I’ve been selling real estate since 2016, and when I think about everything that has happened in the housing market since then, it’s actually kind of wild. We watched mortgage rates fall to historic lows, eventually hitting an average of 2.65% in January of 2021. TWO POINT SIX FIVE PERCENT. We watched houses hit the market and have multiple offers almost immediately. Buyers were waiving inspections, offering over asking price, and making decisions faster than anyone should probably have to make a decision about where they’re going to LIVE. Sellers got pretty used to putting a house on the market and being under contract by Monday. And for a while, that became our version of “normal.”
Then everything changed. Interest rates climbed, affordability changed, monthly payments changed, and buyers understandably started behaving differently. At the same time, homeowners who bought or refinanced when rates were ridiculously low suddenly had a pretty compelling reason NOT to sell. Why give up a 2.75% mortgage unless you really need or want to? Fast forward to today, and mortgage rates are around 7%. Somewhere between those two extremes, I think we completely lost our sense of what a normal housing market even looks like.
And honestly, I think that’s important to acknowledge because this has been HARD for people. Buyers have spent the last several years feeling like the goalposts keep moving. You save more money…and prices go up. You finally get comfortable with a certain price point…and rates go up. You increase your budget…and somehow your monthly payment is STILL higher than you expected. I completely understand why some buyers are exhausted by the whole thing. On the flip side, sellers are looking at the mortgage rate they currently have and thinking, “You want me to give THIS up for WHAT?!” Also fair.
This is where I think the constant real estate headlines have done everyone a bit of a disservice. “Rates are up!” “Rates are down!” “Now is the time to buy!” “WAIT TO BUY!” OOF. How is anyone supposed to know what to do? The truth is that there isn’t one answer because there really isn’t one housing market. What is happening depends on where you live, what you’re buying or selling, your price point, the condition of the home, your financing, and most importantly, what is happening in YOUR life.
I’m actually seeing some really interesting opportunities in this market because buyers finally have something they were begging for a few years ago…TIME. And negotiating power! That doesn’t mean every seller is desperate or that you can throw out a ridiculous offer and expect them to take it. But we can have conversations again. We can negotiate price. We can negotiate repairs. We can write contingencies. We can sometimes ask sellers for concessions that can be used strategically toward financing and potentially make a bigger difference in a buyer’s monthly payment than simply negotiating the purchase price down. There are tools available right now that buyers didn’t have when 15 people were fighting over the same house.
Sellers, you have some adjusting to do too. (Sorry!) The days of throwing a house on the market and assuming someone will buy it regardless of condition are behind us. Buyers have more choices and they are being pickier because, frankly, their money costs them more right now. Condition matters. Presentation matters. Pricing matters. Marketing matters. And when buyers consistently give us the same feedback, we need to LISTEN. That doesn’t always mean dropping the price. Sometimes it means changing how the house shows, fixing something that buyers keep getting hung up on, changing our marketing, or finding another way to overcome the objection. The market is constantly giving us information. My job is to figure out what to do with it.
So when someone tells me, “I’m just going to wait until the market gets better,” my first question is: What would need to be better for you?
That’s a much more useful conversation than trying to predict what the entire housing market is going to do. Are you waiting for rates to drop? Okay, what rate would actually change your monthly payment enough to make moving worthwhile? Are you sitting on a 3% mortgage and terrified to give it up? Totally understandable. Let’s actually run the numbers on what selling and buying would look like before assuming it doesn’t make sense. Do you think you can’t afford the kind of house you want? Let’s look at what is actually available and talk to a creative lender about what we could potentially negotiate before you decide that.
And sometimes after we do all of that, the answer might still be: wait. I am completely okay with that.
My job is not to convince you to buy a house. It’s definitely not to convince you to sell one. My job is to understand what you’re trying to accomplish, show you the options available to you, and help you make a decision that makes sense for your life. Sometimes that means making a move. Sometimes that means coming up with a more creative way to make the numbers work. And sometimes it means staying exactly where you are.
I don’t think this market is universally good or bad. I think it’s just DIFFERENT. And different creates different opportunities.
Real estate decisions are rarely just about real estate anyway. They’re about babies, marriages, divorces, jobs, kids leaving home, kids coming home, needing more space, wanting less space, moving closer to family, wanting a different lifestyle, or simply being ready for something new. Those things don’t always happen when mortgage rates are perfect.
So if you’re trying to figure out what all of these headlines actually mean for YOU, let’s talk about that instead. We can look at the numbers, talk through your options, get creative if we need to, and figure out what makes sense.
And if the answer is “not yet,” that’s an answer too.
