Thinking about buying a home in San Diego?
You can save a lot of time when shopping for buying a home in San Diego by taking a few minutes to define exactly what is most important. How big should it be, how many bedrooms do you need, which are do you want to live in and what price range can you afford?
If you are planning to live here for a while then think about your needs in the future too so that you aren’t forced into selling and moving at a bad time. You could end up having children or more of them or will your parents end up moving in so that you can take care of them? Perhaps you can offset the cost of a slightly larger home than you need now by renting out a room, if not on regular basis perhaps for higher rates to tourists or business travelers through Airbnb.
However, the first step in buying a home in San Diego unless you are determined to pay cash should be getting pre-qualified for a mortgage. Banks are lending but there are definitely more hoops to jump through today. Make sure you won’t have any issues and find out exactly how much you qualify for early.
You can also limit the number of homes you will have to go see by deciding upfront whether you are fine with buying a fixer upper home in San Diego and renovating it yourself or whether it is smarter to and safer to finance a home that has recently been remodeled and will require less cash out of pocket.
Take a look around and get a feel for home prices in the current market so you don’t get taken advantage of. However, good properties are moving quickly and you need to be ready to make a decision and move quickly when you find something you like.
Finally, make sure you are aware of what kind of timeline you should anticipate when buying a home in San Diego, CA. Know that short sales can still take months to close but waiting too long could see prices rising, especially with the peak summer season coming.
