I would believe, from the most recent numbers, that this is definitely the time for buyers to move on finding their vacation or permanent homes if they have wanted to buy and have been waiting for something to signal it’s time to make their move.
Sellers usually sell in times like these because they don’t use their cabins like they used to do so it doesn’t seem to be practical to keep the cabin.
We have been informed over and over interest rates will start going up this year for sure, so they say, but you cannot ever trust predictions about the economy.
You can believe they will go up eventually as assuredly as you can believe real estate will increase in values over time. It might be slow but it’s usually more than the banks have to offer your savings. Right now they simply can’t get much lower.
If you are in the market then my best advice is to buy and hold for as long as you can.
Don’t buy if you are afraid of losing your job or your income is unpredictable.
Buy within your safety zones
Make sure you can make your payments with vacation income properties should no one ever rent your home. Find a price and stick to it. Don’t go more than you believe you can afford and don’t let a realtor or anyone else talk you into more than you are comfortable buying. When buying and calculating monthly payments always take into consideration your utility costs, your insurance and any possible repairs that might come up from a new faucet or stop and waste valve to a new roof. Have a home inspection by a professional before you are through your inspection periods when in escrow. Some sellers are oblivious to the repairs that are needed in their homes. As a buyer’s agent I would ask a buyer to pay attention to safety problems in the repair list and anything really expensive.
As a seller’s agent I would ask the seller to negotiate the costs of repairs with the buyer and see if they can lower what they would have to pay out if they had to do all the repairs themselves.
There are many variables in every transaction. They all have to be handled individually. There is no procedure that is the standard way to handle everything. Rest assured regardless of the end result the buyer wishes they could have gotten more than the seller was willing to do and the seller feels they’ve done too much.
All of that is strictly up to the people who own and who are buying and their individual circumstances.
Agents see both sides of the situation and do what they can to get the best result for their client but always it is up to that client to hold true to what they must do and relay that to their agent. There are always more houses to buy and there are always more buyers looking at homes. If something doesn’t work, cancel the escrow and move on.
