What do Today's Home Buyers and the Pentagon have in Common?
Here’s the scenario: It’s March 25, 2021, and you’re in the market to purchase a home. Maybe this is the first time you’ve ever considered buying your own home and you’re searching online listings for homes that catch your eye? Or perhaps you own your home and have a growing family and it’s time to find a place with more space? Whatever the case, unless you’ve had your finger on the pulse of the real estate market the past year, there are likely going to be potential hurdles on the horizon to be prepared for.
Ask any real estate professional in a hot market and they’ll tell you, home inventories are at an all time low, and competition is at an all time high. Low supply, high demand. Traditionally, buyers—whether first time or experienced buyers—could rely on a strong credit score, a conservative debt-to-income ratio, and a 20% down payment to win the home of their choosing. Traditionally, if you ran up against two or three competitors on the same home, you could back off your demands a bit to appease the seller, and voila, you find yourself at the closing table in a month or two with keys in hand.
In today’s hypercompetitive market, home buyers need to plan as if they are members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff coordinating a full-frontal attack with as many weapons in their arsenal as possible, metaphorically speaking. Imagine yourself, the home buyer, being the Pentagon; the Realtor is your Army, and your Lender, the Navy. This is a full-scale campaign requiring air, land, and sea components in the harshest climate imaginable. The sellers are cold as the Korean War, and accept nothing less than the highest bid, sometimes as high as 15%- 20% over asking price!
Remember the film, Saving Private Ryan, where US Soldiers landed on Omaha Beach on the coast of France and hit a massive German defensive, sitting there awaiting the unsuspecting Americans? At the expense of sounding overdramatic, most Realtors I've spoken with recently would agree with my analogy.
The name of the game is “strength”. I would also add "strategy" and “perseverance” to that. Without possessing those three attributes as a buyer in today’s real estate market, your chances of success are pretty slim. Does this mean the market won’t change in the future, enabling less qualified buyers to find homes? It's a possibility. But no one seems to know at this time, just as no one knew a global pandemic was coming a year ago. So many economical forces play into the current situation that only time will tell.
What I do know is that if you have the strength and perseverance to enter the current real estate market, you’re going to need a strong team to help you strategize, and I’d like to be able to help you with that on the lending side. I have access to a majority of loan products at highly competitive pricing, along with a high-caliber team of seasoned mortgage professionals to assist in every step of the way. In terms of products, service, strategy, and playing well with others, we’re hard to beat!
My name is Gabe Schick, a Mortgage Loan Officer, NMLS2015163, with CrossCountry Mortgage – AMG Team, personally licensed to serve New Jersey & Pennsylvania borrowers and existing home owners with refinancing options. I am also a Marine Corps Veteran and always honored to help fellow veterans utilize and navigate their VA Home Loan benefits. Call (609)240-1767 or email [email protected]. Thank You!