5 Tips For Buying Real Estate In 2024

Christian: [0:03] Hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of the Awesome in Seattle podcast. This is your host, Christian Nossum of the Awesome Nossum Group at Wilson Realty Exchange, Inc. We are a group of Seattle area real estate agents. We've been working in this area for about 20 years at this point. Today's podcast is The five biggest tips for buying real estate in 2024. Whether you're a first-time homebuyer or looking to expand your portfolio, these tips will provide you with the knowledge and confidence to make smart decisions in today's market. So let's get started. Tip number one, get educated. First and foremost, education is key. The process of buying a home can be complex, especially for those who are navigating it for the first time. We highly recommend attending a homebuyer class to get educated, familiarize yourself with the intricacies of the process, and just get a better overall overview of what to expect. This is why we, as the Awesome Nossum Group, have hosted a free one-hour-long monthly homebuyer class throughout the Seattle area for over eight years now. These classes offer invaluable insights into the market and teach you what to expect at each stage of your journey. Understanding the homebuying process empowers you to make informed decisions and help demystify the complexities of a real estate transaction. So if you are interested in attending, you can see where our next homebuyer class is going to be. Just go to beersandhomebuying.com (opens in a new tab). There's free beer, just like the word says, beersandhomebuying.com (opens in a new tab). Free beer, some venues have food. It's only an hour-long class. It's not a timeshare presentation where we're gonna sell, sell, sell or anything like that. It's literally just information, uh, helping you understand the, the complex process of buying a house. And again, we've been doing this for over eight years. It's super laid back. We have helped, uh, at this point, almost 1,000 people who have attended this class actually successfully purchase a house. So it definitely works. We update it every single month with the latest stats. So that is step number one. Step number two is get a financial plan and really get your budget in place. This is really step number one, but you have to get educated first to understand how important this step really is. So that's why we put it as step number two. It's not… Or it's important to understand not only what you can afford, but what you should afford, and there's a big difference there. Just because the bank approves you for, let's just say, a million dollar home purchase, doesn't mean that you can afford that monthly payment while still living the lifestyle that you want. We never want some to, someone to be house poor, and that's why we recommend, as your first step after you get educated, to get your budget in order. Understand what you can afford while still living the life that you want, and understanding where you can buy what you want. Consulting with a lender early on in the process can really provide the clarity that you need in this homebuying process. They can share all the different types of loans available to you. They can give you guidance in regards to your credit. So after they pull your credit report, if, if they spot any ways that they can increase your credit score, they'll share those, and that will help you get a better interest rate, which ultimately makes this less expensive for you. So remember, a strong financial plan is the backbone of a successful real estate purchase. Tip number three, ignore the news. Just stay focused. This is really It's pretty easy when you're in the home buying process to get swayed by clickbaity news headlines. The media often sensationalizes the real estate market to generate clicks and views. And remember that real estate is a long-term game. This is a long game. Market conditions, interest rates, all those different things fluctuate all the time, but don't let that deter you. A strategic buyer knows that there are opportunities in every single market. Not all of those opportunities make headlines 'cause they're just not clickbaity. So keep your eyes on the prize, remember what your long-term goal is, and, and stay focused on that. Anytime you do see headlines, just reach out to us, and we can explain what's actually the truth behind them. A lot of times, if it's data related, the data is very outdated. Usually, real estate moves slow, so the data is usually 30 to 60, sometimes even longer, delayed before it actually makes news headlines. So what you're hearing is what happened a couple months ago versus what's actually happening right now. Tip number four, define your buy box. What does that mean? That means understanding what type of property you're looking for. In Seattle, we have lots of different options, from townhomes to condos to single-family houses to a multi-family building, up to a fourplex. So that means there's four different units in one building. Each of these has its pros and cons, and depending on your lifestyle and what your investment goals are. You also need to consider the neighborhoods that align with your preferences in terms of location, amenities, the type of community that you want. So getting a clear understanding of what you want will help you streamline your search and make the process more efficient. Now, I'm gonna brag about what my team does, which is a much different approach than really any other real estate agent out there. We help you define this buy box, and not just by talking about the differences, but by showing you what you can actually afford where you want to afford it. So what does that mean? We create something called a sold search. This is something that we created that shows you, based on your budget, based on the type of property that you want, based on the locations that you wanna be in, we show you what has recently sold. Not what the asking price is, but what the sold price is. And this helps you see what you can expect to purchase when you go to purchase. So if you're looking in the next one to six months, this is gonna give you a pretty good idea of what is actually out there and what it's selling for and where you can get what you actually want. So Tip number four is really define your buy box. Understand what you want. We help you do that. It's totally free. It does take some effort. It's not necessarily easy for us to do this for you, but we do it because we know that it makes such a huge difference for you in the home buying process. Tip number five, this is the biggest myth in all of real estate, and that is that you have to have a 20% down payment Don't wait for that big down payment. It probably doesn't make sense. In fact, in the 20 years that I've been doing this almost, it really doesn't make sense the majority of the time. The average down payment in the Seattle area is only between 5% to 7%. And that's for all buyers, not just first-time home buyers, but all buyers. And there's very, or there's various programs out there and loan options out there that allow buyers to purchase homes with a lower than 20% down payment. And it really doesn't add a ton of extra cost to your monthly payment. So waiting to save up that 20% can actually mean missing out on opportunities, missing out on the tax benefits of home ownership, missing out on potential home price appreciation. So consult with your lender. A good lender will help you understand those differences, help you visually see the pros and cons of them, and help you decide what makes sense for you to do. So don't take my advice. Just talk with a lender. If you need a good referral, just let me know. We can refer you and really help you understand, you know, what does make the most sense for me? Should I do a 3.5% down payment? Should I do a 5%? Should I do a 7%? Should I do a 10% or a 15%? Or should I do a 20% or maybe even a 25% down payment? It really just depends. So in conclusion, these five tips, which are get educated, set your budget, stay focused amidst all these clickbaity news headlines, define your buy box, and understand all the different down payment options. These are your keys to successfully navigating the Seattle real estate market in 2024. Whether you're buying for the first time or expanding your investment portfolio, remember that knowledge, preparation, and strategy are your best tools. So if this all makes sense for you and you are kind of ready to maybe take that next step, either sign up for our home buying class. Again, beersandhomebuying.com (opens in a new tab). Totally free. Join one of our classes. Or you can just sign up for a strategy session with us. That's just a Zoom, half-hour Zoom call. It's one-on-one, so you don't have a bunch of people around. You can ask any personal, private questions that you have about the real estate process. And we can really give you that non-salesy, super laid-back answer that really most people are looking for. And I know it sounds scary to sign up for a one-on-one. It's not. We're not going to sell you. It's literally just one-on-one helping you answer the questions that you all have. Everyone has questions, and we're just here to help you understand those. So that's it for this episode of the Awesome in Seattle podcast. I appreciate you listening. We'll see you in two weeks for the next episode. Happy house hunting. See you soon.