Are Headlines Making Your Housing Decisions?

“Who is stupid enough to buy a house right now?” We keep hearing that line in public, and honestly, we get why. Higher interest rates, scary headlines, and the whiplash from the COVID-era housing boom can make the real estate market feel like a trap. So we slow it down and answer the real question behind the noise: when does buying a home make sense for your life, and when is it smarter to wait?

We walk through the buyer types who should hit pause, starting with the payment-stretched buyer who can only afford the home on a perfect month. We also talk about the “perfect timing” mindset, short-term buyers who may need to sell in a couple of years, and the emotionally reactive buyer making money decisions based on headlines. Along the way, we share how we approach our job as real estate advisors, including the part people rarely expect: sometimes the best advice is “don’t do it.”

Then we flip it and get specific about who should buy right now. If you’re relocating for work, growing a family, retiring, or moving closer to loved ones, the market doesn’t get to run your life. We also dig into why this can be a strategy market, especially for buyers who can negotiate, investors looking for deals, and anyone considering new construction incentives like rate buydowns and closing cost help. We finish with a fast game of buy now, wait, or walk away so you can test your own situation against real scenarios.

If this helps you think more clearly about buying a house in today’s market, subscribe, share with a friend who’s on the fence, and leave us a review.

https://housenextdoortx.com

Transcript

City Studio Banter And Bad Jokes

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome back to the house next door, where real estate meets reality. I'm Anthony Harris.

SPEAKER_01 0:04

And I'm Barbara Julia.

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Oh, this is our third episode in the c in the ep uh the I can't talk.

SPEAKER_01 0:10

The third episode in the city in the studio. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

The big city.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

The big city. Okay, Anthony has a joke.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

So this is something new. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Um give me your joke, Anthony.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Why did the realtor bring a ladder to the open house?

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Oh. Why did the realtor bring a ladder to the open house?

SPEAKER_00 0:31

I don't know. Because they heard the prices were through the roof.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Oh. Minnesota. I know, cheese. So Anthony, should we talk about um about bad jokes? How about how about how I well, this is on par for that because I send you the worst text messages sometimes in the middle of the year.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

The New Year's one with takes the cherry on top.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

So when I'm having beverages, I will text Anthony just terrible things. Like first, I like not really terrible things, but like, oh, we'll just, you know, talk a little shit. I'll be like, can you believe this? And I'll send him like really terrible videos from Instagram, you know, or like, look at that person, you know, or just like my worst self is coming through. And Anthony doesn't judge, and he's like just the perfect person for that because my husband is so like, oh, we should always be so kind, and you know, this stuff. Stupid idiot. And sometimes I just want to be really like negative and it feels good. And Anthony will allow me to be my worst self when I want to.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

It's a good thing.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

I feel like every friend needs somebody who will let them be embrace it. Yeah, their worst self and be like, I still love you. I know you're a kind soul, you just had to have a moment. So my husband and I have this tradition on Friday nights that we usually have uh beverages. We'll have wine, we turn on the jazz. Um the dead people music. The dead people music, because I only like to listen to music where the people are dead. Um, I just I love uh Coltrane and Billy Holiday. I just love all the old dead people jazz music, and which you know goes in with my old soul. I could listen to the old music in my old house that Anthony won't let me buy. Yeah. Um, because he ruined it for me. Um so um, so we're listening to that. My husband always likes like vintage cocktails, so like I'll do the wine, he'll do the vintage cocktails. He loves an aviation, which is like gin with cream de violet and like maraschino liqueur, and so we're doing our thing, and then we have this we have so much like vintage type liqueur and stuff because we're into those kind of cocktails, and we have absinthe, and we have never drank the absinthe before. And my son my son is living with us right now.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Um, I came back to pimp out for a house. I will old historic house. Yeah, not any old house, not just 80 hours, but an old historic one.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

And so he and he works at neighbors right now, so he was coming home. It was late, so we were in our cups, we were feeling it. And I go poor child, I'm like, let's let's open the absinthe, Craig. And he's like, We should. You think we should? And I'm like, Yeah, yeah, let's do it. Let's try it. And I'm like, I'm pretty sure you have to put sugar in it. And so we got sugar cubes that we for the old fashioned, and I'm like, I put like four sugar cubes in one, and and Kate's like, Oh, I'll do it. He had no problem. Yeah, and he's like, So we do we line up these shots of absinthe, and I'm like, I'm pretty sure you sip it.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

