If you are interested in purchasing a home generally you don't have much leeway on the timing, especially if you are moving to a new area. However, if you have some time to search for your house you will find the prices vary greatly depending on when you look. Let's start from general times to buy a house and move into more specific areas.
It's a pretty sweet gig, especially as when the family leaves town, I have the house to myself. I got particularly lucky this summer, if you can call it 'luck.' Let me explain.
If there is a poor economy specific to your region of interest you are also in for a deal. For example, there may have been a large number of layoffs or perhaps a company moved to another destination.
The first thing to do is to talk with people in whose opinions you can have confidence. Reliable friends and family members can tell you about their own experiences with contractors. These opinions should give you a good foundation from which to start. Those that do not pass muster in this phase should not continue on to the next.
Nice Weather If you imagine in your head going house shopping you most likely will imagine going to a viewing during a nice sunny day. You have this image in your head because that is exactly when most people look. Spring and summer are the home buying season. This means two different things. The first is that there will be a lot of sellers offering their homes.
Not an ideal situation to be sure, but I welcomed the solitude. My responsibilities included making sure the chickens got fed and the house didn't burn down. When the family finally arrived home a few days before school was scheduled to begin, all was well... until we went down to the basement. Water Damage
Freezing Those Costs The offseason is the opposite time during the year. Few buyers are interested in going out to look for houses in the cold and because of this there are much fewer houses to look at. However, the sellers of homes during the winter are much more likely to negotiate with you because of how few buyers there are and if the buyer is selling during the offseason there are good chances that they need to sell quickly. You won't have the variety that the summer offers but the winter season will be much kinder on your wallet.
Upon closer inspection we found significant water damage along a large portion of the wall in the basement and mold was present along the carpet edge and in the baseboard wood.
The real key to finding a great deal on the house of your dreams is to be flexible and patient. If you have months or even a year to look you can afford to wait for the right deal and if you have patience you won't grab the first one that comes your way.
Try to get in touch with these people and ask them whether the contractor did his job professionally. Also, talk with a client whose project was finished several years ago. Determine whether the work done by the contractor has held up well. Ask for quotes from each of the contractors to determine who will give you the best value.
Another interesting note is that there may actually be tax benefits to purchasing your home. If you are near the end of a year talk to a tax preparer or attorney to figure out if you should buy immediately or wait till the end of the year to make your purchase.
I'm glad we were able to catch this problem before it got worse and we may still run into other unforeseen problems but we'll get it figured out and fixed by ourselves or with the help of one of the general contractors in Salt Lake.
It's a pretty sweet gig, especially as when the family leaves town, I have the house to myself. I got particularly lucky this summer, if you can call it 'luck.' Let me explain.
If there is a poor economy specific to your region of interest you are also in for a deal. For example, there may have been a large number of layoffs or perhaps a company moved to another destination.
The first thing to do is to talk with people in whose opinions you can have confidence. Reliable friends and family members can tell you about their own experiences with contractors. These opinions should give you a good foundation from which to start. Those that do not pass muster in this phase should not continue on to the next.
Nice Weather If you imagine in your head going house shopping you most likely will imagine going to a viewing during a nice sunny day. You have this image in your head because that is exactly when most people look. Spring and summer are the home buying season. This means two different things. The first is that there will be a lot of sellers offering their homes.
Not an ideal situation to be sure, but I welcomed the solitude. My responsibilities included making sure the chickens got fed and the house didn't burn down. When the family finally arrived home a few days before school was scheduled to begin, all was well... until we went down to the basement. Water Damage
Freezing Those Costs The offseason is the opposite time during the year. Few buyers are interested in going out to look for houses in the cold and because of this there are much fewer houses to look at. However, the sellers of homes during the winter are much more likely to negotiate with you because of how few buyers there are and if the buyer is selling during the offseason there are good chances that they need to sell quickly. You won't have the variety that the summer offers but the winter season will be much kinder on your wallet.
Upon closer inspection we found significant water damage along a large portion of the wall in the basement and mold was present along the carpet edge and in the baseboard wood.
The real key to finding a great deal on the house of your dreams is to be flexible and patient. If you have months or even a year to look you can afford to wait for the right deal and if you have patience you won't grab the first one that comes your way.
Try to get in touch with these people and ask them whether the contractor did his job professionally. Also, talk with a client whose project was finished several years ago. Determine whether the work done by the contractor has held up well. Ask for quotes from each of the contractors to determine who will give you the best value.
Another interesting note is that there may actually be tax benefits to purchasing your home. If you are near the end of a year talk to a tax preparer or attorney to figure out if you should buy immediately or wait till the end of the year to make your purchase.
I'm glad we were able to catch this problem before it got worse and we may still run into other unforeseen problems but we'll get it figured out and fixed by ourselves or with the help of one of the general contractors in Salt Lake.
About the Author:
MBA Construction is a general contractor in Idaho. We focus in design-build, build-to-print and construction management in the energy, industrial & medical industries.
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