Interest rates are still low, but rising. There is a shortage of inventory. It is tougher to get an offer accepted. Buyers must move quickly in this market. These are the things that we are dealing with at this time
Yes, things are difficult, but if buyers, sellers and their Realtors have a plan, things can still go smoothly. For buyers, first and most important is to get pre approved before you even look for your next home. There are many reasons for this but, let’s talk about 2 of them. 1) Should your Realtor find you your dream home, without a prequal letter from a respected lender, the seller won’t even look at your offer. 2) If your Realtor shows you homes in a higher price range than you can qualify for, you’ll likely not like any thing you see when you have to come down in price.
There is a shortage in inventory, but it is not due to what most people think. Listings come up on a daily basis, just like they always did. The difference is: instead of staying on the market for 30-90 days, they are under contract in a day or even hours. Most likely, if a home has been on the market today for an extended amount of time, it is either overpriced or does not show well for one reason or another. This is why we have a shortage of listings.
Now, what does this mean for us Realtors? In order for us to get buyers in homes before they sell, we have to watch the hot sheets several times a day. Last week, a home popped up that I felt would fit a particular client. I emailed and texted him to look at his email. He didn’t respond for 2 days. At that time the home was in pending. There are other ways to handle this market. I had some folks coming in from out of town to look. They had some time before they needed to close. They liked a particular neighborhood, which had new construction in it. They were discouraged because they had seen several homes that they loved, but they sold before they could get to town. When I knew that they were coming, I drove through the neighborhood and talked to builders who had homes that weren’t quite ready for the MLS. I made a list of 5 homes that fit their criteria and showed them to my clients they bought one. They didn’t have to worry about bidding wars because no one knew about these and they weren’t on the internet. By the way, in their neighborhood, had I just been searching the MLS, nothing was available. Something to consider.