Get Ready to Buy This Spring (Part 2 of 3)

If you want to buy this Spring, when should you start?: How quickly you can find a home to buy and move into it depends on many factors:

• The transition from searching for an ideal property to moving in can be condensed into a few weeks. This is often the pace for corporate relocation. Frenzied decision-making may not generate the best long-term results unless you are ultra-prepared and an experienced real estate buyer.
• At the other extreme, stretching the search for that "perfect forever home" over many seasons or even years may work for those who want a specific location or type of property and are not displeased enough with their current home to accelerate the process.

Somewhere in between those extremes lies your ideal time line:

• Buying within a market cycle, enables your real estate professional to identify specific properties that present the best return in that buyers', sellers', or flat market.
• If you have a busy work and personal life, carving out time to consider listings, view properties, explore neighborhoods, investigate financing, and deal with all related details can be a stressful juggling act. Your priorities coupled with how quickly new listings sell will determine how you prioritize your home search. Consider how well you make major decisions when under stress.
• When the goal is to enroll children at the start of school year or to arrive at a new job on time, back calculating with your real estate professional will reveal when the search should begin. When in doubt, start sooner, so you don't end up faced with time-pressured decisions.
• Hot real estate markets are the hardest to plan timing in. You may be eager to purchase, but lose out on property after property in multiple offers. Decide what your worst-case scenario would be and act accordingly.
• Waiting for your local real estate market to change gears so prices drop is risky. Timing the real estate market is no easier than timing the stock market. The best advantage in any market lies in selecting ighly-knowledgeable, experienced professionals fully committed to working with your best interests as their top priority.
• You may not be 100% certain this is the Spring for you to plunge into the market, but if you're more sure than not sure, invest time finding the right professionals. If the timing is not right for you, that will become evident and you'll discover what your options are and why.

Real estate professionals, committed to understanding market pace in areas they work, can help you manage timing. One thing they may suggest, is not to wait for the Spring Market, but to get ahead of the mass of spring buyers and jump into real estate now. For instance, sellers who are listed now are serious about selling and, depending how long their property has been on the market, they may be more receptive to negotiation.