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Last year 31 million people chose to move, and 9.5% of them moved across states. If you’re like one of these 3 million movers and plan to move across the state, then it’s not hard to imagine the stress that an interstate move would pose! From the search to packing to moving – many things can go wrong. Are you looking for ways to reduce your stress during your move? Here are a few tips!
Knowing What You Want
When you go into the process of buying a home, you will find that there are many variables and combination thereof that make a home more or less desirable to you. Many times buyers will begin their search before they’ve identified their criteria – and this can lead to too many options making you feel even less confident about your selection, and possibly leaving you with buyers remorse after the purchase.
One area you will want to consider whether you’re more suited for a condo, house or manufactured home, a new construction vs already built home. In addition differences in financing, and future property management, there are also differences in the inventory and time to close that will affect your timeline. You will also want to consider whether you are more suited for a city, suburban or rural lifestyle. This will help you to narrow areas, and will help you find a home that’s best fits you.
Additionally, before you start your search across state-lines, go through your criteria to properly weight the items that mean the most. If you are having trouble identifying, narrowing or weighting your criteria, consider the longer-term goal for the home. Is this a property that you anticipate on selling in the next 3-5 years? Do you anticipate household growth in the next 3-5 years? Do you anticipate a potential job change in the next 3-5 years? Additionally ask yourself what’s my timeline – do I need to move quickly or do I have time to search? Asking yourself these questions will help you to better frame your thinking when deciding on the most important factors for your family.
Planning & Research
Beyond knowing what you want – you got to have a plan! In the process of buying a home, timing can be very delicate and having a plan can help you get to the closing table sooner, and as painless as possible.
Your plan should include the who, what, where, and when. Starting with the Who, create a document of all your potential contacts during the process for your reference. Realtor, Movers, Lender, Preferred Contractors, HOA, Builder/Zoning (if applicable). Documenting your contacts will help to make going through this process easier.
In addition to having an idea of what you are searching for, you will want to have a basic understanding of what the steps are you will be taking throughout the process, and what type of funding and down payment you might need. Being knowledgable and anticipation, can help you to avoid surprises. Along with knowing the process, you will want to keep in mind important dates and document these together. If you need help in this area, discussing your goals with your realtor and in the case of lending, your lender, are certainly resources to help guide you in this process.
Understanding How Market Will Affect You
When you’re not involved in the industry of buying or selling a home, you may not be aware of just how much the market can affect your sale. Some of the factors the market can affect are the federal interest rates, length of time to buy or sell a home, buyer demand, demand for new construction, and building material costs.
Additionally, you may also not be aware of how anticipating the challenges and benefits of the current market condition can help you make a better financial decision. For instance, in a buyers market vs a sellers market, you might find that you may have the ability to ask for more favorable conditions in negotiations.
Taking time to know how the market is doing not only nationally but within the locality you are planning to relocate, will help you to best position yourself for a seamless transaction. Also, don’t forget that conditions are always subject to change, so just remember to do your research on the market within the 6 months you decide to make your move.
Working with a Helpful Realtor, that Specialized in Relocation
As mentioned throughout this article, your realtor should be a resource and an advisor. Particularly when you are in the process of relocating to another state, you will need a resource and have a trusted network of professional that can answer your questions.
Since a realtors services vary from agent to agent, if you’re not yet working with an agent, it’s important to interview your realtor before selection. One criteria you will want to consider is how knowledgable the agent is of the area. Knowledge of the area can help agents to better direct you to homes that will fit your criteria and budget. Also, an agent who is knowledgable of the area, will be more likely to have knowledge of the differences in zoning regulations, tax differences, and investment potential.
Additionally, your realtor ideally should ideally have experience buying or selling in your price range. Across different price ranges – buyer criteria, lending requirements and features that are marketable will vary. Last but not least, since you will be working with this person over the course of months, to possibly even years it’s also important that you choose an agent that fits your preferred search process & communication style.
While it’s important to have a good understanding of what you will be looking for, and have an idea of funding first – you will want to interview and get the process with your realtor started early. The earlier you begin this conversation, the earlier they can be a resource to you.
If you’re not working with a realtor, and in need of a knowledgable relocation professional, please reference our relocation page for more information on the services we provide and check out our agents working across the Dayton, OH and Richmond, IN areas.
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