by Brian Brady
Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL
Southern California, agents are telling me that homebuyer enthusiasm has dropped quickly. More homes are on caravan and some are starting to reduce listing prices to get the home sold. Tampa Bay area agents are whispering the same. And while the US Home Price Index rose 2%, year over year, we see price reductions in over 30% of the cities across the country.
This is no surprise to me. Mortgage rates doubled in the past 6 months with a big move upwards in the past 60 days. That, combined with the rapid increase in home prices since the pandemic started has severely impacted housing affordability. With less buyers buying, and sellers looking for unrealistic prices, agents are pleading with sellers to drop their listing price. You can offer your seller a couple of options BEFORE you drop that price:
1- If the home is secured with a low-interest VA or FHA mortgage, you can highlight that those loans are assumable in the marketing remarks. This Safety Harbor listing offers an assumable loan, at 2.25%–half of what most lenders are offer today.
2- Offering a seller-buydown of the mortgage rate could save the seller some money. I run through the numbers of a seller-buydown in this video. This is a great response to a low offer.
I will be hosting a Realtor Happy Hour, in St Pete Beach, FL, on Thursday May 12, 2022.
I am hosting an Agents Helping Agents event, in Tampa, FL, on Wednesday, May 18, 2022.
Stay tuned if you are in San Diego. I will be hosting an Agents Helping Agents event in mid June.
