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Open House Expert Interview

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.

In markets where new construction has been active, prices have pulled back. Several Sun Belt metros that boomed during the pandemic have given back a portion of those gains. But those are the exceptions. Most markets are not working from excess; they are working from scarcity.

Whitney 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.

Shop more than one institution, because the spread in rates and costs is real. A seemingly small rate difference adds up to real money that most buyers leave on the table by taking the first offer they receive. Lender fees vary too. Request itemized fee schedules so you can compare apples to apples.

If the report surfaces problems that go well beyond normal wear and tear, you have real choices, and walking away is a legitimate one of them. You can walk away if the scope of the problems makes the agreed price no longer reasonable. What you should not do is panic and waive your right to negotiate.

Negotiation works best when it is quiet and well-prepared. Before you make an offer, find out whether there are other offers on the table or offers that have already fallen through. A listing that has been relisted after a cancellation is a fundamentally different negotiation than one that just hit the market at an aggressive price.

The timing question, whether to buy now or wait for rates to come down, is the one that trips up more buyers than any other single factor. Waiting for the perfect moment is how people end up renting for another five years when they did not mean to. The more useful question is not whether now is the right time in the abstract; it is whether you are buying because the numbers make sense for you, not because you feel social pressure to own.

Buyers who take the time to prepare before they start looking tend to find that the market is more navigable than the headlines suggest. Before you commit to a direction, browsing homes for sale and market resources can sharpen your picture of what is actually available in your price range.