My son just tell me you're classy without telling me.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

He just he just took it back. Craig took it back, I sipped on it, and then we're like, oh, let's try that again. So we did it three times. Oh yeah. Plus some wine before. Well, plus, yeah. Yeah, I don't know. We this is what happens when you start making decisions when you're already a little tipsy. Yeah, you really shouldn't make any more decisions about alcohol.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

Well, what was the tagline that I came up with? Alcohol you later.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Alcohol you later. And then this is when I was like, we should rename the podcast to Drunk Realiters. And I thought it was amazing.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

And then we thought about listed and lit.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

Listed and lit, yes. I was texting him all these ideas about podcasts.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

They're still good ideas, they might still be podcast 2.0, right?

SPEAKER_01 4:23

And I was texting this all to you after my third shot of Absinthe.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

And I was having my slice of cheesecake at 54th Street.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

And then, yeah, because you were up and out in the world. I was just in this farmhouse getting lit off Absence.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

Maybe a quarter of a mile from the house.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

So then I got hungry and I ate half a bag of Cheetos, and I'm laying on the bed. Like my husband passed out on the couch. He was gone. Poor guy. My son, he's fine. He's like, oh, now he's just gonna go have a monster and probably drink more and play video games. And then I'm like just crashed out on the bed, laying full, fully dressed, just laying there texting Anthony all this stuff. And and then that's when it hits.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

What it?

SPEAKER_01 5:07

Well, so uh you know, I'm getting the colonoscopy next week, right? And I have all this prep that I have to take for the colonoscopy. You know what you do. Cheetos just a bag of Cheetos? What the real prep is, which will work just fine. Three shots of absinthe and a half a bag of Cheetos.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

Were they regular Cheetos or hot Cheetos?

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Hot Cheetos.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

Okay, good.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

So that is really what the doctor should prescribe. And you should probably take a shot of monster. No, but so I had a colon cleanse.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

And I heard about it.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

And I gave you all the details.

SPEAKER_00 5:39

So we went from drunk podcast to colon cleanse.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Yes. And so yeah, Craig and I are like, oh, we can never we'll never touch that absinthe again.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

And then next week.

unknown 5:49

Just stay tuned.

SPEAKER_01 5:51

So this is, you know, there's some weird things you do in your farmhouse when you've had too much to drink. You drink more and then do a colon prepens.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

Remember when we took your unicorn?

SPEAKER_01 6:02

Oh, he's not a unicorn. He's a um, he's a pinata, um, he's a he's a pinata donkey. So me and Barbara got some wine one time. Yes, we get we drank a little. You were drinking on the patio.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

And then we ended up in the garage.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

He yeah, because he wanted to see my husband's vintage um car, which is uh Austin Healy, 1950 something. And and then I had my pinata, who's called Pinot the real estate pinata, in there. And we took the Pinot Grisha? Yes, and so we put Pinot in different scenarios in the garage to get the legs of them. Yeah. Oh, and then we got my leg lamp out from from our Christmas story. Yeah. Oh my and then Craig got out to get the car in the morning, and he's like, Why is Pinot in my car and why is the leg lamp out? And I'm like, no reason. He's like, What were you two doing? I said, I don't know. Okay, let's get to our episode before everybody tunes out.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

Because I don't want to listen about your Cheeto diarrhea.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

I got it right. Okay, so this episode we're gonna change this. How do you segue from that to this?

Why Would Anyone Buy Now?

