Where are all the Home Sellers?
Home buyers are asking me the right questions about this real estate market:” Where are all the Home Sellers? Why are there no new homes coming on the market? What happened to the spring housing market?”
The answer is pretty simple: “Home Sellers are staying at home.” Homeowners who might have previously put their houses up for sale and moved to a larger or nicer home are hunkering down in their existing homes. They are making a mortgage payment with a 3% interest rate and just riding out the massive increases in the cost of living the rest of the country is experiencing.
One of the chief drivers of the cost of living is rental rates. Apartment renters are seeing big increases in their monthly rent – but they are locked in to paying them because they can’t find a home to purchase. And why are renters not able to afford to buy new homes – yes ma’am, mortgage interest rates are WAY higher than during CoVid era markets. [Editorial note – my lender has ways to work around this problem]
IF you are serious about buying a home there are some things you need to do
- Get pre-qualified with a lender. Skip the big banks. Go to a smaller lender that can coach you on ways to make you better qualified to buy a home. We have lenders that can make that happen
- Figure out which neighborhood best suits your lifestyle needs: close to work, specific schools, near your mom, as far away from your in-laws as possible, etc
- Pick out ONE real estate agent and educate them about the above. That agent should be the local specialist in your target neighborhoods.
- Ask the real estate agent to send you listings direct from the MLS AS SOON AS THEY COME ON THE MARKET
- Go see the houses that fit your criteria THE DAY THEY HIT THE MARKET
- MAKE AN OFFER to buy the house if it fits your needs. But do it within the first 48 hours of hitting the market. Your first offer needs to be your best offer. There will likely be no second chance to negotiate.
- Good luck. Yes, you are going to need a little luck in the this market.
