How to buy a house in a crazy market like L.A.

Real estate can be tricky. It’s often difficult to know when the ideal time to buy a house will be. When my husband and I were looking in L.A. in 2020, many people told us the market was too high and to wait. However, we’re very happy we didn’t wait because the market soared even more within the year following our purchase.

Here are a few tips when it comes to home buying that can hopefully help you or someone you know in the future!

MORE: 7 things you need to know before buying a house

save, save, save

This one seems obvious, but save your money! I had roommates or I lived with my parents at certain points following college. Separately, my husband found a very cheap apartment in L.A. instead of opting for something nicer. These choices helped us save.

invest if you can

We most likely wouldn’t have been able to buy a home if we didn’t both invest in the stock market. I’m not here to give advice on that, but to say look into it. We had to sell stock to buy our home, and it was worth it.

MORE: How to buy an NFT as an investment

look into loans

Another major player in us being able to get our home was that the company we work for offers special loans to their employees. This meant we didn’t have to put as much money down upfront. However, this did make it tricky because often sellers want more money down and they may choose another buyer over you if they have more cash available. But that’s why we also suggest…

write a letter

…writing a letter! What really helped us get our home was the letter we wrote and we know other people who it helped as well. Trust me, it is worth the time and effort. It doesn’t have to be long, but make sure it comes from the heart.

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do your research

Before you buy a house, do some research. We looked at L.A. County and then picked a place we wanted to live. We took into consideration walkability, public schools, entertainment, pollution and more. You may want to try to narrow it down to a certain area. But that also has pros and cons. The pros being you’ll know the area well and can likely make more connections and hopefully be the first to hear of a new home. The con being you’re picking one spot so if there’s limited availability you may need to wait longer.

Find a good agent

Find an agent who knows the area where you want to live like the back of their hand. Our agent helped us get to see our home first of all the interested buyers, and that could have made all the difference. Some agents want to be exclusive, so make sure to think about that before deciding if it’s the best idea for you.