For the last five or six years, the real estate market has favored home sellers. Well, it hasn't really favored them, it has been entirely in favor of them. Buyers were both rushed to make offers and given the ammunition to do so without impunity. Much of this had to do with interest rates.
Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that interest rates have been at historic lows. The ability to borrow money cheaply added a lot of liquidity to the home market. Throw in fancy loans such as interest only payments and you had a veritable buying frenzy. With all that readily available cash, home buyers were plentiful and went nuts. They wanted to purchase and they had the cash to do it. For sellers, it was a golden situation. They could ask far outrageous prices and get tons of offers in a week. Many buyers would pay outrageous premiums.
As the market is cooling, the situation has changed and buyers need to take account of this. Interest rates on mortgages have moved up. As a result, there are fewer potential buyers looking for homes. This has created more supply than there is demand in the market. The result? Home valued across much of the country are pulling back. In simple terms, this means the market now favors property buyers.
If you are considering buying a home, you need to adjust your mentality. Instead of rushing around, you need to take a deep breathe. There is absolutely no need to make a high offer on a home because you want to make sure you don't lose it to some other buyer. Homes are not appreciating at the moment, so do not buy high! If homes continue to decrease in value, you will quickly owe more than the home is worth.
At this point in time, the property market is heavily in favor of buyers. As a buyer, you need to carefully access the entire market. You will quickly notice a downward trend in prices and should be able to pluck out a few plum deals. In fact, you might want to wait another six to twelve months to see just how low home values go.