SPEAKER_00 7:19

So it's a crappy market.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

See, would you want to buy real estate from us or take any advice from us after this? I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Just have a bottle line, a nimble tongue.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

Um, so this is something we touched on before when we were talking about the conflict in Iraq and how that is affecting oh gosh. Yeah, you know, well, one of those countries over there we're fighting with. Um we're probably fighting all of them. And we were talking about how that was affecting the market. And so I think we kind of need to revisit that because the the title of this episode is Why Would Anyone Buy Right Now? You know, why would anybody buy right now? And and I really want to talk about that because and the reason I felt like we needed to talk about it is I was at an urban farm dinner um probably like three weeks ago, and I was sitting at the table with some really wonderful people that I got to know, and he was saying he found out I was a realtor, and he said, Who is even actually buying a house right now? Like, who is stupid enough to buy a house? Those were his words. Wow. And like I didn't want to get into it because I didn't want to be, you know, we were we were at a beautiful wine dinner, and I was just like, Yeah, it's you know, there are people who need to move will move, you know, people are always buying and selling. I had a like a very generic positive response for it, but I certainly didn't want to be that realtor who started like doing my whole pitch, right? And then I was getting my hair done, and um the two ladies next to me were talking about the stylist and her her client were talking about who would ever buy a house right now? I mean, you're just dumb if you buy a house. I mean, it's crazy. No one should buy a house. And I realized there's like a lot of people who think this and they don't understand like actually this as a great opportunity. It could be a really great opportunity, but they are also right. It could be a really bad time and opportunity, you know, the wrong opportunity for people. And it isn't just a cut and dry, uh easy market to say, Oh, yeah, we should buy, it's great. It looks scary. And if you're listening to the headlines, it looks even more scary. I mean, we're bombarded with negativity, scary stuff all the time. And so it's very natural to say, yeah, I'm not, I'm not, especially if you have an interest rate of you know 2% and your home value skyrocketed and then it dropped, and then anything you want to buy similar seems very your payment is gonna be more than what you have now, right? So I get that's that is the truth. There are some hard truths about where not buying right now does make a whole lot of sense.

Real Estate Advice Not A Sales Pitch

SPEAKER_01 9:55

And do you feel like you've run into this too?

SPEAKER_00 9:57

Yeah, and I struggle with it individually with myself. I want to buy something, but I'm stuck in that low interest rate with the low sales price. Yeah. And I'm gonna keep my house. So I'm stuck individually. Like I I just had a client that we sold and I was jealous of his payment. So I'm like, I could buy a house out here and make it an investment. Um so I feel like individually I stru I struggle with it, and then most of my clients are in the position where they want to move. And you know, they ask me how's the market doing and stuff like that. And you know, we as realtors, I think it's our job to advise them and tell them, you know, the that what we're gonna go into with the episode is what when is it a good time to for you to buy and when is it not?

SPEAKER_01 10:45

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 10:45

And it's individualized expect expert opinions, like it's per the person, not in the situation. Everybody's situation is different.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

Yeah, I was just talking to a client I haven't talked to in five years on um the way to my lease listing that I was doing, and he said, I need to, I think I need to sell my house. He's got renters in it, and he's planning on going back to India, which he's going back to India a lot because of the climate of our country. It's just easier for him, and um India is paying a little bit better, and there's some stuff going on over there that makes it more appealing. And so he's trying to get all of his US properties kind of consolidated and liquidated. And he said, But I'm not planning on doing this for at least, you know, two years, but I want to start the process now. And he said, I just I said I'll run the comps and we'll look at it. And if it looks like we're gonna hit that number, we can realistically hit that number you want, then let's go for it. If we're not gonna be able to hit that number within, you know, a buffer, then hold on, hold on to it. And that's what I'm there to advise. I'm not there like, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:51

Let's put it for sell sign and let it sit there for day months like that.

SPEAKER_01 11:54

Yeah, no, so I we are real estate advisors, and sometimes it is our job to say, no, this isn't the right time. I can't guarantee that a year from now we'll be any better, but for what you want to do right now, you're not going to meet your goal. And I don't want to mislead you there.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

And something so you're disappointed. Something that I tell my clients is, you know, I'm like, it's not my money. No, it's not telling you, I'm not telling you how to do it, but from what you've told me, this is you know, if you're very payment conscious and you're right at that payment, then if it were me, I don't think I would want to stress myself out that way. Right. And it right now might not be the time. But that's your decision, your money. Absolutely. And you know, how often do you tell does a realtor tell you not to buy a house?

