Successful Home Buyers Embrace "Measured Risk"
Posted by Hank Miller on
There’s risk in everything. If we defer to the stats most people wouldn’t drive, fly, invest, gamble, play sports or do pretty much anything beyond sit in 
the basement wearing a mask, gloves and bicycle helmet waiting for instruction. Most folks look to mitigate risk but it’s a part of daily life. It’s also part of buying a home; successful home buyers embrace risk. "Measured risk” is a good way to summarize how buyers need to think right now as conventional tactics are simply not effective in this market (4/22).
Measured Risk
Measured risk is just that, it's not being reckless or stupid. It's understanding the current market and the influences at play. What are the trends, inventory, mortgage rates, forecasts? What are the winning buyers doing;…
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$450K home in his sights but was annoyed with the price and having to compete with other buyers. He lost it. He then found two more solid fits at $465K and $445K, liked them and felt his offers were right on target. Losing both, he decided to wait for the "spring" market because he knows that prices will come down as inventory increases. While waiting, his mortgage rate went from 3.35% to 4.72%; a whiplash rise of 1.37% and one that forced Timmy's budget to decrease between $65K-$75K. Timmy waits; chin in hand with Lassie who is beyond pissed with him for blowing several good opportunities. "Surely the spring market will…
It’s hard to find a housing market not presently on fire, Atlanta is no different. Compared to a decade ago and the worst housing crisis ever, this market turn around improvement is among the tops in the country. The 2022 market could not be more different than the 2010-12 market...over 100K homes were on the market during the darkest days. The Atlanta real estate market explosion is due in large part to its broad appeal, size and vast selection of properties. The “Atlanta Real Estate market” is a misnomer; the area is akin to spilled glass of milk. With no natural boundaries, it sprawls over 8 to 16 counties depending on who sources the information. Each area is its own micro market but all contribute to the overall "Atlanta housing market".
estate market exploded and subtle fundamental changes began to appear. Zillow crashed in spectacular fashion, other iBuyers dabbled grew their presence a bit more and institutional investors decided they really love homes. Atlanta has always been an investor darling, but over the last couple of years, activity has exponentially increased. "They" know something...Wall Street is far ahead of the real estate curve and what they anticipate seems to be coming into focus. They're on a massive buying spree and tightening the chokehold; the impact on home buyers, especially in the Atlanta market, is brutal. Their…
tougher for home buyers, but they are. Many factors are at play/still in play so it's not all real estate related, but buyers don't really care what's causing their consternation; the fact is that right now (late Feb '22), buyers are stumbling and bumbling wondering how to get offers selected. It's a beauty contest and the most appealing offers are getting selected.
estate market could be described in those ways. No one anticipated the impact of Covid and the subsequent impact of billions in government subsidies. But now the brakes are being applied and economists wonder, what will the 2022 Atlanta real estate market look like? Something has to give...or maybe not. At this point in the '22 market (Mid Feb), nothing has changed. In fact, the tempo has increased ahead of rising mortgage rates, which are already a point higher than last year at this time. Just a month ago, we posted that home buyers will be frustrated, that's largely confirmed at this point.
buyers are tossing off all constraints to "win" the beauty contest of buying a home. Appraisals below contract price will continue to be a challenge in 2022. Consider, appraisals this year will be using data from the already insane market of 2021 and many will still fall below contract. Remember, the buyer’s loan is based upon the lower of the contract price or appraisal. The appraisal contingency protects the lender – and indirectly the buyer – to ensure the home can be sold for at least the loan value. Buyers that waive or modify the appraisal contingency need to have cash on hand to make up any…
worth” will never end, because there is no standard answer. Sure the reflex text book answer is “what a buyer is willing to pay” but that’s hardly the complete picture. A home has a number of “values” and most are not tied to the buyers in the market. There is a best answer of course, it also happens to be the simplest one. Spoiler alert...it’s not what it sells for. This short clip provides a common sense overview, below that we get more into the weeds.
traditionally slow, the big influences on the market were inflation levels unseen in 40 yrs, supply chain shortages, labor issues and of course the rise and run of the omicron covid variant. That is best described as an endemic; like the flu it's evident that the covid situation isn't going anywhere. So despite all of that, we did have a 4th qtr housing market report for Atlanta and it read much the same as the rest of 2021; record low inventory and frustrated buyers. What lies ahead for 2022? Well we know rising rates; as this is written in mid Jan, rates are already up from a few weeks ago and they will…