The Phrase Anita Conrad Is Hearing Constantly Right Now

I'm just going to wait until rates drop. Anita Conrad hears this regularly and she understands completely why buyers feel that way. Affordability is a real challenge and the instinct to wait for better conditions before making the largest purchase of your life is entirely logical. But there is a more complete picture worth considering before that decision is made.

What Nobody Can Actually Tell You

Nobody knows exactly when rates will fall. Nobody knows by how much if they do. Building a home purchase strategy around a prediction that no one can make with certainty is not really a strategy. It is hope dressed up as a plan.

What Is Happening on the Ground Right Now While Buyers Wait

When buyers sit on the sidelines the immediate effect in many markets is less competition. Fewer buyers competing for available inventory means more homes to choose from and more room to negotiate. Price reductions are happening. Sellers are contributing toward closing costs. Rate buydowns funded by seller concessions are being negotiated in transactions that would not have accommodated that flexibility during the peak of the seller's market.

The buyer who is active right now has leverage that disappears when rates improve and everyone who has been waiting rushes back in simultaneously. That is the consistent pattern in real estate markets. The window of negotiating power that exists when competition is lower closes quickly when conditions change in buyers' favor.

What Happens If Rates Improve After You Buy

Refinancing may be an option down the road. A buyer who purchases today at a rate that is comfortable within their budget and refinances when rates improve captures both the current negotiating leverage and the future rate improvement. A buyer who waited captures only the rate improvement while paying a higher price in a more competitive market. The math of those two sequences frequently favors the buyer who moved during the quieter period.

The Better Question to Ask

Instead of asking whether you should wait for a better rate Anita suggests asking a different question entirely. Can you comfortably afford this payment today? Not the payment you hope to have after a refinance. Not the payment you might have if rates drop. Today's payment at today's rate on today's home.

If the answer is yes the case for buying now is worth taking seriously. If you are not sure Anita wants to find out with you.

Call 941-271-1026 or visit applywithanita.com. Anita Conrad is a licensed mortgage loan officer with Edge Home Finance.

Sources

ConsumerFinancialProtectionBureau.gov
MortgageNewsDaily.com
NAR.realtor
FannieMae.com
Investopedia.com