SPEAKER_01 12:39

Well, no, my you know, my mentor, Christina, and she's gonna be in here. She's gonna be one of our first interviews. Um, she she's like, I talk myself out of taking more, I talk my sellers into staying more than I do. You know, she's such an honest realtor, and that's why I've always loved her as my um mentor because she really looks at what the people need, and it is their decision. But she gives them all the different scenarios, and then when they say, What would you do? She honestly says, Hey, if I were in your position, I would hold. Yep. And so I respect that, and that's that's what we're there for. We're not there just to sell their house, we're there to give them advice. League, like not legal advice. I'm gonna say legal advice.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

We're not attorneys, Barbara.

SPEAKER_01 13:18

Like legal, I'm there to give you legal advice. This is elicited legal advice.

SPEAKER_00 13:22

This is Barb's legal hotline, what I like.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

Oh my gosh, could you imagine?

SPEAKER_00 13:28

So, do you need hot Cheetos? Hang on, this would be Barbara.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

Well, it's like when you made me your accountant. You briefly made me your accountant, and I went to all of their spending. I said, uh, your accountant approves that. Yes, you should buy that.

SPEAKER_00 13:43

I text Barbara when I need self.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

Um you want me to say yes. Yeah, affirming affirming when you want me to back you up on something. Yeah. Why can't we think of words?

SPEAKER_00 13:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

Yes. They're skaping us. Good thing we're on a podcast. Let's just start speaking Chinese. Mandarin. But um, but yeah, when you you I was your accountant for a whole week. Yeah. That was the best week of your life.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

I got a spa. No, no, no. You got a you got a dog? She's been expensive. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

But but yeah, that we're there to get advice and to help.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

To get advice, I don't know. No, it

Who Should Not Buy Right Now

SPEAKER_00 14:25

is.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

So let's talk about who needs to who absolutely should not be buying right now. And you know, let's go there. Let's say you like this is who should not buy.

SPEAKER_00 14:35

The one that's payment conscious.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Well, and you're right. So in that's like the number one thing here. I have my handy dandy little note.

SPEAKER_00 14:41

Yeah, if I'm speeding ahead. No, you're not.

SPEAKER_01 14:43

You're great. So the payment stretched buyer, and that means, you know, just like you talked about, somebody who is maxing out every single dollar to get into this home, and then that payment is maxing them out where they have car trouble that they have car trouble or you have, you know, loss of a job, God forbid, um, and things aren't getting any more, you know, less expensive, right? The the world is still a little unpredictable. And so if you're setting yourself up where you can barely afford that home on a good day, yeah, think how that payment's gonna feel on a bad day. Yeah, on a bad day. And so, yes, if that's the way you want to go and home ownership is that important to you and you're gonna figure it out, we can make that happen for you in the best possible scenario. But that is somebody who maybe should hit pause for a minute.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

And I have an example of this is I was shown last year a guy in Georgetown and he was paying cash for the house. But taxes, the tax rate was sky high. And I told him, you know, his income was very he was on a fixed income, very low. And I said, your taxes are gonna eat up your whole monthly, you know, you're gonna have two hundred dollars a month to live off of.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

And you know, and taxes are gonna continue going up. So you need to really think about if this is your house that you want to purchase, right? Or if we need to change your budget.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Yeah, very good point. It's not like taxes are going down anytime soon.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

And he was paying cash. It wasn't the payment, but the taxes were so high that it made a big difference.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

Yeah, and that that's something you have to look at too. You look at your payment, and sometimes people don't factor in taxes. We usually put that in our payment, but sometimes we don't. And yeah, so the payment stretch buyer really needs to be cautious right now. It's not a hard no, but it's it's a pause for sure. And then the waiting for the perfect timing buyer. Okay, these are these are my least favorite buyers.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

And I have one right now. Well, he's a seller.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

They're so they're always trying to outside outsmart the rates, they're trying to outsmart the prices and the economy. And at the end of the day, like there is literally no perfect time to buy a house. There's always gonna be a trade-off. You don't get to just like sell high and buy low.

