Waiting for mortgage rates to hit 5.99% will backfire: when rates drop, thousands of buyers flood the market, triggering bidding wars and higher home prices. Buy now with low demand and negotiate better, even at a higher rate. Monthly payment matters more than the rate alone.
If you wait until rates come down to 5.99%, you know who else is going to be ready to buy? Everybody. So if you didn't want to get involved in the feeding frenzy of '21 and '22 and into '23, then now is your time. So to my real estate agent friend, just make sure that your buyers understand that there's good times and bad times. And when nobody else is buying, that's the best time to buy because your seller may negotiate. When everybody wants to buy, your seller's not going to have to negotiate because they're going to be having these bidding wars. If we do see rates go down and people start competing for houses, you know what's going to happen to the price of those houses? Mm-hmm. It's going to go back up again. And so right now you're paying a higher interest rate, but maybe a better price on the house than if rates come down, prices go back up. So consider your options. And by the way, this is what a good realtor will walk you through. Is the pros and cons of do I wait, do I go ahead and move forward? Because I'm going to tell you, there's a lot of people that wish they bought properties way back in 2019, and then they watched it get hot in '20 and '21, and then they got priced out of the market. So just figure out if you can fit into it, then fit yourself in, and always keep an eye on what your payment is, because the interest rate's irrelevant, the price is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is your payment, because that's what's going to keep you in the house. And by the way, we always want you to stay in your house.
