing down and prioritizing your needs and wants you can focus in on the homes that will best fit your lifestyle.

Tip #2 – At the beginning of your search for a home, keep the search as broad as you possibly can.

Keep in mind that the search tools you find online are only as effective as the databases they have to search for a home. Many times, homes will not necessarily be listed in the database correctly or there may be features left out of the database for individual homes that can cause you to easily miss finding the right home for your needs.

For example, let’s say you want to find a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home with a fenced backyard. Your perfect home with a fenced backyard may be available on the market, but if the property is incorrectly listed without a fence you will not see it in the search results if your search criteria include a fence. If you had just searched for 3 bedrooms, 2 bath homes, you would have seen that home in the results.

I suggest starting very broad with your search and selecting only the general area, price range, and a minimum number of bedrooms and bathrooms. This will help ensure you see the maximum number of possible homes and it will reduce the possibility of missing a home due to an error in the database.  As your search progresses, you can begin to narrow the results by selecting additional parameters, but start broad first.

Tip #3 – Don’t overextend yourself on a Boston real estate mortgage

This especially applies when you’re buying a Boston condo for sale in good times. Remember always prepare for the worse. If there is one thing I’m certain good times will always be followed by bad times. This may sound like a simple concept but I know of a lot of young couples who bought last year and then came the pandemic and now one of them lost their job and this couple is struggling to make ends meet

I’m reminded of this fable:

In a field one summer’s day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart’s content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest.

“Why not come and chat with me,” said the Grasshopper, “instead of toiling and moiling in that way?”

“I am helping to lay up food for the winter,” said the Ant, “and recommend you to do the same.”

“Why bother about winter?” said the Grasshopper; “we have got plenty of food at present.”

But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil.

When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer.

Then the Grasshopper knew: It is best to prepare for the days of necessity.

Boston Real Estate and the Bottom Line

I hope that you have found these 3 tips for setting up your home search useful and beneficial. You can visit our home buyers page to learn more tips about how to search for and buy a Beacon Hill home. Contact us at any time and we can give you additional help on the best ways to set up your searches to find your perfect home!