The Time is Now

I know I’ve said this before…but if you are looking to invest in the real estate market, whether as a first-time buyer or as a landlord, the time for hesitation has passed. It’s been a crazy couple of years as a pandemic real estate market has fueled unprecedented price increases across the country. And there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight as prices continue to rise.

The Spring market is typically one of the hottest for real estate and as we near this time of year, the market is only going to continue to get hotter. The time to buy was yesterday which means the time to buy is now. Inventories remain low as people are generally staying put, while some are still leaving the city, although much less than at the start of the pandemic.

Many of my buyers are looking for their “perfect place”. Perfection is hard to come by even in the best of markets. What I try to instill in my clients is to build a foundation first. The first (or even the second) home you buy does not have to be your last. The important thing is to buy something that can work for you now and that sets you up for where you want to be in the future.

I’ve heard too many stories of people buying, say, a $2 million dollar home only to find they can’t afford to fix it.

I encourage you to approach real estate with an investors mindset. This means focusing on the opportunity instead of a specific property. Start with the general area of where you would like to live and then look for an opportunity that will simply get you into the market. In all likelihood, this will involve a property that is going to require work.

In this case, you may approach the purchase with a view to fixing it up and then selling to get into something more ideal. That’s a perfectly solid strategy. And this is where I would say to look for something that has a good foundation or to concentrate your efforts on fixing and solidifying the home’s foundation, rather than doing more cosmetic fixes just to make it “look” better.

Why? Because a solid foundation can make a house more attractive to buyers as it means any other work that needs to be done will be easier and likely cheaper.

Prices are only going up so if you can find a property that you can live with for a while and afford to fix up, you are setting your foundation for your next move up. And with immigration set at a target of 411,000 for 2022 there will be buyers ready when you are ready to sell.

Use a trusted Realtor to help you find that foundational home, especially if you have a particular area of interest. They know the neighborhoods best and are the first to see them hit the market. And with competition the way it is, you need any advantage you can get. Let me help you get started and ​​love, live, life in the city!