Number One Thing To Know When Buying

It’s the one question that everyone asks and no one can truly answer: How’s the market?

The market in your neighborhood may be different than the one down the road. Townhomes may be flying off the shelves but single family homes might have high days on market. Changes in interest rate may impact one group of buyers, but not another. What a first time buyer sees as a terrible market might be perfect timing for an investor.

There are just too many variables for a good/bad, black/white answer. With that said, there are still some universal truths.

Purchasing real estate, for most people, is a long term investment. Just like with the stock market, prices and values will go up and down, with a general upward trend. If you are going to live in one place for only a few years, you could still purchase a property, just know that it may cost money to sell, instead of making money for you.

The Knoxville area survived the most recent market correction better than just about everywhere else in the country. K-Town was featured by Forbes magazine as a “recession-resistant” city, which, while not a guarantee, may bring some measure of comfort to those looking to purchase a home and settle in. https://www.forbes.com/sites/morganbrennan/2011/08/16/americas-recession-resistant-cities-for -real-estate/#29fbc33276e1

The old addage about the number one rule in real estate being “location, location, location,” is still true. Whether is is proximity to travel options and commuter routes or being smack in the center of a school district that has -what is currently considered to be- “The School,” location matters. It matters to different people for different reasons, though, so do not immediately discount the lower priced of two similar properties without digging a little deeper into the Why. For more on this, check out this post on the topic: https://www.quora.com/If-you-have-2-identical-homes-with-identical-lots-and-one-was-built-2-ye ars-ago-and-one-was-built-3-years-ago-should-one-sell-for-more-than-the-other/answer/Laura-F angman

In the end, be sure that your reasons for your purchase are clear to you and that you have worked with professionals who can answer your questions and educate you on your options. If you are able to find or create an ideal situation for you and your needs, the old “how’s the market?” question becomes less relevant.