There\u2019s not one answer that works for everyone, so here are some factors to weigh to determine if now is the right time for you to buy.<\/p>\n In some areas of the country, real estate is considered essential, meaning the work of buying and selling houses can continue in a modified way. In other areas of the country, real estate isn\u2019t considered essential, and home sales aren\u2019t moving forward.<\/p>\n If the latter is the case where you live, then no matter how badly you want to buy a house right now, you simply can\u2019t until prohibitions are lifted. Stay-at-home orders are changing by the day, as is the definition of services deemed essential, so keep track of the situation in your area. Your local Realtor association or your agent can advise you about restrictions locally.<\/p>\n The good news is that if real estate is an essential service where you live, the homebuying process is now more streamlined, says Shanan Steere<\/a>, a top real estate agent in Johnson County, Missouri. \u201cThe tire-kicking has stopped,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Before the pandemic, Steere says she would send her buyers listings, and they\u2019d select a number of houses to visit \u2014 a time-consuming and often ineffective process. Now, \u201cwe are getting online with buyers, making sure they watch the video and 3D tours of the homes they are interested in, and narrowing down the houses to visit to two instead of eight. We\u2019re more focused now.\u201d<\/p>\n That focus is making the homebuying process simpler for house hunters.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re getting very clear on what 80% of their desires are so we don\u2019t waste time looking at houses that only fit 50%.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It\u2019s no newsflash that we are in tough times economically. The mid-May 2020 unemployment rate is at 14.7%, the highest since the Great Depression, though economists warn that the real figure<\/a> is actually much higher. If your employment has been impacted by the virus, this probably isn\u2019t the right time for you to buy.<\/p>\n Even if you\u2019ve escaped the economic fallout thus far, it\u2019s important to take a hard, honest look at your financial situation before you buy a home.<\/p>\n Ask yourself these questions:<\/p>\n If you feel confident in your ability to buy a home after answering those questions, then it\u2019s a good sign that you\u2019re ready to buy, pandemic or no pandemic.<\/p>\n If your employment is stable but you\u2019re shopping for a home at the very top of your price range, you might want to consider scaling back. Lenders are imposing mortgage overlays<\/a> (additional qualification requirements), so if you\u2019re set at shopping at the very top of your approval range, this may not be a good time to buy because it\u2019s possible that overlays may reduce the size of your mortgage preapproval amount. On the other hand, if you can afford to spend more than you plan on spending, the overlays probably will not affect you.<\/p>\n One more thing: If your credit score was at the low end of the approval range<\/a> before the virus, now might not be the best time for you to buy. Because some lenders have raised their credit score requirements<\/a>, Steere says that she has had a few buyers who have had to pause their house hunt while they work to raise their credit score.<\/p>\n If that happens to you, Steere says not to worry; it should only take a few months to raise your score 20 or 30 points. \u201cWe put our buyers with a good lender that can counsel them on what to pay off or what to pay when to help them raise their score.\u201d<\/p>\n Every market is different, and some markets will be affected by the coronavirus more heavily than others. Some buyers may find great deals in their market right now, while other buyers may find the best deals a few months or a year down the road.<\/p>\n Ashley Lay<\/a>, a top agent in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with 15 years of experience, says that the market in her area is still hopping, though the percentage of homes that go under contract and close is lower than it was before the pandemic. That\u2019s because more buyers are losing their jobs before their contracts close. \u201cOn our team, about 93% to 94% of our contracts typically close, but since the pandemic, we have dropped to about 80% to 82% of contracts closing.\u201d<\/p>\n In Steere\u2019s market, she says she\u2019s seeing a lot of buyer competition on listings under $275,000, but in the higher price ranges, \u201cit is an amazing time to buy because you\u2019re able to negotiate.\u201d<\/p>\n In those higher ranges, says Steere, \u201cit\u2019s a balanced market,\u201d meaning that buyers have some room to negotiate on price. That means that if you\u2019re a move-up client looking to sell your less-expensive home and buy something in a higher price range \u201cyou could have multiple offers on your current home and room to negotiate on your new home, so you\u2019ll be sitting pretty,\u201d says Steere.