First Time Home Buyers – The Cure for the Common Real Estate Crisis!

There is much going on in the world of real estate!  Gone are the days of everyone loving real estate as an investment, gone are ridiculously easy loans on some properties, and gone are is the entire market of buyers that were considered sub-prime!  The real estate market is in the dumps if you listen to the national media, and people are just afraid to make a move! So who can save the real estate market, and possible buy your home that has been on the market for longer than you care to think about?  FIRST-TIME HOME BUYERS!! 

First-time home buyers typically buy for the right reasons – that is any reason that makes sense! What I mean is that first-time home buyers buy homes because they no longer want to throw money away renting.  First-time home buyers buy homes because they can no longer fit in the apartment they got when they first got married.  First-time home buyers have gotten raises and advancements in the jobs that mean they now have the money to buy.  And guess what – THEY DO NOT HAVE TO SELL A HOME TO MAKE IT HAPPEN!  Almost every other type of home buyer does, or would really like to!

So how do you take advantage of first-timers?  Well, consider how you market your house to sell.  Many times these newbies knows that they will need a down payment, but underestimate the amount needed to cover closing costs and pre-paids.  So if you offer some type of closing cost assistance when you are selling that may make it easier for them to buy your house over the guy down the street.  We want to make buying your house as easy as possible!

Another thing you could do to entice first-time home buyers is to make sure your listing agent is up on any loan programs or grants that are out there for first time buyers.  Some banks have programs that are designed to make it easier for a first-timer to buy because they are in hopes that that buyer will transfer all their accounts over to the bank at a young age, and keep them there as they get older and wealthier.  Bank of America has had GREAT programs for doctors to encourage the doctors to try to start banking with them.  Keep in mind how hard it is to move from a bank once you are there if all your pay checks go there automatically, and all your bills come out automatically.

And if you are a first-time home buyer how do you make sure you are getting all the advantages that are due to you as you are saving our real estate market?  WORK WITH AN AGENT WHO UNDERSTANDS YOU!  You are going to need a Realtor who is patient and has “the heart of a teacher” to quote Dave Ramsey!  You really need someone who will sit down with you and help you evaluate where you are, where you realistically will be in a couple years, give you both the up and downsides of home-ownership, and make sure you are working with people who will take care of you.  That sounds like what every Realtor should do, but unfortunately is not always the case. 

When you work with me you gain access to the Rolodex in my head.  If you need me to I’ll get you in touch with a loan officer who I know will tell you, “Hey folks, we need to hold off on this for about 6 month to a year,” if that is what you need to be told.  You get access to an insurance agent that will sell you what you need, but not what you don’t.  You will get access to handymen who will fix your problem without robbing you blind!  That is the kind of stuff you need when you are new to buying a home.  And especially what you need when you are both new to buying a home and new to an area.  San Antonio has 8,000 Realtors, do you really think every one of them is the same as the other?  They are not!  Make sure you get a good feeling about the agent you choose to work with.  If anything makes you feel uncomfortable, get a new one!  With 8,000 of us that shouldn’t be too hard!

So how exactly will first-time home buyers save the real estate market?  Here’s how:  They come into the market and buy the house of someone wanting to move up to some else’s house who wants to move up to someone else’s house that is downsizing.  That may not be exactly how it goes, and of course the first-timer will buy from someone moving out of Texas or buy a new home, but the point is FIRST-TIME HOME BUYERS MAKE THE MARKET MOVE!  I’ve heard for as long as I have been in real estate:  There are two buyers that the economy affects the least, first-time home buyers and the ultra wealthy.  First-timers need to buy and the wealthy don’t really care what is going on because financially they are above it.  What are there more of; potential first-time buyers or ultra wealthy people?  EXACTLY!

I love working with first-time home buyers, and if you want to buy your first home in San Antonio, TX I truly hope you will contact me so I can help make your dream of home ownership a reality!  Give me a call or contact me through my website:

CHRIS COWLEY

www.ChrisCowley.com

210-389-6006