Advice For Second-Time Home Buyers: What To Know

Apr 18, 2024

8-minute read

Share:

An image displaying a row of houses along the Maine coast, showcasing coastal properties.

If you’re a second-time home buyer, buying a home may seem like a cinch since you’ve done it before.

However, the experience of buying a house for the second time can differ in various ways from your experience as a first-time buyer. You may also wonder about second-time home buyer requirements and programs and how they’re similar to and different from what you encountered as a first-time home buyer.

Before diving into your second go-around with homeownership, take a couple of minutes right now to find out everything you need to know.

Is It Easier To Buy A Home The Second Time?

For many people, buying a home for the second time is easier than purchasing their first home for the simple reason that they have a better idea of what to expect. That’s not to say that life as a second-time home buyer is necessarily a cakewalk, however.

Let’s take an in-depth look at how the second time may look totally different from the first time around as a home buyer.

You May Be Buying And Selling At The Same Time

Simultaneously selling and buying a home means you may be responsible for two mortgage payments and managing the care of both properties, at least for a short period of time. Or you might close on the first house but have nowhere to live for a while because you haven’t finalized the purchase of a new home.

If you can’t afford to buy a home without selling your original property first, you may have trouble wrangling the money you’ll likely need for the second-time home buyer down payment.

But a home equity loan or a bridge loan can help bridge the gap between selling one house and buying another. You can repay this type of personal loan when you close on your old home.

Note that Rocket Mortgage® doesn’t currently offer bridge loans.

Housing Prices May Have Changed

Housing prices ticked up ever so slightly in early 2024 from late 2023. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the median home sales price in the U.S. was $417,700 in the fourth quarter of 2023. This increased in January 2024 to $420,700 before a drop to $400,500 in February in a report provided jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

While at the moment, prices are falling, the volatile nature of the housing market is evident in these statistics. Housing prices can change at any time, so you may be looking at a different market when you start the home buying process for your next home.

See What You Qualify For