What’s that squeaky sound, you ask.
Why, that’s the sound of a door swinging open for buyers to walk through. Interest rates hovering at 7%, challenging insurance rates, a volatile economic landscape and the highest HOA fees we have ever seen are all conspiring to dampen the real estate market. Inventory has grown and put more control in buyers’ hands.
While interest rates will vacillate and even insurance rates will change, buying a home for less is a gift that keeps on giving for decades.
That sound wasn’t a crash, but you may have heard a soft sound as oxygen was pushed out of the hot real estate market.
A report from Redfin found that sellers now outnumber buyers by 34%. The estimated 1.94 million active home listings versus 1.45 million buyers represents the largest gap in more than a decade of records. Even so, real estate is a very local thing, so look at the national numbers but also what is happening in the city and even the neighborhood where you want to live.
For the strategically minded, there are ways to enter the real estate market and buy a home that, in the long run, will be your path to building generational wealth. Seller rate-buy-downs, sellers covering electric upgrades, and other tools are at buyers’ disposal, that were not there a year ago, and may not be there a year from now. Keep realistic expectations in your toolbox. We are still in the Bay Area.
If you have wanted to buy a home, but didn’t want to get into bidding wars with 20 other buyers, this is your moment. I am happy to meet, so we can explore your options in the new and ever-evolving landscape of Bay Area housing.
And that, my friends, is the sound of a key turning in your new front door.
