Is it a good time to buy? Is it a good time to sell?
We have been getting this question quite a bit lately. You have no doubt heard that the real estate market has shifted, seen homes with signs in the yards longer than, oh a day ;) and wondered to yourself if buying or selling a home right now is even a good idea. We have some good news for you, there is 100% NOTHING dead about the real estate market! Frankly, yes, there has been a shift. Interest rates, have risen, everyone knows that, but what else has happened? Lets chat about it.
First of all, lets go back all the way to 2020. In March of 2020 when the pandemic hit and everyone stayed home, we all got a little stir crazy. We had time to sit around and look at home and decide we needed more. More space, more freedom, a second living room, a big backyard, a pool, YOU NAME IT WE NEEDED IT! This drove out home values up nationally about 29%. That is quite a bit, in fact statistically home values go up 2-4% on a normal year. So then in 2021, while folks were STILL trying to find a place, home values continued to creep up, it went up again 18%. Now here in 2022, we have still seen these numbers rise, but only 8%.
So home values? Still high, still on average going up at a faster than normal pace, even if it is coming down off of the crazy real estate frenzy of 2020-2021, we are still in a housing shortage. There are still more buyers than sellers. It is STILL a great time to sell your home. You may not get the crazy over asking offers, or the 20 offers at once that you may have before, but you should still be able to sell relatively quick.
Buyers, on the other hand are in full panic. We get it. Interest rates are high. They aren’t where we want them to be either, but the reality is this is probably a BETTER time to buy. Why? It’s quite simple. In the last 2 years you had to do SO much to appeal to sellers. Give up your appraisal, pay $20-40K over asking price, rent the home back to the sellers for 1-2 months for free. You name it we saw it. Guess what? You have SOME power back. We as an office are going back over negotiation topics. We are re-training ourselves in the art of negotiation! This is HUGE! we have seen some buyers get their closing costs covered, making sure their home appraises for the agreed upon sales price, and slightly less competition! You can always re-finance that rate!
It’s 100% normal to be concerned about buying or selling. Anxiety creeps in and we aren’t quite sure what to believe when it comes to these situations. However, the best time to buy is when YOU are ready. Look at your finances, save your down payment, work on your credit, and when those things are done, you’re ready regardless of the market. As always, we are HERE for you! Reach out to our team, we want to partner with you and walk through this process together!
