home buying advice in Knoxville Archives

How To Get The Best Deal When Buying A Home In Knoxville

October 10, 2014 By Troy Stavros

A recent article on the Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch website discussed housing affordability and how home buyers can get the best deal when buying a new home. The article’s summary of the national market conditions showed that home prices will continue trending higher this year, but not as fast as 2013. Mortgage rates are also expected to rise, but estimates say they will do so gradually. Because of these two factors, home’s will be somewhat less affordable.

It is with these facts in mind that I echo these 6 pieces of advice for getting a better deal when buying a home in Knoxville.

The sooner you buy the better. Simple logic tells us that if both Knoxville home prices and mortgage interest rates are rising, then it’s better to buy sooner rather than later to take advantage of lower prices and lower interest rates.
Find yourself an expert and work with them. The last thing I want to do is bash other real estate agents, but just like in all professions, not everyone is created equal. Find an agent who is intimately familiar with the area where you want to buy your next home, who is on top of market trends, and who has proven themselves as a good negotiator.
Know the local home market. Continuing off the advice in #2, a good agent will be able to look at a home’s price and tell you if it’s priced above, below, or at market value. This is key in knowing not only what to offer, but how fast you need to offer. Homes in the current Knoxville home market that are priced below market value are selling very fast, so if you delay in making an offer, chances are pretty good you will lose out to another interested party. If your agent isn’t armed with the information to educate you, then you may lose out on a home you love.
Get your financing in order. As a Knoxville home buyer or a buyer anywhere for that matter, it is super important to understand how much house you can afford. This dollar amount may or may not be what the mortgage broker says you can qualify for. Think seriously about how much you are comfortable paying a month (they key term there is comfortable, don’t stretch yourself too thin). Having a ceiling price can really help when you start getting emotional during negotiations and are tempted to offer more than you should.
Make yourself attractive to sellers. First and foremost a seller wants to know that you can afford to buy their home, so getting pre-approved by a lender and including a pre-approval letter with your offer is key. Also keeping the number of contingencies in your offer to a minimum is important. Oftentimes the highest price isn’t the most important thing to a seller. When wearing my listing agent hat, I tell me sellers to take into account which offer has the highest probability of closing, as well as which has an attractive offer price. If an offer can’t close, it doesn’t matter how good the offer price is.
Expand your geographic search area. Depending on where you are looking for your home, sometimes you can get more for your money if you expand your search area a bit. I’m not talking about moving to a different county (although that is an option), but a subtle zipcode change can make a big difference in pricing. If you are trying to stay within a certain school district, there may be different pockets within that search area which may offer more house for the money. Being flexible on location can not only save you money, but can open up additional options and perhaps get you a better overall home.

I’d love to sit down and talk to you about the Knoxville home market. Contact me, Troy Stavros to discuss your goals in buying a home in Knoxville.

CLICK HERE to read the complete source article at MarketWatch.com.

The Hot Season To Buy Or Sell A Home In Knoxville Is Upon Us!

March 19, 2014 By Troy Stavros

Whether you are in a warm weather market, cold weather market, or a high tourist seasonal market, you will see the hot time of the year to buy and sell a home ebb and flow throughout the year. There will be times of the year that will slow down and others will take off. Locally, we are about to step into the busiest time of year to buy and sell a home in Knoxville. As evidenced by the graphics below, we typically see a drop in sales volume, sales price, and inventory throughout the winter months. Then once we hit February or March, the trend does an about face and the number of homes sold increases, along with the prices of those homes and the number of homes available.

What does this mean for you?

If you are looking to sell a home in Knoxville, there is good news and not so good news. The good news is, the odds of selling your home will increase along with the odds of selling it for a higher price. The not so good news is you will have more competition.
Seller’s takeaway: Get your home on the market as soon as possible, before more competition hits the market alongside of you.
If you are looking to buy a home in Knoxville, the good news is you should be seeing more options hit the market as inventory increases. The bad news is that you will most likely be looking at higher prices and more competition for homes as well.
Buyer’s takeaway: Start looking today and when you find the right home don’t mess around. Waiting too long or submitting low offers will invite additional offers in to compete against you.

