About anthonychatham

Life, Death and Broker

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 stayed stubbornly high even as financing costs doubled in under two years. 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.

Aida is a name you might hear from a lot of agents right now, because the buyers getting deals done tend to know exactly what they want and why. That is not a personality trait. It is a preparation habit.

Your credit score affects your rate more directly than most buyers realize. The difference between a 680 score and a 760 score can mean a half-point or more in rate. If your score has room to improve, pull your reports, find the issues, and address them before you start shopping seriously.

The appraisal is the lender’s check, not yours. If the home appraises below the contract price, the lender will only finance against the appraised value. Ask your agent whether recent comparable sales support the price you are offering.

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 with a realistic purchase price so the numbers reflect what you are actually going to face.

Real estate is illiquid. Buying and selling inside two years is almost always a money-losing proposition once you account for the full cost of both transactions. None of that means do not buy. It means be honest about your time horizon before you commit.

Buyers who take the time to research properly tend to find that the market is more navigable than the headlines suggest. Spending twenty minutes with current homes for sale and market analytics is a better use of your time than waiting for conditions that may never arrive.