November 23, 2018
Are you interested in buying a home during the holiday season? Are you looking to weigh your options or are you seriously interested in making an offer?
Many published reports on mortgage loan blogs are discussing this during the holiday season, but what do you need to know about house hunting options, hiring well-connected real estate agents, and deals during the December holiday shopping season?
FHA Home Loans Aren’t Just Available For Pristine Homes
You will read a lot of advice online this year about hiring a good real estate agent to help you narrow down your search, about pocket listings that sellers use to keep their homes from being flooded with window shoppers instead of serious buyers, etc.
But one important thing to keep in mind about searching for a home for the holidays? Knowing that FHA home loans are available for distressed homes and not only for new or new-ish homes.
FHA mortgages are available to purchase fixer-upper homes; the FHA 203(k) rehab loan is an excellent way to buy a home that needs work, would not pass an FHA appraisal for a typical 203(b) single family mortgage, and requires repairs.
FHA Home Loans Let You Pre-Qualify
Above, we discussed the use of something called pocket listings to keep houses from becoming magnets for people just interested in looking. The serious buyer has to compete with the less-committed house hunter and find ways to convince the seller that an appointment to see the property is a serious attempt to make a decision to buy or not.
One way to do that-to convince the seller you mean business when trying to see a home for sale-is to prequalify and let the seller know you have done so.
Remember That The Holiday Season May Bring You Benefits As A Buyer
There are trends that indicate that buying a home during the holiday season can be to the buyer’s advantage. The buyer may be able to get discounts, extra consideration, or save more money on certain aspects of the loan during this time of year depending on how eager the seller is to be out of the property soon, how willing the lender is to offer some type of holiday discount, etc.
Don’t forget that there may be tax implications that affect both buyer and seller taxes-this can work to your advantage in the negotiation stages.
Winter Weather Is A Factor
You may find house hunting or even closing the deal this time of year can be more challenging because of weather concerns, but borrowers who don’t give up during the months of November and December may find that it’s a less crowded playing field for the same reasons. Other buyers may choose to wait until spring, which gives more persistent borrowers a better chance at a deal.
Joe Wallace has been specializing in military and personal finance topics since 1995. His work has appeared on Air Force Television News, The Pentagon Channel, ABC and a variety of print and online publications. He is a 13-year Air Force veteran and a member of the Air Force Public Affairs Alumni Association. He was Managing editor for www.valoans.com for (8) years and is currently the Associate Editor for FHANewsblog.com.
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