Home Buying In Maryland

Three buyer clients that have gotten in there, at asking price or below.

Here's the rundown. They were in that $500,000 to $600,000 price point. Two of these properties actually are in Clarksburg, and there's one that's out in Laurel. Laurel's a little complex because it touches four different counties. So, typically when you think Laurel, you think PG County. But part of it touches Montgomery County and Arundel County, and then Howard County as well.

What's happening is, being a realtor and doing this full time, you see things in real time. And as I'm seeing things in real time, I'm letting my buyer clients know this, on an individual basis; what's going on, what's happening recently, and all that other stuff. But I don't get on here nearly enough to explain what's taking place to the masses.

My thoughts on all this stuff is, as interest rates have been on the rise, I knew, at some point in time, it would make sense for the prices to stop skyrocketing and going through the roof. There's still some of that happening. I'm not going to sit here and say, "Oh, everything's come to a standstill and prices aren't going up, and there aren't multiple offers," or, "People aren't overpaying for properties." I think that is forever and always. Those things are always going to happen. But I think what we're seeing right now is, finally, one of two things. A lot of these buyers who were at the top of their budget before these interest rates went up and made borrowing money more expensive; I think that they were already at the top of things. And I think now, a bunch of buyers have thrown in the towel saying, "Hey, now I'm just out. I can't afford to buy these houses at these prices with these interest rates."

So, I think that that has slowed down and allowed things to sit on the market a little bit longer, giving buyers the opportunity to actually take a deep breath and really think about whether or not they really want the house, without feeling that pressure, like, if I don't put an offer in on this thing today, then I have zero shot.

The other thing that's happening right now in the market is home inspections have come back. I know home inspections might seem foreign to some people, if you've been in this market the last couple years, trying to buy a house. And your agent's probably told you, "Hey, there's multiple offers. Let's make this thing attractive." There's really two ways to make things very, very attractive to most sellers. It's offer a whole lot of money, or you start waiving things that become hurdles throughout the course of buying a house.

One of the big hurdles is home inspections. So, if your home sale is contingent on a home inspection, if you don't like something in the home inspection report, you can back out of that contract. Sellers don't like that because they've missed other buyers on the market and spent time taking it off the market because they figured that you were going to be the buyer for that property.

So, if there's an opportunity for a seller to have people that want to buy their house and they say, "Look, we're going to buy this thing as is, and we don't care about what it says on a home inspection report; we'll waive that," they're going to be a lot more apt to take a look or have an interest in that contract. Currently, all three of these deals that I'm speaking of, we had home inspection contingency built in there. Now, with that being the case, yes, they're allowing you to make your home sale contingent upon a home inspection.

The other thing that's started to come back is some seller concessions. So, not only are people being able to get a home inspection in there. Now, people are negotiating based on what it says in a home inspection report. And now, they're getting some seller concessions or money back towards closing at the end of the deal, based on what it says in there.

These are the things that are currently happening in the real estate market. So, if you're buyers, and you're looking to get in there, as I said, right now, three buyer clients that have gotten in there at asking price or below. So, I'm just saying, if you're looking to buy a house right now, if you have the financial ability to it and the capability to get out there and be in the market right now, there is some flexibility on terms and things like that, so that you can purchase a home.

It's starting to go back the way it used to be, where things like home inspections, I think, are going to become more and more common, as I feel whether or not you make your house contingent upon a home inspection, I think that you should get one because even if it's not contingent, I think it's important as a home buyer. It's a large investment that you're making. You want to at least know what you're walking into. Right now, based on what I'm seeing in real time... And like I said, my last three buyers have gotten their homes for the asking price or below that. So, if you're feeling hopeless out there, I hope that this video gives you a little bit of hope.