Hey home buyers, they’ve been lying to you. They; the main stream media, the laughingly called "economic experts", the "real
estate industry experts"…all of them. Straight up gaslighting you. Telling you about dropping rates, dropping prices and increasing inventory. They're straight up BS'ing you.
Buy the home now, it's not getting easier. Home prices are not substantially dropping any time soon. Not if rates drop, not if supply modestly increases and damn sure not due to the much ballyhooed “commission” changes. Buyers waiting for prices to substantially drop are wasting time and losing money. Sounds like the typical hack agent line, but serious buyers need to accept things and get it done. The cavalry isn't coming, no one is coming.
Gaslighting Home Buyers
The amount of nonsensical babble distributed by the MSM is mind-numbing. They operate a “click bait campaign”; simply toss something out there that will stimulate the reader to click. Accuracy, cogent arguments, facts...nothing matters. What matters are clicks, comments, and reactions. Consider the last three quarters (Q3-4 ’23 and Q1 ’24) and how the MSM handled inflation and the economy. Inflation was "tamed" and the economy is great, no recession. As the ’23 ended, all of these talking heads had the Fed cutting rates multiple times, starting early ’24. Buyers were chomping at the bit, waiting for something that’s not going to happen.
Now the laughingly called experts are trumpeting “prices will fall” due to the potential commission settlement. Ignored by the MSM is the simple fact that sellers were never obligated to pay the buyer agent commission to begin with. The MSM reasons that if a seller of a 500K home doesn’t co-op with the buyer agent, they will pass the 10K-15K (2-3%) savings on to the buyer. Really? So they won't sell for as much as the market will allow? They won't take that extra money and pocket it? Right.
The disinformation with the economy, interest rates and now commissions have the public, especially buyers and sellers, confused. One day it's this, the next day it's that; the lack of responsible and impartial reporting is shameful.
Greater Atlanta Home Prices Continue to Rise
Think about inflation for a minute, what has decreased in price lately? Or better, what HASN'T increased dramatically in price lately. Now focus on housing; rent, insurance, utilities, mortgage rates...what's decreased? The MSM had real estate crashing if rates rose, did it? Did it crash as the market adjusted to the rate spikes? Did it crash as many buyers became renters? A simple chart answers those questions. And to make it more interesting, we highlighted the peak of the market compared to now.
Remember early '22, the abject crazy that was pretty much every housing market across the country? Greater Atlanta was chaos as well, look above at Q2 '22 and where we were. Follow the line and look where we are now. Rates are holding twice as high as they were then, the number of buyers dropped, the number of listings increased and prices....rose? From the peak to now, list prices are up 2.2%, pending prices up 4.7 and sale prices down 1.1%; prices are falling? Remember sale prices lag, that -1.1% is the Q4 '23 data; the slowest part of the year filled with holidays. Sale prices will be positive moving forward.
Many markets inside the Greater Atlanta area remain highly competitive, buyers still see multiple offer situations and bidding wars. The difference now surrounds listings. The trash sits; overpriced, not well maintained, poorly presented and marketed...those are sitting on the curb. Well presented and appealing homes are getting traffic and moving quickly; just ask any of the many still frustrated home buyers around Atlanta.
Use Your Head
At some point, the BS has to be called; we're at that point. We work with buyers and sellers that are completely flustered with the 
state of the market. We're in this field every hour of every day and countering the MSM idiocy seems like trying to push back waves at the beach. Baring an epic economic collapse, home prices around Greater Atlanta are not likely to crash. See that chart, that's one of the Carnival Barkers and demonstrates the credibility of CEO that lost hundreds of millions in 18 months. "Expert"? For buyers, when the right home - one one that works and makes fiscal sense - comes along, nail it. That said....
Not everyone should buy a home, in some cases renting is a better option. Sometimes renting until the right home to buy comes along is the better option. Purchasing a home is a major financial commitment; it can be a make or break move. Again, the MSM and the Carnival Barkers (above) in the industry minimize the importance of working with a skilled agent; don't fall for it. Buyers have no idea what it takes to make a transaction look boring. No idea what proper and thorough research of homes involves, what managing a contract entails. Making it look easy is what professionals do. Real estate is easy until it's not - then it's emotionally draining and expensive. Use your head.
Posted by Hank Miller on
Leave A Comment