Kiplinger\'s Personal Finance - 04.2020

70 KIPLINGER’S PERSONAL FINANCE^ 04/2020

first home this year said they’ve been

priced out of their desired neighbor-

hoods, TD Bank’s 2020 First-Time

Homebuyer Pulse survey found.

Home sellers have the upper hand

in most markets. But even though it

may be tempting, don’t list your home

above its market value. Today’s home

buyers have access to a surplus of

housing information online—meaning

they know what properties are worth

and when a house is overpriced.

“Some home sellers think that they

can ratchet up home prices and find

buyers. But if your house stays on the

market for more than 30 days, it be-

comes stale, and buyers will believe

that there is something wrong with

your house,” the NAR’s Yun says.

Home buyers expect Instagram-

worthy, move-in-ready homes, so stag-

ing is more important than ever, says

Philadelphia-based real estate agent

Patrick Conway. If you’re on a budget,

focus on staging the living room, mas-

ter bedroom and kitchen—the three

most important staged rooms for

home buyers, an NAR survey found.

The supply of homes for sale in your

area is a good indicator of how much

leverage you have. Six months’ supply

is considered a balanced market be-

tween buyers and sellers; in markets

with less than six months’ supply,

home sellers have the upper hand.

(You can find this information and

other home-sale market statistics on

the website of your local association

of Realtors.) Devise a plan for how

you’d handle multiple offers. Instead

of reviewing offers as they come in—

or simply accepting the first offer you

get—Yee recommends setting a dead-

line for all offers, so that every buyer

who comes to your open house gets

a chance to submit an offer.

If you’re buying another home after

you sell, you’ll be competing with

other buyers. Move-up buyers have

less to worry about, but if you plan to

downsize, you may be targeting the

same homes as first-time buyers. Q

ding war in December, a 10-year low.

“Talk [with your agent] in advance

about what an aggressive offer looks

like so that you’ll be prepared in a mul-

tiple-offer situation,” advises Peggy

Yee, a real estate broker in Vienna, Va.

Partnering with a real estate agent

who’s an expert in the neighborhoods

where you’re shopping is key, because

a plugged-in agent can hear about new

listings before they hit the market and

set up early showings for you. Also,

sign up for real-time alerts of price

reductions and new listings from web-

sites such as Zillow and Realtor.com.

Flexibility is crucial, says Julie

McDonough, a real estate agent in

Southern California. You may have

to expand your home search to other

neighborhoods or towns if no homes

are for sale in your desired area or you

can’t afford to buy a home there. This

is a common challenge: 22% of millen-

nials who are planning to buy their

affordable anymore,” says Lawrence

Yun, the NAR’s chief economist.

TIPS FOR BUYERS

AND SELLERS

Although it’s a seller’s market in most

cities, now is still a great time to buy

a house if you’re looking to snag a

low mortgage rate. But home buyers

should be prepared to deal with com-

peting offers, says Chris Dossman, a

real estate agent in Indianapolis. And

getting preapproved for a mortgage

before you make an offer is a must.

If a house is priced fairly, you’ll

need to be willing to make a full-price

offer—or even above list price for a

property in a hot neighborhood. You

will want to make your strongest offer

from the outset—your highest bid,

with as few contingencies as possible.

Home sellers have been shying away

from bidding wars; just 9% of offers

written by Redfin agents faced a bid-

REWARDS

Buyer-Friendly Cities

Top Housing Markets of 2020

These cities are the most attractive markets for home buyers in 2020, according to an

analysis by Realtor.com that forecasts sales and home prices. The cities, which are attract-

ing both millennials and retirees, share several traits: strong job growth, high numbers of

graduates of local colleges who have stayed in the area, and affordable homes—especially

compared with coastal metro areas.

Boise,

Idaho

Memphis, Tenn. Chattanooga,

Te n n. R o c h e s t e r, N .Y.

Winston-

Salem, N.C.

Charleston-North

Charleston, S.C.

McAllen-Edinburg- Columbia, S.C.

Mission, Texas

Tuscon, Ariz.

Colorado

Springs, Colo.

1

25

9

8

(^46)
10
3
7
FOR QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ABOUT THIS ARTICLE,
PLEASE E-MAIL [email protected].