People even if they haven't been watching real estate news have heard about the sellers' market. Because there's a lot of talk about how strong the market is for people who want to sell their homes. People who are thinking about selling their homes might want to know: what does it mean that we're in a sellers' market right now, and what does that mean?

A seller's market is a place where people who want to buy things are.

The most recent Existing Home Sales Report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) shows that there is still a very low amount of housing available for sale. There are enough homes for two months at this rate of sales.

When you sell, what does this mean?

People who want to buy a home have a hard time finding one when there aren't as many homes for sale. That makes it more difficult for people to buy things, which can lead to more bidding wars. If buyers know they might be in a bidding war, they'll do their best to make a very good offer right away. This could make your house cost more in the end.

Mortgage rates and home prices are going up, which makes people who want to buy a house want to do it now, before they go up even more. People who want to buy a house will likely pay a lot of attention to yours if you put it on the market while there isn't much competition.

The Bottom Line

The current real estate market is full of great opportunities for people who want to move. Putting your house on the market this season means you'll be in front of people who are ready to buy. Let's meet up so you can start the selling process right away.

When there are enough homes for buyers to choose from in a normal or neutral market, a six-month supply is needed to keep the market stable. When you look at this graph, you can see that today is a seller's market.

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If you're looking to buy a home this season, keep going. Homebuyers encounter obstacles in any market, including today's. Perseverance pays off in the end if you decide to buy a home. According to a recent Bankrate survey, homeownership is so powerful:

“Nearly three-quarters of homeowners say they would buy their current property again.”

That is, the benefits of owning a property surpass the effort required to attain it. If you're a homebuyer, realize that the work you do today will pay you for years to come. Here are some reasons to keep going with your search.

Owning a home is important to your financial health.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) suggests numerous reasons to consider buying a property. The equity you build is a major financial reason. NAR says:

“Rent is money lost, while mortgage payments allow you to develop equity... Home equity building is a ready-made savings plan.”

You can use your equity in several ways. With recent home price increases, homeowners now have historic levels of equity. That may be why so many individuals consider homeownership a fantastic investment and a sign of financial security. As shown by the Bankrate survey:

“Americans respect homeownership more than any other sign of economic stability...”

Owning a home outranks retirement, a good career, and a college diploma. That shows how significant the financial benefits of owning are.

The Emotional Benefits of Home Ownership

Of course, homeownership is a lifestyle. The NAR's top reasons to buy a home list include substantial non-financial benefits of homeownership. Among them is the chance to personalize your property to suit your tastes. Says:

“It's yours. You can personalize your home with renovations and new features that suit your lifestyle.”

Stability is another advantage homeowners have. Most homeowners outlive renters. According to NAR, staying put for a few years can help you connect with your neighborhood. That can boost your self-esteem and improve your relationships.

So What?

As NAR President Leslie Rouda Smith puts it:

“The value of homeownership is undeniable, from personal wealth and community development to social stability and economic growth.”

You will be rewarded if you succeed in buying a home in today's market.

In Brief

If you plan to buy a property this year, you will reap enormous rewards. Let's connect to discuss the benefits of owning.

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As the news goes today, you're more than likely to have heard about an increase in prices. In your day-to-day life, prices for gas, groceries, and more are likely going up. There are more and more costs for people to buy things. This can hurt your wallet and make you think twice about any big purchases you have planned.

If you've been thinking about buying a home this year, you might be wondering if you should keep going or if it would be better to wait. Here's how owning a home can help you deal with the rising costs that come with inflation, even though the answer is different for everyone.

Stability and security come with owning a home.

Investopedia says that when there is a lot of inflation, prices go up all over the place. That's true for things like food, entertainment, and other goods and services, as well as housing, as far as I know. Rental and home prices are going up. So, as a buyer, how can you protect yourself from the cost of things going up? The answer is to own your own home.

Buying a home lets you keep your biggest monthly expense, your housing costs, the same. As long as you get a fixed-rate mortgage on your home, you can set your payments for as long as your loan lasts. Usually, this is for 15 to 30 years. At Bankrate, James Royal is a Senior Wealth Management Reporter.

"A fixed-rate mortgage lets you keep the majority of your housing costs at the same payment." Sure, property taxes and other costs will go up, but your monthly housing payment will stay the same, so that's good.

