The Top Five Real Reasons Americans Buy a Home

According to a survey performed by The Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, there are five real reasons Americans purchase a home.

Keeping Current Matters' sums up those reasons in its Winter 2015 edition of "Things To Consider When Buying A Home."

1.  Having a good place to raise children and provide them with a good education.

All manner of people purchase homes, from single individuals to traditional and nontraditional family units.

For many families with children, and even for those without, living in a quality school district is very important.

People already living locally typically know which public school district(s) they want to live in, but many relocating families do not.

I always direct my clients who are concerned about schools to visit www.greatschools.org for an unbiased take on school ratings to select which educational environment is best for their children.

2.  Having a physical structure, a place, where you and your family feel safe.

Following physiological needs such as eating, breathing, and sleeping, safety and security are second on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

So, it's no surprise that having a safe place to call home is the No. 2 motivator for home ownership.

Safety can mean being secure from the elements, i.e., weather, or living in a community with infrequent criminal activity.

You can learn more about how safe your community is by visiting www.weather.com to find out how frequently tornadoes frequent your neighborhood, or go to  www.crimereports.com for recent crime statistics.

3.  Having more space for your family.

Someone's always talking about Real Estate

We've already alluded to growing families because of children, but many households are growing due to aging parents moving in with their children, and even adult children moving home after college.

Whether your need more bedrooms, more dens, or maybe a bigger yard and recreational space, most homeowners "move up" several times in their lives prior to downsizing later in life.

4.  Having control over what you do with your living space, i.e., doing updates and renovations.

It's your place, so you can do whatever you want with it!  To a certain extent, that is, as long as you don't violate your HOA's regulations or your neighborhood's CC&R (covenants, creeds, & restrictions).

Unless you live on a couple of acres on a quiet country road with no neighbors nearby, you likely won't get away with keeping a car on cinder blocks in your front yard.

5.  Having a vehicle for building wealth which can be passed on to future generations.

Whether you rent or you own your home, you're paying somebody's mortgage.

Either you're paying your landlord's mortgage, plus his property management fee, plus your landlord's maintenance costs, plus some profit on top.

Or you can pay your own mortgage, increasing your equity in your home and building your own personal wealth.

Doesn't it sound great to pay your own mortgage instead of someone else's?

Doesn't it sound even better to be a landlord?

So, which one of these reasons applied to you when you purchased your first home or your last?

And if you've never purchased a home, what are some of the reasons you haven't done so?  Which of these reasons will be your driving factor when you one day decide to purchase your first home?

If you or someone you know is thinking about buying a home now or sometime in the future, email me at jimmy.grappone@allentate.com and I'll gladly provide a free downloadable copy of KCM's 21-page home buyer's guide.

About the Author:



Jimmy Grappone is a Realtor® living in the Charlotte area for nearly a decade. 

His hobbies include fishing, playing golf, watching football, and helping his clients find their way home. 

Jimmy is a licensed Realtor® with Allen Tate Company in North Carolina and South Carolina. 

He is passionate about helping his clients find shelter and having a good time along the way!

Contact the Author:

Facebook.com/JimmyGrapponeRealtor

Twitter & IG: @jimmygrapponeOnline: www.jimmygrappone.com & www.itsjimmyon.com
Email:  Jimmy.Grappone@AllenTate.com
Phone:  980-298-9385

Why You Will Need To Sell Your Home Twice

Photo courtesy of [the nest]

Keeping Current Matters published an article recently in which they state that in order to sell a house, home owners don't sell it once.  You actually sell it twice!

In order for a house to sell, all parties in the transaction must agree on at least one thing...THE PRICE!

First, there's the sales price.  Hopefully your Realtor helped you determine an appropriate price range to attract buyers and sell your home quickly at a price that's fair to you.

If you are working with a cash buyer, the only other hurdle you must negotiate may be repairs or price adjustments for repairs.

But, if your buyers are like the majority of buyers and require a loan, then the home has to be "sold" one more time.  This time to the lender.

The lender will hire an appraiser to perform a reasonable home valuation called an appraisal.  The appraisal's purpose is to ensure the lender they are lending money to purchase a home which could be reasonably resold for the same price if the borrowers.  Unfortunately, people don't always pay off their loans. (see: Foreclosure)

Hopefully you and your Realtor took the recent sales of other similar, or comparable, properties into consideration when arriving at your list price and accepted sales price, because this is exactly what the appraiser does.

If the appraised value of the home is determined to be in line with or higher than the agreed to sales price, all parties may proceed with the transaction.

However, if the appraised value of the home is determined to be less than the agreed to sales price, there are three options.

First, the lender may refuse to loan the money required to purchase the home.

Next, the lender may require the borrower to come up with additional funds to bridge the gap between the sales price and the appraised price.

Finally, the seller may reduce the sales price of the home to fall in line with the home's appraised value.

This is just one more reason why it is so important to price your home correctly at the beginning of your listing.

Check out Fannie Mae's post on "Sales Price vs. Appraised (Market) Price" on their website, The Home Story, for a more detailed explanation.

About the Author:
Jimmy Grappone is a Realtor® living in the Charlotte area for nearly a decade. His hobbies include fishing, playing golf, watching football, and helping his clients find their way home. Jimmy is a licensed Realtor® with Allen Tate Company in North Carolina and South Carolina. He is passionate about helping his clients find shelter and having a good time along the way!

Contact the Author:

Facebook.com/JimmyGrapponeRealtor

Twitter & IG: @jimmygrapponeOnline: www.jimmygrappone.com & www.itsjimmyon.com
Email:  Jimmy.Grappone@AllenTate.com
Phone:  980-298-9385