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Move-Up Buyers

Move-Up Buyers: What To Consider Before Buying Your New Home

03-12-2022 | Buying | 6 Min Read

While the real estate industry is constantly evolving and adapting to keep up with the changing needs of our fast-paced society, some classic real estate tropes never seem to lose relevancy.

One perennial requirement almost every homeowner encounters is the need to upsize. Whether they’re singles moving in with partners, couples expecting a child, or families who are growing larger, the need for more room is one of the most common reasons people buy new homes.

Although couples and families certainly aren’t the only profile of clients we work with, they are among the most popular. That’s why we decided to put together this guide, which is tailored to help those on their search for homes with more space in order to accommodate their growing households.

Buy Or Sell: What Comes First?

Recently, we’ve been writing quite a bit about the log-jammed Utah real estate market in our Monthly Market Reports. With such a high demand for homes and a remarkably low inventory of them, today’s ultra-competitive real estate market has put a stranglehold on many families’ moving plans.

Get our Monthly Market Reports on Utah’s ever-evolving housing market sent directly to your inbox. Simply click here to sign up!

For those without the luxury of having serious cash-in-hand, the idea of buying a new home before selling your current property can be prohibitive. Without the added funds generated from a home sale, buyers are finding that smaller down payments just aren’t doing the trick anymore.

Today, sellers have the luxury of leveraging multiple offer situations to entice motivated buyers to offer larger down payments. This means many sellers today are far less likely to accept conditional offers that depend on a buyer selling their current home to generate adequate funds.

While this is a tricky situation, it’s one that can be navigated. With the help of an experienced and knowledgeable real estate representative, deals can be negotiated and structured in many non-traditional, alternative ways (without having to pay for two mortgages at once).

Whether it’s better to sell your current home or buy your move-up home first, knowing that your family won’t be without a home for any period of time is the most important. That’s why it’s always our recommendation that you seek out the help of a qualified, local Realtor®.

If you’re in the Utah area, there are no better qualified local Realtors® to get in touch with about moving up in the current than us. Simply contact us here to tell us about what you’re looking for.


Moving you and your family into a new home can be stressful. While today’s highly competitive seller’s market can compound that anxiety, knowing how to go about it safely is the best move you can make. Refer to these guides to ensure your family’s future is kept safe ahead of your next move:


What Does Your Future Hold?

While we’d never ask you to present a slideshow of your five and ten-year career trajectory or book a session with your local clairvoyant, we’ll always encourage you to spend some serious time considering your realistic plans for the future.

Yes, buying a bigger home to accommodate your family’s future needs does count, but it’s always worthwhile to put a little extra thought into where you see yourself a few years down the line.

Consider questions like: will I eventually transition into Working From Home full-time? Will my family require additional cars or vehicles soon? Will I have enough space to practice my favorite hobbies? Do you eventually plan on purchasing a second or vacation home? When do you hope to retire?

Has Working From Home felt a lot more like work than home? Consider transitioning underused or underutilized rooms in your home into a designated home office! Here’s how.

Whenever we help our clients buy a move-up home — or any home, for that matter — we always encourage them to consider their purchase like making a long-term investment. When you think about your home as an asset that will appreciate tax-free while you live in it, your next real estate purchase becomes more about how that home can get you to where you want to be later on in life.

Spend some time deliberating on the current and future needs of you and your family while also considering how buying a home now will affect your personal life goals in the long term.


Has new home fever got you all wrapped up in trying to find the perfect place? Have some fun looking through our latest featured listings here, then see how our approach to buying a new home can benefit you and your family.


What Do You Love About Your Current Home?

Even though you may have made up your mind about moving on from your current home, it’s really important you take the time to remember what made you fall in love with it in the first place.

Whether it was the interior design, or its proximity to local amenities, there are probably lots of positives about your current home that you’ll want to keep around when living in your next house.

Sure, the jump up in square footage your expanding family now requires might mean you won’t be able to find a suitable place within your budget that’s as close to your favorite restaurants and shopping destinations as your current home might be. However, there’s always a happy medium to be found when on the search for your perfect family home.

Try to make a list of all the perks that come with living in your current home and really nail down which ones you’d least like to give up. Even if it’s something as simple as having double vanity bathroom sinks, it’s important to take stock of the little things that make you happy about living where you do.


Contemplating a move to Salt Lake City? As local real estate experts, we can help you determine whether or not SLC would be a good fit for you and your family. Start off by reading these related posts:


What Do You Hate About Your Current Home?

Now onto the easy part — what’s driven you so nuts about living in your current home that you can’t wait to move out?

The easy answer is square footage; clearly, if you’re searching for a larger home for your family to mature into, space is already (or soon will be) an issue for you and your growing family. But there are bound to be a few other things that are getting on your nerves about your current home, and those are some of the most important details for a Realtor® to know about before setting out on their search for your new family home.

Has street parking been an issue for your multi-car family? Are you inconveniently far from your children’s schools? Does your weekly grocery run feel more like a grocery marathon? Are you next-door neighbors with raucous night owls?

There are so many aspects of a home search that extend far beyond just determining the square footage and number of bedrooms and bathrooms you want in a new home. Sometimes it’s easiest for Realtors® to start their search by figuring out what you don’t want to deal with in your next home than what you do want.


Deadset on selling your current home before buying a new place? We can help with that. Every successful home sale starts by knowing what your home is worth and how you can sell it for even more. The links below will provide you with answers to both.


 

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