SPEAKER_00 16:58

And you never know it in the in the in the time either.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

No, you like you don't know. You don't have hindsight like that. That's you know, real estate is not risk adverse.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

Like, there's many times have you seen a property and then five years later you think about I should have bought that property. Oh, yeah. If I would have bought that property, like I have that thought all the time.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

Well, me, I listed my house talking about buying high like sell selling high, buying low, right? Um, I listed my house two weeks before the market went insane with COVID. And so our prices were just escalating, escalating, escalating. And at the time, there was only two houses available in all of Cedar Park.

unknown 17:39

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

And mine was about to go on the market, and the other two just went under contract 200k over ass, 100k over ask, you know, all this stuff. We're starting to get there. Waving inspections. This is right before everything goes. And I couldn't believe where my home value was and what people were willing to pay. And so I didn't even go to the market. I got an off-market property because it was COVID. I didn't really want people in my house. Yeah. And they gave me more than I could ever expect. And I'm a realtor, right? Again, probably should have had a realtor from for a realtor. Because I was like, okay, that's great. You know, we don't have to. That's what I want. We don't have to open our house. Oh, I left more than that on the table because the next week, the next week my house was so I sold it for about 700, 700,000. I got some really other great terms and uh like a free lease back for three months. You know, I got some really good stuff. But um, I could have sold it if I had waited five days later, I could have sold it for a million. Wow. Could have sold it for a million. So I told my husband, I'm like, I want that on my grave. She could have sold the house for a million, but she didn't.

SPEAKER_00 18:47

But so And then on the other side of it is I could have bought that house for a million historic home.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

Well, and this is where I told myself is like I got the house that I bought for a lot less. So, you know, you never get to sell high, buy, you know, you know, that sell high buy low. It all equals out. It all equals out in the end. And so that's just hindsight. You can't if you're sitting there just waiting for the perfect time, you're just gonna freeze yourself. And then you're not really ready. Because when you're really ready, that's not gonna matter.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

Yep, and then you're gonna be outpriced of the market.

SPEAKER_01 19:16

Yeah, absolutely. So I would say, you know, if you're waiting for the perfect timing buyer, you want those rates to go back down, but you want to sell your house for top dollar, stay pit. Stay put because you know it's just not the right time for you. That's not the right time. And then, okay, the other one is short-term buyers and sellers. Okay, so this is your this is your buyer who needs to sell in a couple of years. Like it they can't stay in the house more than two years, maybe three. And they're looking to buy right now. That's probably gonna be tough. It's gonna be tough to break even, and you might even dip down a little bit. And so that's gonna be one where you might be better off renting.

SPEAKER_00 19:57

You know, that's one of the questions I ask my buyers when I first meet with them is yeah, how long do you expect to be in this house?

SPEAKER_01 20:03

It's a very good question.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

And you know, you you never know the answer. But is it five years to ten years, two to three? Like, because that's gonna gauge what we look at and how how we go about looking at your house.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

Right, absolutely, and how you you're able to advise them. If they can be there longer, you can take them to different areas that might meet their criteria a little bit more because they don't have to turn around and resale, right? But if they have to turn around and resale, then you're gonna be like, Well, we're gonna have to go to these markets where you could actually do that. So you're gonna have to compromise maybe on your list. But if you're gonna stay put, then we can hit that wish list because you don't need to, you don't need to move, you know. And so so for those buyers that have to have to turn around, they know they're gonna be temporary, but they kind of just want to have a home and build some equity, it's kind of a tough market to do that. Yeah, it's kind of a tough market.

SPEAKER_00 20:58

This is unpredictable. It's we don't know what's gonna happen. We've been saying for three, four years now, interest rates are gonna get better. And they have, but oh I thought that's the joke of the episode.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

Like the date the rate, date the rate, marry the house. And it, you know, and how many people got in trouble because of that? Because they were doing those arm things again, where those arm things, like I have no words today. They're doing those uh adjustable mortgage rates with the arms, and it's with the arms. My love has arms. Um, and you know, as soon as that rate changes back to what the market rate is, the rate buy down is gone, your payment hops a thousand dollars, five hundred dollars. That's a lot. And so we were all remember, we were all so convinced in twenty twenty three. Oh, the rate is gonna adjust by you know, January, by January 2024, it's gonna be right back, it's gonna be below five percent.

SPEAKER_00 21:58

No. Is it no?

SPEAKER_01 22:00

It's never scene five again, unless you're buying new construction and they're buying the rate down for you and you know, all that good stuff.

