In a tight housing market, both buyers and sellers are getting creative
In a tight housing market, both buyers and sellers are getting creative
We’ll get new numbers today for sales of existing homes, but for the past few months, sales have been down, per data from the National Association of Realtors. Between high interest rates and low inventory, it’s still a very tight housing market. That means sellers and buyers who want in — or out — sometimes have to compromise and get creative.
Lisa Sturtevant is chief economist with Bright MLS. She’s seeing more and more buyers compromise on their dream home, like going in on a purchase with family.
“So going in and buying a home with mom and dad, so that multiple generations can live together and can pool their resources to afford the mortgage,” she said.
Some homebuyers are opting to remain renters in their current place but buy properties so they can be landlords. That’s more the case when buyers realize they can’t even remotely afford the home they want, so they buy a cheaper investment property to build equity.
“They can then convert that into a purchase of a home that they ultimately will live in that can check more of those boxes,” Sturtevant said.
And then there are those buyers who don’t need to worry about interest rates.
“We’re also seeing a record share of homes being bought with all cash,” said Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin.
On the seller side of things, Fairweather said, many homeowners just aren’t selling.
“If they need to move, they end up renting out the home, so they can collect the rent and pay their very low interest rate mortgage, and still keep it,” he said.
But some homeowners need to sell. And if they have a low interest mortgage rate locked in, offering to sell that loan along with the house can be a major perk. It’s called an assumable mortgage.
“You buy a home and you take over the existing mortgage that’s in place on the property,” said Craig O’Boyle, a realtor in Colorado Springs and co-owner of Assumption Solutions, which helps with this kind of loan transfer.
But there’s a caveat — it’s mostly only VA or FHA loans that qualify.
Nichole Wilkinson is a realtor in Boise, Idaho. One of her clients has an older mortgage from the VA at a pretty low interest rate.
“My seller thought that this would be a good opportunity to allow a new buyer to come in and be able to assume their interest rate,” Wilkinson said.
And in fact, the first line on the listing’s flier touts the property’s 2.75% VA assumable loan before mentioning the hardwood floors and stainless steel appliances. And Wilkinson said they’ve had tons of interest.
That rate will likely lead to a higher sale price, but there are drawbacks.
“It is a lengthy process, which can be quite clunky,” Wilkinson said.
But she said that’s one hurdle some buyers and sellers are willing to deal with in this squeezed market.
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