
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.
The arithmetic here is brutal and worth understanding clearly. A buyer who financed a $400,000 home at three percent in 2021 pays roughly $1,686 per month on principal and interest. That same loan at a seven percent rate costs $2,661. That gap of nearly a thousand dollars a month is why transaction volume has fallen to levels not seen in decades. Volume collapsed. Prices mostly did not.
Anne 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, give yourself three to six months to work on it before you begin in earnest.
If the report surfaces problems that go well beyond normal wear and tear, you have three options, not one, and walking away is a legitimate one of them. You can ask the seller to repair specific items before closing. Signing off on a failing roof or a bad HVAC system is not the same house you made an offer on.
Negotiation works best when it is quiet and well-prepared. Before you make an offer, find out whether the price has been reduced and by how much. A listing that has been relisted after a cancellation is a fundamentally different negotiation than a property that is drawing multiple showings every day.
Real estate is illiquid. If there is a reasonable chance you will need to move in two years, renting is the financially rational choice. None of that means do not buy. It means be honest about your time horizon before you commit.
Real estate rewards preparation more than it rewards timing. Nobody consistently calls the top or the bottom of a market, but buyers who show up informed and financially ready close deals in every cycle. Check up-to-date property listings and see whether what is available matches what you have been planning for.
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