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| The real estate market does not move in one direction nationwide. It never has. What is happening in Austin is not what is happening in Cleveland. What is true for a three-bedroom in the suburbs of Dallas has almost nothing to do with a two-bedroom in San Francisco. Before you do anything else, narrow your focus to the specific market you are shopping in and stop reading national headlines as if they apply to you personally. | |||||
| Home prices at the national level have stayed stubbornly high even as financing costs doubled in under two years. The reason is supply. The locked-in effect has kept available inventory at historically low levels in most markets, which means the correction that many analysts were expecting simply did not materialize the way the data suggested it should. | |||||
| Here is what that creates for someone who has done the work before they start looking: less competition than you would have faced in 2021 or 2022. The panic buyers are gone. The buyers who showed up with letters waiving inspections and offering a hundred thousand over asking have mostly sat back down. What remains is a more functional market, even if it is not a cheap one. | |||||
| Shop multiple loan officers to compare rates and fees. A seemingly small rate difference adds up to around twenty thousand dollars over a thirty-year loan on a four hundred thousand dollar mortgage. Lender fees vary too. Request itemized fee schedules so you can compare apples to apples. | |||||
| The appraisal is the lender's check, not yours. When the appraisal comes in below contract, the deal does not automatically die, but it does require a decision. Ask your agent what the local pattern looks like before you structure an offer without an appraisal contingency. | |||||
| Price matters, but terms matter too. The buyer who calls the listing agent before submitting, asks what matters to the seller, and builds the offer around that information wins more often than the buyer who simply goes the highest. | |||||
| For buyers with the financial cushion to handle a repair bill without panic, this market is workable, even if it is not cheap or easy. The homes that are priced correctly for current conditions are still moving. They are moving to buyers who showed up prepared. | |||||
| Buyers who take the time to prepare before they start looking tend to find that there are still good properties available at realistic prices. A quick look at [up-to-date property listings](https://chohanhayestate.com) will tell you more about your local market than most of what you read in national coverage. | |||||