If you are even considering buying or selling a home in Knoxville in the near future, contact me, Troy Stavros with Gables & Gates, REALTORS, to sit down and plan out your strategy for achieving your Knoxville real estate goals. I look forward to talking with you!

What Will A 1% Difference In Your Mortgage Rate Save You?

March 11, 2014 By Troy Stavros

If you are in the process of buying a home in Knoxville or at least thinking about it, financing is also on your mind. Unless you are planning to pay cash, you’re going to want to find the best deal and the lowest mortgage rate. Knoxville mortgage rates can vary from lender to lender and also vary widely according to the type of mortgage and the length of the term.

“Although the difference in monthly payment between a 4.5 percent interest rate and a 5.5 percent interest is not as dramatic, your savings in interest paid over the life of the loan is significant,” said Erin Lantz, director of Zillow Mortgage Marketplace. “Mortgage rates will likely rise to 5 percent by the end of 2014 due to an improving economy and policy changes by the Federal Reserve. By buying a house while interest rates are still incredibly low, you could end up saving more than $52,000 over the course of 30 years.”

Image by Zillow Mortgage Marketplace

Getting pre-approved in Knoxville doesn’t mean the bank won’t deny your loan!

March 20, 2012 By Troy Stavros

If you have listened to the national news at all, you know that banks have tightened their underwriting standards making it more difficult for some Knoxville home buyers to get approved for financing. The very first step you should take in buying a Knoxville home is getting pre-approved for a loan to know where you stand and what price range/payment will be comfortable for both you and the bank.

While some may think getting pre-approved in Knoxville makes your loan ready to close, think again. There are things you can do between the time you are pre-approved and the time you are ready to close that can kill your loan approval. Buyers must be very careful not to do anything that could potentially harm your credit before closing. Examples of things that have made banks deny final loan approval and ultimately kill a transaction are running up existing credit cards, applying and opening new credit cards, making large purchases with credit (such as new furniture or appliances for your upcoming closing), buying a car, etc.

You are getting ready to make probably the largest purchase of your life. Now is the time to be frugal. If you can’t hold off on the new furniture or appliances, at least wait until after you leave the closing table.

Source: “When Good Deals go Bad,” Chicago Tribune (March 16, 2012)

Why waiting and getting a lower price on a Knoxville home may end up costing you more!

January 5, 2012 By Troy Stavros

Couple today’s ultra-low interest rates and the low home prices being offered by the Knoxville housing market and you get “perhaps the best deals of a generation,” notes a recent article by Bloomberg Businessweek.

With mortgage rates that have been hovering at record lows for the past few weeks (4 percent range or even lower on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, according to Freddie Mac’s mortgage market survey) and Knoxville home prices that are down double digit percentages since the boom in the market. “It’s hard to see the possibility of losing on a home purchase right now, with these mortgage rates,” says economist Dean Baker. “Prices may go lower, but not by much.”

The article notes the following scenario: Buying a $300,000 Knoxville home with a 4 percent mortgage rate and a 20 percent down payment would mean a $1,145 monthly payment. The Mortgage Bankers Association recently predicted that home prices may fall another 3.5 percent by mid-2012 but mortgage rates will INCREASE by a half-point. So for that same loan under that scenario, a Knoxville home would sell for $289,000 while the monthly mortgage bill would be $1,171–only a $26 difference.. HIGHER.

Actually waiting for the lower sales price would cost you $18,037.50 more in interest payments and $9,237.50 more in total payments over the life of the loan. Couple these numbers with the price of lost time in enjoying a Knoxville home that may offer you and your family a better standard of living or a better school district and the cost increases exponentially.

Run the numbers yourself and you will see that now is the time to buy. BEST TIME EVEEEEERRRR! 🙂