Buying a home during the holidays is easier and more stress-free than most people realize

The Timeline

Anyone buying a home during the holidays should factor those holidays into their timeline, especially once they find a home and it’s time to structure a contract.  Holidays mean banks (and lenders) are generally closed, staffs run a bit thinner as people take vacation and travel to be with family), and many one day holidays lead to more than single-day delays.  For example, with Veteran’s Day on a Monday, many banks and lending operations will close early on the preceding Friday.  With Thanksgiving being on a Thursday, many businesses will be closed or will be working with short staffs Friday.  This doesn’t mean a long process, but it does mean a few extra days should be anticipated.

The Deals

When buying a home during the holidays, many people think they’ll get a steal on their new home, or a Black Friday-esque price tag on their new home.  While there is less competition and prices often see a small lag during the winter months, the market is still the market.  In a hot area with limited inventory, buyers shouldn’t expect firesale prices on their new home.  With less competition out, though, they may have less stress from competing offers.  It’s important to make a strong offer to ensure if you love a house, you’ll be able to get your offer accepted and turn it into your home.

Your Schedule

While the mortgage process is easy for most buyers (we’d argue, easiest when you work with MasonMac), it’s important to take into consideration that you will have to do some legwork – providing documents, returning disclosures, and actually going out to see homes during the holiday season will need to fit into your schedule.  If you’ll be traveling or MIA for any period of time, it’s important to communicate that to your real estate agent and lender in advance so that your time away won’t shake up the process.

Know your Deadlines

If you want to be in your new home before Christmas, you should have found your new home by Thanksgiving.  The purchase process generally takes anywhere from 3-4 weeks, so it’s important to keep that timeline in mind when planning to make a move.  Everyone involved in the process will likely have some type of travel or time away from the office planned – that includes appraisers, title/escrow companies, and yes, even sellers – so keep this in mind as scheduling showings may even take a bit longer if you need a seller or seller’s agent to let you access a home.

The Big Picture

Overall, winter is a great time to buy or sell real estate, and buying a home during the holidays typically means less competition, more motivated buyers and sellers, and a process that doesn’t vary much from buying a home at any other time of year.  Timing, expectations on people, and communication about time in or away from the office (or for buyers, time that will be spent out of time or unavailable) is important to maintaining timelines and ensuring all contractual dates are met. With this post coming at the end of October, there’s still plenty of time to find and settle on a new home in time for the holidays, and certainly time to find a new home before the new year.

The post 5 Things To Keep In Mind When Buying A Home During the Holidays appeared first on Mason-McDuffie Mortgage Corporation.

While there are a ton of mortgages for millennials, the programs available to this demographic are the same programs available to Gen Xers, Baby Boomers, and any other generation buying or refinancing real estate.  Millennials, broadly defined as those born in the early 80s to the late 90s, are of the age where many take advantage of certain products more often than others.  For example, just based on age alone and being at the age of the typical first time home buyer, down payment assistance (DPA) programs, FHA financing, and certain other products are more prevalent for this generation.  But others are not excluded from obtaining the same type of financing.

Headlines focusing on millennials are often just working to capture web traffic by using the “M” word.  Take, for example, a recent headline that reads “refi rise sparked closing delay for millennials”, when in reality, the article references an increase in turn times across all products, with the result of delays for all products across all demographics.  In fact, the only reason the “M” word made the headline was to grab eyes.

“Millennials” is a term the real estate and mortgage industry uses to catch eyes and clicks, but what affects millennials is the same for all mortgage borrowers

If there aren’t specific mortgages for millennials, what should younger buyers look for when getting a mortgage loan?  Well, technology is dictating the speed at which things move, and the mortgage process is no different.  Younger borrowers tend to want a digital experience, and one that can work within a mobile environment – but this isn’t only a millennial desire.  People in general want things quickly, and operate primarily from their cell phones – across all ages.  Millennials in high priced markets often need some help with down payment assistance because home prices are high and down payment requirements can be restrictive – but again, first time buyer programs are available to all ages, not only millennials.

At MasonMac, we don’t have “mortgages for millennials” (neither does any other lender), but what we do have is a streamlined mortgage process, a digital experience, technology based systems that make things easy for borrowers to get a loan, and loan program options that meet the needs of all borrowers – down payment assistance programs, first time home buyer programs, Jumbo loans, reverse mortgages.  MasonMac is your home for all things mortgage.  If you’re looking for mortgages for millennials, ask one of our experts for help today, we’re here to answer your questions and help you feel comfortable throughout the process.

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