As prices go up, your housing payment will stay the same. This will help you keep your budget in check even if other prices go up. It's not the same if you rent, and you won't be able to keep up with rising housing costs.

Use the rising value of your home to your advantage.

Because mortgage rates and home prices are going up, it costs more to buy a house now than it did a year ago. You can still set yourself up for a long-term win, though. Now is the best time to buy so that you can lock in today's rates and prices before both of them rise.

You should put your money into an asset that usually stays or grows in value when inflation is high. The graph below shows that home price appreciation has outperformed inflation in most decades, going back to the seventies. This makes homeownership a historically strong hedge against inflation, as shown in the graph below.

Think about what you'll need to do to get your offer to the seller accepted if you want to buy a home this season. In the past, it was common for buyers to figure out how much less than the asking price they could offer and still get the home. This is no longer the case. The buyer and seller would then work together to come up with a new price that was somewhere between the buyer's bid and the home's asking price.

Buying a home in today's market isn't the same as buying a home in the past.

Things have changed today.

If you want to buy a house today, you won't find anything normal about the market. In fact, the National Association of Realtors says that the average home that's sold today is worth about $120,000.

A person gets 4.8 offers from other people.

In just 17 days, it's sold.

The fact that homes are selling quickly and getting a lot of offers shows how competitive the housing market is for buyers right now. The reason for this is that there are more buyers on the market than there are homes for sale. Home prices can go up when there aren't enough homes on the market to meet demand.

When it's time to make an offer, how does this affect you and your chances?

The market should help you make decisions during the process. Today, the asking price of a home is more often the starting point of a negotiation than the ending point, but that doesn't mean it's always the case. The more you know about this when it's time to make an offer, the better. You should also use this information when you're looking for homes. When you buy a house, you don't want to fall in love with it and then find out that it sells for more than you've planned on.

If you want to buy a home in a competitive market, The Mortgage Reports has some advice for you. The article tells you to be realistic about your home search, saying:

You should set your budget and expectations before you start looking for a home. This way, you know how much you can afford to offer and when to walk away from the deal. This will make talks a lot easier.

When you find the home of your dreams, you'll want to do everything you can to make your best offer right away and avoid a bidding war. Knowing the current market is very important to making a good offer. That's when it's important to work with a real estate expert.

A real estate professional will use their years of experience and knowledge of today's housing market to help them through the process. They'll also make sure your offer stands out from the rest of the ones in your area.

The Bottom Line

Buyers need to know how to deal with the asking price of a home and what's going on in the real estate market today in order to buy a home. Let's meet up so we can work together to come up with a plan that will work for you.

If you're planning to buy or sell a home today, it's important to be aware of some common myths about the process.
Whether you're buying a home or selling one, you need a professional to help you make the right decisions about how to make your home look its best and how much it will cost.

To make sure you have an expert to help you figure out what's real and what's not, let's connect.

It can be hard for people who want to buy their first home to find a house because there isn't a lot of inventory. Besides, if you work from home, you may be able to use the time you have at work this year to reach your homebuying goals. This is because many people work from home.

Homebuyers who work from home are getting more options, Arch Capital Services says in a new report.

A few people who can work from home on a part-time or hybrid basis will now have the option of moving a little farther from their jobs. For workers who get full-time jobs from home, where they live will depend on how much it costs and how much they like where they live.

As a first-time homebuyer, working from home is great because it will help you find a home that meets your needs and is in your price range! Take a look at how it might help you.

Extra flexibility in your job means more flexibility in your home search, too.

if your job is 100% remote, you don't have to go to a certain place or office to do your job. So, if you haven't been able to find what you want in your own neighborhood, it may be time to look further.

It's possible to move somewhere you've always wanted to live, like the mountains or the beach. When you widen your search radius to include those places, you'll be able to look at more homes.

When you search for a cheaper place, you might be able to look for one where you have more options for a certain price range. This can help you reach two goals at the same time: save money and find new features that meet your needs. You can read a recent First American article about how working from home can help you get a house. She is an Economist at First American.

For people who want to buy their first home, they can use their house-buying power in more affordable markets to get more square footage and rooms, as well as more options for different home styles and neighborhood amenities.

If that's the case, you can use your work flexibility to look for homes that have the amenities you need at a lower price point.