SPEAKER_00 22:06

But yeah. With that being said, that's if you're that buyer for a brand new home, now's the time to buy.

SPEAKER_01 22:13

Oh, well, we aren't there yet, Anthony. You just burned it out. Yeah, but it's true.

SPEAKER_00 22:18

Maybe if I looked at my notes.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

No, that's fine. Um, but yeah, COVID Covey really gave us this false sense of how much equity we could get in our house, right? So it we had this artificial anomaly bump of value. And all of a sudden your house was like winning the lottery. But really, homes only appreciate in you know, a nice, stable, boring market, which is what we talk about. We want nice stable boring markets where buyers give, sellers give, everybody kind of meets in the middle, it stings a little bit, right? From each side. Not where we had sellers just getting everything, and buyers are now getting everything. And so we like that balance. And when we get that balance, that's when you know it's just a a better market. And in that market, it's where you're seeing appreciation, like around 4%, 6% for normal areas. It'll always have pockets that are really, really hot. And see 16% and things, but typically it's you know, three to you know, six percent, four to six percent, you know, that's basically where you're at. But when we were in the COVID times, especially here, we were 25%, we were like 36% in some areas, and so those are gonna have a little bit longer to get back to balancing out. So, okay, the last person who should not be buying right now is the emotionally reactive buyer. And was that you? No, no, you're not reactive. I'm not reactive, I just emotionally attached buyer, and that's the buyer who always wants to buy and always should buy. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:48

Unless you're her realtor and then you tell her not to.

SPEAKER_01 23:51

Yeah. So an emotionally reactive uh buyer is a fear-based buyer. They're buying because, like, oh, we're not gonna be able to like the market, the sky is falling. We need to buy a house now because they're gonna the interest rates are gonna go up to 12%. Um, or you know, I need to sell my house because it's never gonna be worth it, you know.

SPEAKER_00 24:09

They're focused on the news. They're focused on the news. The noise.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

And here's the deal: if the headlines are are making your decisions for you, you really shouldn't be making any major decisions about your finances and selling a house. Yep just stay put.

SPEAKER_00 24:21

Yep. Stay put. And remember, news, news companies want you to click and watch. Yes, they get paid for that. So they're gonna tell you whatever gets them there.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

So, yeah, if you're an emotionally reactive buyer and you're just trying to, you know, you're feeding into this chaos and you're afraid, those those are the people who I'm running into at the urban farm dinner. They're the people that I'm running into at the hair salon. They have a lot of fear based. And for them, you know, maybe if they had a, you know, a reason to move, but I think those are the buyers that really shouldn't move right now because they are really dedicated to those headlines.

SPEAKER_00 24:58

And whatever decision they make, they're gonna they're gonna regret it.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

They're gonna regret it, and they're going to feel like in five years they might not. They they're gonna regret it, you know, they're gonna regret it and they're gonna blame. And and where does the blame go? Always to the realtor. So yeah, you want to make sure you advise those people very carefully. Okay, but then let's go to our

Who Should Buy In This Market

SPEAKER_01 25:17

next. Who should absolutely be buying a house right now? Who should absolutely be buying a house right now? And this is this is me. Like I had a pleasure or a pain point. My mom moved from California to Bastrop, and so I was in Liberty Hill, which was an hour and ten minutes away from her. And if she was gonna be in the same state as me in 20 years for the first time, I was gonna go be as close to her as possible. So I had a I had a pleasure point. Yep. My mom was coming, so I I needed to sell. So people who are growing their families, people who are um moving closer to family, job, um, people who are getting a job, these are pleasure points. And retiring. You don't stop your life because the market rate. Yeah, you you don't let the market dictate your life. You let your life dictate your life. There will always be or just listen to Barbara.

SPEAKER_00 26:11

She says spend money. Well, all right, let me be your accountant.

SPEAKER_01 26:15

But you we will always be, there will always be people having babies, losing jobs, dying, getting married. It doesn't matter if the rates are 30 or 40 percent. There is always a need for people to have shelter. Yeah, right. And so people are buying and selling in all kinds of markets. But these these people are, you know, we have a pleasure or a pain point. And so those are absolutely the ones that should buy right now. The other one is buyers who can negotiate, especially cash investors. You're investor heavy. Yeah, your investors are like having a ball right now and getting some great deals.

