Need to sell your Orlando home before you can buy? Avoid this mistake

Do you need to sell your home in Orlando before you can buy?

If so, you naturally need to know what a new home will cost and whether you’ll qualify for the payments. You don’t want to let go of your present home only find that you can’t purchase a new one! That said, you should do a little looking on line and speak with a mortgage lender before going any further.  Looking on line will give you a good idea of pricing on homes of the size you need in the neighborhoods you want. You’ll likely see a wide range, because some of those homes will be in top condition and some won’t. Assume that the home you’ll choose will be at the high end of the range.

 

Speaking with a lender will tell you whether you’ll qualify for a purchase at that price.  BUT – Don’t make the mistake of shopping for that new home just yet! Wait until you’ve listed your present Orlando home and have accepted an offer from a qualified buyer.  Shopping for a new home before you have the ability to make a purchase can cost you money and lead to disappointment.  Very few sellers will accept an offer contingent on the sale of a house that is not yet under contract. It just doesn’t make sense for them to take their house off the market on the chance that your house will sell and you’ll be able to close. Of course, a few will do it if you’re willing to put down a sizeable non-refundable earnest money deposit.  Even if you do already have an offer on your current home, sellers are wise to be cautious and will perhaps counter with a “bump clause” allowing them to accept a different offer if you can’t close within the specified time frame.  If by chance the seller does accept your offer, you’ll have put yourself in another difficult situation – that of needing to sell your present house quickly. That, in turn, means you’ll be more likely to accept a low offer just to get it done.  The need to hurry could cost you thousands of dollars.

 

So what else will happen if you shop too soon?  The worst case: You’ll find “the perfect house” and you won’t be able to buy it. And after that, no other house will measure up. Even if you find a different home that in reality is a better fit for you and yours, you’ll always think the other one would have been better.  

 

My advice: Exercise patience. First, list your home at its current market value. Then do all you can to make it attractive, appealing, and accessible to qualified buyers and their agents. Then negotiate reasonably and get that home under contract.  Once your house is under contract with a solid buyer, start shopping for your new Orlando home.

Economy’s Good, So Why Aren’t Americans Spending?

According to data released this week, the economy improved a lot in 2014 (after the first quarter, anyway), 2015 is looking good, and employment continued to gain steam in January. But one key economic indicator is still lagging: shopping.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported that retail sales declined by 0.8% in January, following a 0.9% decline in December. This left many economists and Wall Street analysts perplexed.

Now, “retail sales” include sales at the pump, so that drop is a direct result of the lower price of gasoline. (Americans spent 9.3% less on gas in January.) And while we all like saving money on gas, economists had hoped that spending in other categories would partly offset the decline.

A few discretionary spending categories show signs of growth in the Census data. Building materials and garden supplies, electronics, miscellaneous store retailers, and restaurants all had gained.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration has forecast that lower gas prices will save the average U.S. household $550 in 2015. So where would it be best for us to put those savings?

Most analysts want to see consumers spend the gas savings. Since consumer expenditures make up 68% of U.S. economic activity, an increase in spending would keep the growth engine running.

Three main theories seem to be emerging as to why this isn’t happening. First is psychological—that short-term windfalls don’t immediately change the behavior of consumers until they believe the gains are long-term.

The second is that consumers may be spending more than we realize because areas like health care aren’t being measured by the expenditure data.

The third theory is the one that I think supports even greater economic gains down the road: Consumers are paying down debts or saving the gains. That won’t be good for the economy if the savings don’t find their way back into the economy. But the reason I view this positively is that many households may indeed be paying off debts and saving with a purpose in mind: buying a home.

If you have a greater objective, such as buying a home or another big-ticket item, it’s entirely rational to save more and spend less in the short term. A 2013 paper from professors at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University noted this behavior as one of the key ways homeownership builds wealth through “forced savings.”

More Americans may indeed be saving for a down payment and dreaming of a new home, as Web traffic growth shows interest in real estate growing rapidly. According to January data from the comScore Media Metrix, unique visitors to real estate websites increased 12% over December and 24% over last January.

Perhaps we should add a variation on the third theory: U.S. consumers were spending less in January because they were too busy dreaming and looking at real estate online.

This post originally appeared [HERE]