Summer 2023 Real Estate News
Welcome Spring! Finally, some flowers followed all that rain. In this Summer edition I’d like to talk about a very relevant topic. Cash versus a loan when purchasing a home.
As many of you know the 2023 Baltimore Metro area housing market has been very competitive. I’ve seen many buyers opting to pay cash rather than getting a loan, which often wins the bid in this crazy Seller’s market. The reason a cash offer is more attractive to a seller is that it removes the financing contingency, and possible purchase fall through if a loan cannot be realized. Further, cash offers don’t often have an appraisal contingency. When a home is purchased utilizing financing, a lender will typically require that an appraisal is done which validates (or doesn’t) the purchase price. If a home doesn’t appraise, either the buyer needs to come up with additional money, the seller has to reduce the price, or worst-case scenario, the transaction falls apart. One last reason for buyers to use cash for a purchase is that the transaction can often be settled much faster than the typical 4-week march to final loan approval. All these things give Sellers much less stress while working toward settlement.
While all those reasons to use cash are beneficial to the Seller, the Buyer also has the benefits of placing their cash into an investment property, even if it’s not going to be used as a rental. Real estate values go up and down but in the long term, generally grow.
There is also an added benefit of savings because getting a loan comes with fees that can be in the thousands and owning a debt-free home bring great peace of mind.
Before you make any financial decisions, you should always contact your accountant and or financial representative to be sure you are making your best decision.
West Towson and Southland Hills sales in 2023
607 Marwood Road $239,000 settled 2/10/23
504 W. Joppa Road $460,000 settled 3/3/23
411 Range Road $670,000 settled 3/6/23
425 Woodbine Avenue $478,500 settled
3/7/23 18 Dixie Drive $755,000 settled 3/16/23
548 Allegheny Avenue $320,000 settled
3/21/23 401 Carolina Road $538,500 settled
3/31/23 410 Terrace Way $470,000 settled 4/21/23
813 Loyola Drive $440,000 settled 5/5/23
Carolina (Carrie) Cronin, Realtor®, GRI, SFR
Previous WTNA President, 10-Year Board Member
Cummings & Co. Realtors
108 W. Timonium Road, Ste 100 • Timonium, MD 21093
Office 410-823-0033 • Cell 410-236-4455 • ccsellsmd@gmail.com
