There is no "the" market. Pick your stats to match your fancy. Nationally, things are looking up (on the surface), in general, with some key exceptions. Locally, things are staying strong (on the surface), with some key exceptions.
Nationally, Consumer Confidence is up, mortgage rates are down, new-purchase mortgages are up, employment is down, pending home sales are up, ...down, up,...
Locally, sales volume remains up, new-listing volume is down, pending-sales volume is up, ...down, up...
This market is just as confused as you are. That is why so many buyers and so many sellers remain lurking on the sidelines.
It used to be that the rough part of home buying and selling was often before the buyer and seller came to agreement on price and purchase terms. But now there is so much confusion, change, and new complexity in the activities after the purchase agreement and before Closing, that what used to be a relative cake walk has become a swampy minefield.
The things a buyer and seller and their agents, lenders, inspectors, surveyors, and appraisers have to attend to and comply with, after the Purchase Agreement and before Closing, is in great flux of change. The national mortgage underwriting industry is in change, there are new Federal regs confusing the appraisers. Inspectors are absorbing new public opinion and accountability pressures of risk in environmental hazards. It seems the lawyers are primed to benefit from all this.
Real estate is fast becoming a realm only for highly educated, intensely alert, risk-tolerant, full time professionals. ("Real estate... Don't try this at home.")
Sure, there's silver linings where you can find them. Pending home sales are up, and mortgage rates are re-approaching long term lows. But it has become so much more complex and time consuming to Close on deals, where a short sale is involved, or multiple funding and regulatory agencies are involved. And some national experts are predicting a next wave of foreclosures nationally, not due to abused lower income people but because of middle and upper middle class workers losing their jobs.
What does all this mean to you? First, if you're going to be casual about selecting your next home, your next home's seller, your real estate agent, or lender or appraiser or inspector or...then this might be a good time to join the herd of lurking sidelined sellers and buyers.
But if you are comfortable with deep diligence, humble enough to engage expert professionals, used to risk management, patient, and pretty shrewd, then this could be the best chance you'll have had in a long time to make some really, really smart investments in your next home or rental unit.
That's my opinion. What's yours?
Posted by Lee Alley, www.BHhomes.INFO, Rapid City, Black Hills, SD at 1:15 PM
Labels: Market Conditions
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