The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Market Review
The question I keep getting is "How's the real estate market?". Not a simple question to answer so I'll break it down into the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly!
The Good: If you are a buyer, it's still a great time for negotiating on List Price and Seller Concessions. Most homes are selling for under the list price and what the public can't see is the amount of seller concessions being offered to help buy down interest rates or pay for closing costs. Inventory is high compared to the past 6 years, so a lot of options out there for buyers. Plus, the city still offers down payment assistance (CHAP) for 1st time home buyers.
The Bad: Median Sales Price is higher compared to last year and last month which scares people, especially locals who feel like the cost of living is too high. Keep in mind that a lot of the multimillion-dollar homes sell during the summer and that always pushes the median price up. But as of today, there are 88 homes (including single family homes, townhomes, condos, and manufactured homes) listed between $400K-$600K.
The Ugly: Of course it's the interest rate, on top of rising home costs. This week, the average rate was around 7.25% for a conventional loan. Circling back to the Good, here is where buyers can take advantage of seller concessions for a temporary rate buy down.
Motivation may be the key word here....motivated buyers are connecting with motivated sellers. If you are on the sidelines waiting for rates to come down, you are missing out on the negotiation power buyers have today. Sellers who put effort into getting their homes "market ready" (deep cleaning, decluttering, yard maintenance) are the ones getting offers. There are no signs of a market crash with the strict lending standards and high homeowner equity, so really the question is what is your motivation level?!