A true market update and our best advice for navigating it.
When it comes to the housing market, are you worried that doomsday is coming? Lately, we have been getting the same question over and over, and that is: “Is the market crashing?” The media has taken advantage of rising interest rates and decreasing sales. People feel like the sky is falling, but we are here to ease your concerns. There are actually some good things happening in the market right now!
For example, in the first half of June, 56% of sold homes had multiple offers. Then in the last two weeks, this number went down to 42%. There’s less competition now, which is great news for buyers. This should even things out and send us to a more neutral, or normal, market than this crazy seller’s market we have seen the last couple of years. This isn’t a market crash; it’s just becoming more balanced.
In addition, things aren’t so frantic anymore. We are seeing sellers take the asking price, or less than asking, which is so refreshing. Plus, sellers are looking at offers with contingencies! This will help people find the home that they truly want to be in. Things seem to be moving toward a market that is a win-win for both sides.
The other thing that people are asking a lot is what is going on with interest rates? We have seen them jump so much, so fast, and that has caused a pause in the market. It has buyers reevaluating what they can afford.
Recently, one of our lending partners gave some great advice: marry the house, date the interest rate. That means if you find the right home and the interest rate is slightly higher than you would’ve hoped, that doesn’t have to be your forever interest rate. We can get creative with different types of loans because there are many different options available. Plus, there is some talk that we might see interest rates soften in 10 to 12 years.
However, there is no guarantee that interest rates are going to go down, so our best advice is to get in the house now and secure the interest rate that you know you can get today. You don’t want to wait and risk interest rates going up and wishing you had acted before. Take the guesswork out.
We do work with a lot of first-time home buyers, so one thing we do want to note is that renting is 100% interest. If you want to have 6% interest instead of 100%, give us a call! The same goes with any other real estate questions or market concerns — call us anytime. We would love to help!