<\/p>\n The novel coronavirus can be extremely dangerous<\/a> to those who contract it, so if you\u2019re immunocompromised or someone in your household is, this might not be a good time to buy. Though real estate agents are taking every precaution to protect their clients, you may find it best to stay in your safe and secure environment until progress has been made to treat or prevent the virus.<\/p>\n On the other hand, if you or someone in your household is immunocompromised and you\u2019re renting in an apartment building where you can see staff and residents ignoring social distancing standards \u2014 or the cleaning protocol in shared spaces isn\u2019t up to snuff \u2014 then you might want to move forward with your plans to buy so you can have more control over your environment.<\/p>\n There may be other reasons why you just can\u2019t wait for the virus to pass before buying. You may have to relocate for a new job, or find you\u2019ve outgrown your current home. \u201cJust because there is a virus, it doesn\u2019t negate the need to buy and sell,\u201d says Lay. \u201cDeaths and marriages and babies and divorces don\u2019t stop.\u201d<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t a normal time to buy a house, and delays are almost inevitable.<\/p>\n It\u2019s harder to shop for a house right now because some sellers, understandably, don\u2019t want to open their homes for private tours. To address those fears, Steere says that her local real estate board has adopted certain rules for operation during the pandemic.<\/p>\n \u201cOur board has mandated that only the people on the contract are allowed to go into houses right now, and children are not allowed inside of the homes because they touch everything,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Inspections and appraisals have also been impacted by the virus.<\/p>\n Inspections are still happening during the pandemic<\/a>, says Lay, but the way they are conducted has changed. \u201cInspectors aren\u2019t allowing anyone in the homes while they work. When the inspection is over, they\u2019ll do a video walk-through with the buyer.\u201d<\/p>\n Steere says that in her market, buyers are finding it harder to schedule an appraisal<\/a> because appraisers are busy due to so many homeowners refinancing (you can thank those low interest rates<\/a> for this one.) \u201cRight now, our closing period is 40 to 45 days instead of 30 days because the title companies and appraisers are so backlogged,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Lay also warns that she\u2019s finding it\u2019s a bit more difficult to get the appraised value of a home. The reason, she believes, is because appraisers are hedging their bets a little bit and being more conservative in their appraisals. \u201cThat\u2019s especially true of appraisers that lived through the Great Recession,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n At the end of the day, the virus may have changed the way that we buy homes, but buying during the coronavirus is still completely possible.<\/p>\n \u201cBuyers should feel confident in making the decision to move if that is something that needs to happen in their life during this time,\u201d says Lay. \u201cRealtors are doing everything possible to keep their clients safe. There\u2019s no reason they can\u2019t find the house they need during this time.\u201d<\/p>\n Steere\u2019s sentiment is the same. \u201cPeople are still buying,\u201d she says. \u201cThe market is still moving.\u201d<\/p>\n Header Image Source: (Daniel Frank \/ Pexels)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you were shopping for a home before the pandemic, you may be asking yourself, \u201cShould I buy a house during coronavirus?\u201d Here are some factors to weigh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":163,"featured_media":16786,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[192,620,697],"tags":[711],"class_list":["post-16778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-for-buyers","category-buy-house","category-market-news","tag-buyer-covid"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/should-i-buy-a-house-during-coronavirus-room-666x381.png\")
<\/a>1. Is real estate an essential service in your area?<\/b><\/h2>\n
2. How are your finances?<\/b><\/h2>\n
\n
![\"Houses](\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/sell-house-before-recession-house-1-666x381.png\")
<\/a>3. How is the local market?\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n
4. What\u2019s your lifestyle look like?<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/should-i-buy-a-house-during-coronavirus-calendar-666x381.png\")
<\/a>5. Can you accommodate delays and upheaval?<\/b><\/h2>\n