There is a version of the housing market story that gets told over and over, and it goes like this: prices are high, rates are high, nothing is affordable, and the only people buying are the ones with cash. That version is not wrong, exactly. It is just incomplete.
Home prices at the national level have held close to their peaks despite a sharp rise in mortgage rates. The reason is supply. A seller who bought in 2021 at a three percent rate has nowhere affordable to go if they list today, which means the correction that many analysts were expecting simply did not materialize the way the data suggested it should.
Rosita is a name you might hear from a lot of agents right now, because the buyers getting deals done tend to have clear budgets and stick to them. That is not a personality trait. It is a preparation habit.
Your credit score affects your rate more directly than most buyers realize. Moving your score up by 40 points before you apply can be worth more than months of rate watching. If your score has room to improve, talk to your loan officer about specific steps to raise it before you apply formally.
The appraisal is the lender’s check, not yours. When the appraisal comes in below contract, the deal does not automatically die, but it does require a decision. Ask your agent what the local pattern looks like before you structure an offer without an appraisal contingency.
Budget two to four percent of the purchase price for closing costs, on top of your down payment. First-time buyers often do not see the full closing cost picture until the Closing Disclosure arrives three days before settlement. Ask your lender for a Loan Estimate before you make any offers, so you can plan your cash position accurately.
For buyers with a real reason to be in a specific place for the foreseeable future, this market is more navigable than the headlines suggest. The homes that are priced correctly for current conditions are still moving. They are moving to buyers who showed up prepared.
Buyers who take the time to research properly tend to find that the market is more navigable than the headlines suggest. Current property listings and market tools at real estate listings and data are worth bookmarking before you make any major moves.
No listing found.
Compare listings
Compare