SPEAKER_00 26:48

Oh yeah. There the deals, I'm like, we haven't seen them in five years.

SPEAKER_01 26:53

And we might not. Yeah, you know, we don't know. We've got this window right now where buyers can breathe, where they can negotiate, where they can set some really good terms. And so you can it is that's why I'm like, no, is really not a bad time to buy. If you can kind of silence all that noise, we don't have these opportunities in Austin very often at all. And it's I am personally looking for investment property just because I have got this window. Yeah. Who knows how long it's gonna last?

SPEAKER_00 27:23

Yeah, and so I'm always looking, but yeah, you're always but my financial advisor told me not to.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

I said you should and so you know that leads into the other person is the buyer who understands this is a strategy market, not a frenzy market. And that's you know, that's us. We're um and our investors and people looking for second homes, and it's you can absolutely pick up some properties, especially in off-the-beaten path areas like Smithville, Smithville is gonna take off. And right now, you can get such a great deal in Smithville, especially commercial property, historic commercial property, and give it time, give it like five years, it's gonna be like bash drops, especially since the film industry is moving so much there. You're only 40 minutes from the airport, you're 45 minutes from downtown Austin, it's gonna take off. And right now, you can get some smoke and deals there. Um, so it's a strategy buyer. And then long-term holders, we talked about that. Anybody who wants to stay in their home longer than five years, you know. Again, you the this current noise doesn't matter to you. You're looking for your long-term home. You can always refinance later. Sorry I said it. Day three and marry the home. Okay, but you know, the long game, the headlines don't matter so much. You're just looking for where you need to be.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

Something too that I tell my clients is you know, if they're looking for a home, their first-time home buyer, buy a new home, even if it's not your forever home. Yeah, you're gonna appreciate more in that new home right now because they're giving you everything. Yeah. That in five years we can hopefully sell that. I don't make promises, but hopefully sell that at a good profit where then you can buy your dream home.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

Absolutely. Um, yeah, you're stair stepping. Your build, your move up home, right? You don't necessarily get to have your dream home, the first home. You you have your build-up, you have your levels. And right now, builders are given great great deals, great

Buy Now Wait Or Walk Away

SPEAKER_01 29:15

incentives. Okay, it's game time. Yay! Okay, our game is buy now, wait, or walk away. Okay. Okay, and we're gonna go through scenarios. I'm gonna say them. I'm getting better at how to like do the game.

SPEAKER_00 29:30

I feel like next time I need to ask you.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

Do you want to do the game next time? Yeah. Okay, you do the game next time. Oh, I'm so I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_00 29:37

With my cheesy jokes.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

Okay. Okay, first-time home buyer with a tight budget. We already talked about this.

SPEAKER_00 29:44

Yeah, like real tight? Real tight. Yeah. Walk away, wait.

SPEAKER_01 29:48

Wait, wait. It's it's it's debatable. Investor with cash, bye. Every day, all day. Investor without cash, bye. Buyer relocating for work, bye.

SPEAKER_00 30:01

Bye.

SPEAKER_01 30:02

Yeah, especially if you don't have to turn around in like, you know, two years or so. Um, growing family, where the home office is now the baby's room. Bye. Bye.

SPEAKER_00 30:09

You're gonna be a whole lot happier.

SPEAKER_01 30:11

And you're gonna get a great opportunity to buy a bigger house uh while they can negotiate more because once those rates go down, all of a sudden it's gonna be real you're gonna be paying more for that house. So, yeah, absolutely. Layoff rumors at work. Should I buy? Probably not. No. Wait. Probably should wait. Yep. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 30:29

And the client Unless you're downsizing.

SPEAKER_01 30:31

Yeah, unless you're downsizing, that's true. The client who wants to sell high and buy low. Wait. Don't hire me. Okay. I've got a really good friend. I can give you our number. And we know it's not a really good friend. I bet she talks about you. It's one of the realtors that it's on my short list. Yeah. Um,

Final Takeaways And Sign Off

SPEAKER_01 30:55

all right. Well, that's it for today. Thank you all for joining us.

SPEAKER_00 30:59

Until next week. Yeah. We'll see y'all later.