Setting Your Home Buying Goals for the End of the Year

Setting Your Home Buying Goals for the End of the Year

There are just over six weeks left in 2019. What goals did you have for the year? How do you feel about heading into 2020? If you had a goal of buying or selling your home, where are you with that now? Did you know that the science of psychology tells us that simply writing down our goals can help us achieve them? If you want to end the year on a high note with your home buying goals in place before 2020, here are some things to consider.

Reaching Financial Goals

The year is winding down, but that doesn’t mean you have to put a stop to your financial plan. With the possibility of holiday spending, it can be easy to get derailed, but you don’t have to be. The most important thing is to have a plan and to stick with it. Even if you haven’t made a plan yet, it’s not too late. 

There are a few steps that you should follow to get started or review to ensure that you’re on the right track with your home buying goals.

1. Determine where your money goes: Take a look at your current bills, rent or house payment, consumer debt, entertainment, food, and any other expenses you typically have. Repeat this monthly for at least several months.
2. Set your goals: What do you want to accomplish with your financial goals? Do you want to buy a home? If so, are you planning to save for a down payment? Or keep an account for potential home maintenance costs.
3. Prepare for the unexpected: Part of the reason many people don’t reach their financial goals is they haven’t made plans for the unexpected. This could be a savings fund with 3-months salary or it could be life or disability insurance. You can talk to a professional about your financial needs.
4. Review your credit: Regardless of how unfair it sounds; your credit score will follow you around your entire life. Review your report regularly and cross check to make sure there aren’t any discrepancies that will negatively affect your ability to do things like buy a home.
5. Save: Once you know where your money is going, it’ll be easier to establish a way to save. The most basic advice is to not spend more than you make, but sometimes things spin out of control quickly. With a plan, you’re better able to stick to it.
6. Keep track of your plan: Along the way, keep looking back at your plan. Plans change, and that’s okay. You can reevaluate your goals frequently and adjust your financials to better reflect where you are now.

If your goal is to buy a home, you can plan accordingly to make that your financial priority. Getting preapproved will also help you determine if you’re ready now or if you need to make any adjustments.

Don’t get Discouraged

Here’s the thing about failure. We often approach goals as all or nothing. If you don’t reach your intended target, you’re done. That’s self-defeating behavior and any advancement is worthy of the process, even if it doesn’t happen as fast as you’d like.

Instead, shed your all-or-nothing thinking. Your home buying goals may take longer than you initially planned, and that’s okay. That just gives you more time to prepare and adjust over time. If you’re feeling discouraged by your financial plan, go back to the beginning and start again to see what you might have missed or what would be helpful to look at under a new light.

How to Accomplish Goals

Did you know that goal accomplishment is really all about science and psychology? If you can change your mode of thinking, you can recognize new patterns of behavior that will help you achieve your goals.

Take weight loss for instance. Many people focus on dieting. They deprive themselves of the foods they want and quickly abandon the process and return to their old familiar habits when the pounds don’t come off. But what if that’s not the way to achieve long term success? Instead, healthy goals should be tied into long term behavioral changes. Learning to enjoy the foods you love in a new and more responsible way. Weight loss may happen slower, but it’s also more sustainable.

The same goes for your financial goals. Don’t worry if you can’t achieve your home buying goals in exactly the time frame you initially set for yourself. And, if you have setbacks along the way, don’t just abandon the whole process as useless. Instead, focus on the small changes and keep going.

The 2020 Projected Real Estate Market

So what does all of this mean for the goal of buying a new home in Asheville? Well, a quick look at the forecast for the next couple of years lets us know that the median price in the area is around $300,000. Oakley and Kennilworth are among the most desirable areas to buy with Oteen being the most affordable in the city.

Of course, the demand for more affordable housing is being discussed regularly by our city council, with a few ideas in the works.

If buying a home is in your goals for 2020, we encourage you to call GoPrime Mortgage in West Asheville today to get preapproved so you can understand your current financial picture and know how to approach your search for the perfect WNC home.

Do you want to know more about the options you have for your mortgage? Contact Zachery Adam and the team at GoPrime of West Asheville.  Call us today.