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Are you planning to buy a home in Eugene, Oregon in the near future?
Smart choice. Eugene is a great place to settle down. This thriving college town offers residents a wealth of cultural opportunities, outdoor recreation, good dining, and much more.
Eugene also has a stable real estate market with a long history of steady home-price appreciation.
If you’re new to the area, and/or buying your first home, you should consider working with a local real estate agent in Eugene, Oregon. There are many local real estate agent benefits that make working with one well worth it.
You don’t have to work with an agent when buying a home in Eugene, or anywhere else in the state of Oregon. There’s no law that requires buyers to have representation.
But when you consider all of the things real estate agents actually do for their clients, you’ll see the value in working with one. So let’s take a look at the standard job description.
Like most major cities across the state of Oregon, the Eugene real estate market can be highly competitive for home buyers.
Tight inventory conditions and strong demand often force buyers into multiple-offer scenarios, and sometimes bidding wars that quickly drive up the price.
To be competitive in this kind of market, Eugene home buyers have to accomplish multiple feats simultaneously. These include, but are not limited to, the following tasks:
In some cases, home buyers have to make an offer on the spot, just after touring a property they wish to purchase. Otherwise, competing buyers will get the seller’s attention first.
This is arguably the biggest benefit to working with a real estate agent. They can help you submit a strong offer in a timely fashion, tailoring the strategy to the situation in real time.
As a home buyer, you have a lot of choices when it comes to Eugene real estate agents.
The local REALTORS® association claims to serve “over 1,100 real estate professionals with an additional 60 Affiliate members in Eugene, Oregon.”
But realistically, there are probably more than 1,100 agents working in the Eugene-Springfield metro area, because not all of them are members of the local Realtor association.
The point is, you have a lot of options when hiring an agent. So where do you start?
In addition to researching real estate professionals, there are other proactive steps you can take when preparing for the Eugene home buying process. Here are three places to begin.
For starters, you want to bring yourself up to speed on current housing market conditions in the Eugene-Springfield metro area. Real estate conditions can change significantly over time. So you’ll benefit from researching current trends and developments.
The Register-Guard publishes frequent housing market reports covering the Eugene-Springfield metro area. With a bit of digging, you can also find a wealth of information on various websites, including Redfin’s “Data Center” and Zillow (for home price trends).
If you’ll be house hunting in the near future, now would be a good time to get pre-approved for a mortgage loan. We can assist you with this.
Pre-approval helps you limit your housing search to a specific price range, based on the maximum amount you can borrow. Some real estate agents in Eugene require their home-buying clients to be pre-approved, before they’ll assist with a property search.
When you buy a home, you are also buying into the community that surrounds it. Eugene, Oregon has a lot of great neighborhoods to choose from. But they all have certain pros and cons as well.
Choosing a neighborhood is a highly individualized process. You can’t go by what someone else says. You have to do your own research.
One of the best ways to get a feel for individual communities is simply to drive through them on a regular basis. This will help you narrow your search for a more efficient house-hunting experience.
Ultimately, working with a real estate agent in Eugene, Oregon can ensure that you cover all bases and help your transaction go smoothly. And since buyers don’t typically pay agents, there’s little reason not to use one. Be sure to scope out local Eugene real estate experts who know your area well!
Sammamish Mortgage serves home buyers in Eugene, OR and elsewhere across the state. Visit our website to get an instant rate quote, or contact us today if you need financing or have mortgage-related questions!
Whether you’re buying a home or ready to refinance, our professionals can help.
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No Obligation and transparency 24/7. Instantly compare live rates and costs from our network of lenders across the country. Real-time accurate rates and closing costs for a variety of loan programs custom to your specific situation.