Posts from December 2024

Are you trying to determine whether you should buy now or wait until mortgages rates begin to drop. Here are a 3 things you may want  to consider.

1. While rates are higher, that often leads to less competition when submitting offers.  A higher mortgage rate has some buyers choosing to wait right now.  Less competition gives you a better chance of having the terms of your offer accepted.  This also means that you have a better chance of getting things such as inspections agreed to, or maybe the closing timeframe you want.
2. Prices might be better than they will be when rates fall. In May of 2022 in the York/Lancaster area, sellers were getting about 105% of their original asking price.  Some were even getting $30,000 or more above the listed price.  In November of 2024 that number was down to about 101% still high, due to low inventory, but still an improvement over when rates were lower. 
3. You can always refinance. If you buy now you can get a ho...

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With Christmas only a few weeks away, maybe you are starting to think about the new year.  With a new year comes new goals.  Maybe one of those goals is buying a new home.  Maybe you're a first-time home buyer and you don't know where to start. 

The place you must start is speaking with a trusted (and preferably local) lender to get pre-approved for a mortgage.

Why is this important?

Because getting pre-approved will tell you the max amount you can pay for a home while keeping within your budget.  It will also provide you with an estimate of your interest rate (though this cannot be locked until your offer is accepted), your estimated closing costs, and your approximate monthly payments.  This will greatly help you in setting your goals and planning for the new home.  It will also help your agent to focus on search parameters when you begin the home search process.

Once you are pre-approved you will receive a letter stating the amount that you...

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