Hello my friends! This week I was helping a client through a “fun” challenge that came up and at the end of the call he said “I am so glad that you are my friend!” He wasn’t glad that I was his realtor, or even that I was there to help. He was glad that I am his friend. That is the ideal situation for me. You are not a number. You are not a transaction. You are someone who is going through one of the most stressful, largest financial transactions of your life. I want you to know that you have someone there who knows what they are doing and who is thinking about you and what is best for you. On top of that I will always tell you why I think the way that I do, and even if you choose something completely different, I will work to get it for you. My goal is that you are my friend years from now.
The market:
The main thing that I am hearing clients ask about now is interest rates. Rates are going up. I believe that rates will continue to go up. I also believe that rates are still at historically low levels. We are still below 5%, and 5% was an unheard of low just a decade ago. We have all been so happy with our tiny interest rates of the last few years, that now a number as high as 5% can seem big. It absolutely can affect your buying power. That also means that it can affect the buying power of people buying your home as well.
What does that mean to you? As a seller it means that the higher priced your home is, the pool of buyers who can afford it is very slowly getting smaller over time. As a buyer it means that you might be losing buying power the longer that it takes you to buy. (Depending on if your income changes, and how the market affects prices as well.)
An interesting note is that according to GoBankingRates.com it is cheaper to buy instead of rent in 38 states (including Iowa = Average Monthy Rent of $1,089 vs. Average Monthly Mortgage of $895) right now in the United States. That means that if you are currently renting, you might be able to save money by buying, and you would also have a property that appreciates and that you are paying down over time. That means that instead of rent going out of your bank account every month, it is going towards buying you a house.
I love doing what I do. I love looking at the market, and I love building relationships with the people that I get to help. Let me know how I can help you. Call me today. You can reach me at 515.639.0047 or RyanLynch@KW.com. I am good at what I do, and I want to help you.
~Ryan Lynch