The bottom line:

People who work from home aren't just more flexible in their careers. If you no longer have to go to work in a certain place, you have a great chance to look for a new place to live. Let's meet up and talk about how this can give you a lot of new options.

Rates on 30-year fixed mortgages from Freddie Mac have gone up a little bit in the last few weeks. The average rate rose to 5%. That news might make you question the timing of your home search, but the truth is that timing has never been more important. You may want to put your plans on hold in the hope that prices will go down, but that will only cost you more. There is a good chance that mortgage rates will keep going up over the next year or so.

For people who want to buy homes, here are some things to keep in mind as mortgage rates rise.

How Mortgage Rates Change What happens to you when your mortgage rate goes up

Your mortgage rate is very important when you look for a house. As interest rates rise, they change how much you'll have to pay each month for your mortgage, which affects how much you can afford to buy. Using the chart below, you can see how even a quarter-point change can make a big difference to how much you pay each month.

It's likely that mortgage rates have already gone up, which has made it more difficult for you to buy things in the past. Instead of putting off your plans, today's prices should make you want to buy now before they go up even more. Use that motivation to get you going on your search and plan your next steps in that way.

The best way to get ready is to work with a real estate expert now. People who work as agents can connect you with a trusted lender, help you search for homes based on your budget, and make sure you're ready to act quickly when the time comes to make an offer.

The Bottom Line

Serious buyers should see rising interest rates as a reason to buy now, not a reason to hold off. You will pay more in the long run if you don't hurry. Let's meet up today so you can better understand your budget and be ready to buy a home even before interest rates go up.

When you buy a house this season, you need to be careful and competitive to get the best deal. When you buy something, you need to get it approved first before you can get it. To find out how much money you can borrow for your loan, you need to get pre-approved from a lender. Peter Warden, who is the editor of The Mortgage Reports, explains why:

"The lender will check your personal finances and send you a letter that says how much money you can get from the lender." In addition to setting a price range, this lets sellers know that you're ready to make an offer.

Because today, that's very important. As many people want to buy a home as there are homes for sale, there is a lot of competition between them. In general, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) says that the average home is getting 4.8 offers when it goes on the market. There are still a lot of bidding wars, as a result.

It gives you a head start in these situations because you have already agreed to the plan. This is because you know how much you can borrow before you write your offer, and it lets the seller know that you can buy their house. This is why: This makes both you and the seller feel more confident about what you're going to bring to the table. If there is a bidding war, that could help you win.

As Warden says, this is what this is about.

Getting preapproved is also important because there's a second reason to do it. Today, there are more buyers than homes on the market, which means you need to be ready for a bidding war. Most people who want to sell are getting a lot of bids right now. And most people won't even look at an offer without a pre-approval letter in it, either.

When you're a buyer, every advantage you can get is important because the market is always changing. Mortgage rates are going up, home prices are going up, and lending institutions are always changing their rules. When you buy a home, you're going to need help. You should have a loan officer and a trusted real estate agent on your side. Make sure you're ready to put your best foot forward.

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• 2022 College Classic at Minute Maid Park | Friday to Sunday – The annual college baseball tournament returns to Minute Maid, with 6 teams playing games across the weekend. Featured university teams include Baylor, LSU, Texas, Oklahoma, UCLA and Tennessee. $20 and up; $45 for a 3-day pass. 11am to 9pm daily.

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• Houston Symphony presents Star Wars: Return of the Jedi in Concert at Jones Hall | Friday to Sunday – Feel the force of John Williams’s one-of-a-kind score as the Houston Symphony accompanies the movie in a live performance. $35 and up. Times vary.

• The Super Happy Toy Show & Art Market at Saint Arnold Brewing Co. | Saturday & Sunday | No Cover – The biggest toy show in town returns with some of the best toy vendors and most talented toy artisans  setting up shop at the brewery, with plenty of shopping and browsing options for collectors, kids, and the young at heart. 11am to 6pm both days. 

• The Texas Tenors in Concert at The Grand 1894 Opera House | Saturday & Sunday – Comprising country singer JC Fisher, pop singer Marcus Collins, and opera singer John Hagen, the Emmy-winning trio returns to the Galveston stage on their 10th anniversary tour. $30 to $94. Showtimes vary.

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