Balancing Your Wants and Needs as a Homebuyer This Spring

Your housing wants and needs need to be balanced. Though more homes are for sale now than last year, there’s still an undersupply, with fewer houses available than in more standard, pre-pandemic years. The Monthly Housing Market Trends Report from realtor.com puts it this way: 

“While the number of homes for sale is increasing, it is still 43.2% lower than it was before the pandemic in 2017 to 2019. This means that there are still fewer homes available to buy on a typical day than there were a few years ago.”

The current housing shortage impacts how you search for a home this spring. With limited options on the market, buyers who consider what’s a necessity versus what’s a nice-to-have will be more successful in their home search.

Budget

The first step? Get pre-approved for a mortgage. Pre-approval helps you better understand what you can borrow for your home loan, which is vital in how you’ll put your list together. After all, you don’t want to fall in love with a home that’s out of reach. Once you have a good grasp on your budget, the best way to prioritize all the features you want and need in a home is to assemble a list.

Here’s a great way to think about them before you begin:

• Must-Haves – If a house doesn’t have these features, it won’t work for you and your lifestyle.
• Nice-To-Haves – These are features you’d love to have but can live without. Nice-to-haves aren’t dealbreakers, but it’s a contender if you find a home that hits all the must-haves and some of these.
• Dream State – This is where you can think big. Again, these aren’t features you’ll need, but if you find a home in your budget with all the must-haves, most of the nice-to-haves, and any of these, it’s a clear winner.

Finally, once you’ve created your list and categorized it in a way that works for you, review it with your advisors. They’ll be able to help you refine the list further, coach you through the best ways to stick to it, and find a home in your area that meets your needs.

Manhattan Market

In Manhattan, residential demand is healthy, eclipsing the 2019 vintage year, and in certain micro pockets and price points, seeing multiple offer actions. Weekly numbers are as we would expect entering the spring market: Supply 421, Contracts Signed 251, and Off Market 102. When you subtract out Contracts Signed and Off Market numbers from the supply, it’s only 68 Listings, and that’s why purchasers are taking another look at the inventory that’s been on the market for a while.
 
“The top 40 percent of earners are sitting on more than a trillion dollars in extra savings amassed during the early part of the pandemic, per a New York Times article“. According to Redfin, almost a third of U.S. homebuyers purchase with cash rather than financing with a mortgage. Buying real estate with all cash is a trend in big cities, and the NYC metro is no different. According to the report, the level of homes purchased with all cash has not been seen since 2014. The states depending on NYC local, 31% to 50% of home sales were loan free. Buyers purchasing in NYC are equity and cash rich. The trend is that affluent buyers are buying with cash since mortgage rates have doubled from a year ago. These buyers have built significant wealth and are avoiding high-interest payments that increase their monthly outlay.

I am witnessing this phenomenon.

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