Timeline to Purchase

As many buyers are adding a home purchase to their New Year 2020 goals, this topic has come up a lot recently!

Most first-time home buyers are currently renting and have leases to consider, so if you’re planning on buying a home, when should you start preparing?? In my opinion, the answer is the sooner the better! You don’t know what you don’t know, and a quick meeting can educate you on the process, take some of the anxiety out of it, and help you feel comfortable to make some moves when the time is right.

Getting your financing squared away early is one of the best things you can do. You will get a realistic expectation of how much money you need to save for a down payment/closing costs and how a purchase price translates to a monthly payment....which will give you a goal to aim for. If there is anything you can do to put yourself in a better position, you will be able to get some direction and work on it.

In the Denver market, good homes can move fast. If you find an amazing place you want to be able to jump on it...and in order to do that you need to have a mortgage pre-approval.

If you want some hard and fast numbers - the typical under contract period in Denver is about 30 days. Considering inventory is fairly low, I’d recommend allowing at least a couple months of searching before that to find your perfect place.

It may also be a good idea to look into logistics of breaking your current rental lease in case you find a perfect home before the timing is perfect. When you purchase a home, you don’t make your first mortgage payment until the month following the month after you close (Close in June = First payment in August)...so a couple months without a mortgage can certainly negate the cost of breaking a lease.

Of course, this is the preferred plan of action...if your dream house pops up out of blue, I have great lenders who will get you pre-approved fast on an evening or weekend so we can try to get you under contract!

Have any questions or thinking about buying a home in 2020? Send me a text or email and let’s chat more about your goals!