The new home community you love may be almost sold out, so consider your options carefully
Not quite ready to make your move but see that your dream community is nearly sold out? Here are some things you should consider when it comes to a new home purchase that may happen earlier than you planned.
Help, the community I want to live in is almost sold out. What should I do?
Hi, this is Kathy Sperl-Bell at Active Adults Realty in Delaware. Has this happened to someone you know or perhaps it’s happened to you? You’re just beginning the process, you’re doing your research, you’re looking around and all of a sudden you find the perfect community. But it’s almost sold out and you’re not really ready to buy. During that awful recession we had, nothing much was moving, nothing much was happening. But then as we started to come out of the recession, here’s an example.
The first new home community in a great location that started selling right as we were kind of working our way of that recession. They sold out the whole first two phases from a trailer without ever moving any dirt. There were some folks we were working with at the time that were possibly interested and said, “Well why don’t we come back in six months and see how that community is shaping up. See if it’s something that we really will like,” and so they did. They came back in six months and oh my gosh, they were astonished at just how many lots had already sold and how many homes were already under construction. They got a little anxious and shortly thereafter they did make the decision to purchase a home in that community and they’re very happy. But it was a little bit earlier than they had planned. So what should you do?
Well if that happens to you, you need to consider carefully your options. Is this really the only community for you? Or have you really looked at other opportunities? Are you working with a local expert, somebody that really has their finger on the pulse, knows what other neighborhoods and other communities might be equivalent? Or what might be in process that would be available at a time frame that’s better for you? Are you really comfortable making a purchase decision two, three, maybe four years earlier than you had planned? Next one, a financial decision. Can you proceed to purchase without selling your current home? Do you own the home outright or do you have a mortgage? Could you carry two mortgages for several years? Or are you better off waiting until you’re closer to the planned retirement and selling of your existing home?
There are some facts you should know. Number one, mortgages are based on income and expenses. Not assets and liabilities. And number two, no builder is going to proceed to build your new home until they have been assured that you can proceed to settlement with no contingencies. That means no home to sell, you’ve been pre-approved for a mortgage if that’s the way you’re going to purchase. Or you have the cash on hand. So no uncertainty, they will build a home when they know that you’re ready to proceed through the process and take delivery when the home is ready. So back to our question. What should you do?
Well ask yourself is there really only one option? Or do you feel that when you’re more ready, there may be other choices just as good, perhaps a couple that are even going to be better. I had clients back in 2013, that faced this situation but the market was very different then. We were really just still in recovery mode from that great recession. But they were here. They were looking not to buy immediately, but they were looking at communities in the Lewes area. And we went to a community that was just perfect for them. But here was the problem, there was only one home left. And that home was actually already built. It had been under contract to somebody else but then the deal feel through. So here they were, their first real day spent looking at where they might want to live in their retirement. We had just spent the day together and they had to make a decision.
So we got all the information we could, we made sure they could do it if they wanted to. And then they had to go off and have lunch, talk to each other and see if they could do it. Today, they are so happy that they were in the right place, at the right time because they got a really, really good deal. But today as I said, the market is quite different. There are more options but there are also not as many steals. There are always good opportunities and there are always locations which have more demand than supply, like east of Route 1, close to the beach, walking distance to town. So there is a lot to think about and I hope this video was helpful. As always, any specific questions, please email me, broker@activeadultsrealty.com.
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The post What Should I Do If The Community I Want To Live In Is Almost Sold Out? appeared first on Active Adults Delaware Blog.