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The Best Real Estate Tips We Learned This Year To Take Into 2022!
Make sure to use what we’ve learned in 2021 to help you navigate the competitive real estate market in 2022!
Here at Dabl, we’ve spent the last 12 months working hard to provide you with the best tips and most updated information about the ever-tumultuous real estate market. With unprecedented supply shortages and housing market conditions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ups and downs of the past year have made this a task that was easier said than done. Even so, we learned a lot of interesting information and uncovered valuable real estate tips in 2021 that you should take with you into the new year.
Since we’ve posted dozens of real estate articles this year, it’s likely you’ve missed a few articles along the way! But we want you to be as prepared as possible as you enter 2022, so we gathered the most important real estate tips we uncovered over this past year that you need to remember going forward. When you’re armed with these 6 tips, your house selling and buying endeavors are sure to be a success in 2022!
Use curb appeal to make a good first impression.
If you’re planning to sell your home next year, it’s important to make a good first impression with potential homebuyers and real estate agents who come to tour your property. Make sure you greet these important guests with a non-cluttered property that features a fresh coat of paint and a well-maintained garden if you have one. If potential buyers arrive to find the outside of your house in disarray, they might decide they won’t be placing an offer before they even come inside.
Want to learn more about perfecting your home’s curb appeal? Read these articles:
Your Front Door Is the Key to Curb Appeal
10 Ways to Paint Your House to Make it Stand Out
10 Affordable Landscaping Ideas to Add Curb Appeal To Your House
Small Curb Appeal Details You Won’t Want To Forget
Location is everything.
If there’s one thing you don’t want to compromise on in real estate, it’s the location. When you’re house hunting, you first have to consider how your new home’s location will impact your lifestyle. For instance, you might want to ensure you have a short commute to work or are close to entertainment. In addition, you have to think about how your home’s location will impact its value when it’s time to resell it in the future. For example, you may not have children so whether or not you live in a good school district may not really matter to you. However, it may matter greatly to potential homebuyers with families. Find out more about what you need to consider when choosing your next home’s location.
It’s possible to over-renovate your home.
Making renovations to your home or undertaking remodels is simply a part of homeownership. When you move into a new home, it’s only natural to want to make it your own. And as time passes, your tastes may change along with the trends. However, homeowners sometimes make the mistake of over renovating their homes. This means they put more money into their home’s renovations or remodel than they can earn in the sale of their house in the future. Learn how your intended renovations will impact your home’s value.
Don’t let desperation to buy convince you to sacrifice important contingencies.
Throughout the past year, we have been dealing with an extremely competitive real estate market. Desperate buyers have been struggling to get their offers accepted amidst a shortage of available homes and multi-offer situations. In order to seem more competitive, homebuyers have been waiving their right to important contingencies, such as the appraisal contingency and the home inspection contingency. However, waiving these contingencies is a huge risk that could end up haunting you with stress and financial burdens. Those contingencies are put in place to protect your investment by ensuring the home is safe, is in good condition, and that you are paying a fair purchase price. So instead of letting desperation take hold, protect yourself and have faith that everything will work out when you find the right house.
Your credit score doesn’t have to halt your dreams of becoming a homeowner.
It’s typically believed that if you don’t have a 20% downpayment and a perfect credit score, you can kiss your dreams of becoming a homebuyer goodbye. However, there are ways of buying a home with a less-than-perfect credit score or a low-to-no downpayment. While these methods of buying a home can be a bit more challenging, it may be worth it to take advantage of historically low mortgage rates before they go back up.
Writing love letters to sellers can be a BIG mistake.
In the past, homebuyers would write persuasive letters to sellers about their families and why they want to purchase the house in question. But if you haven’t bought or sold a home in many years, you might not know that including a love letter to the seller with your offer is now considered to be a big mistake. Depending on what information you include, you might even be breaking the law.
This is because sellers are not allowed to decide on which offers to accept or decline based on factors like a protected class of race, religion, familial status, military status, gender orientation, sex, nationality, or disability. Refusing to sell your home to a qualified buyer because of any of these reasons directly violates the Fair Housing Act because it is considered to be discrimination. When you send a letter to your seller that includes this information, you are quickly taking away their ability to make an unbiased decision and entering a legal gray area.
Learn more tips and tricks for buying or selling homes at the Dabl Real Estate Hub!
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