The Cost of Waiting

What is the cost of waiting?

This question is extremely complex and there is no right or wrong answer. To begin though I want to go back to January 2020. A brand new agent excited to hit the ground running. I dove right into new home sales. New construction was my life. Often while giving a tour of a model home or a new community, buyers would ask a TON of questions – it is a HUGE purchase so I would expect nothing less. However, more often than not I would continue to hear the same questions over and over.  “Do you think interest rates will go down?” or “How long has this particular home been on the market?”. “We really aren’t sure if we want to buy yet, maybe we will just wait and see what happens to the market.” Little did we know this pandemic, Covid-19, you may have heard of it, would come upon us.

We had no idea what the projected future would look like as the country was shutting down all around us. We took a knee, and worked virtually for about a month. What began to happen was the demand for houses was extremely difficult to meet. Interest rates were dropping. Supply’s were not only difficult to attain, but the amount of time it was taking to receive the most basic of home building materials was astronomical in comparison to pre-covid. So what happens next – COST’S go up. *Supply and Demand*.

Sparing you details of numbers and facts – this is the feedback from my experience.

1. The cost of waiting contributed to home prices sky rocketing.
2. The cost of waiting is the difference in being able to afford your dream home and now that dream home is out of your budget.
3. The cost of waiting is now the difference of moving into your brand new home and now having to be put on a wait list for something to become available. THEN you have to build it. (5-6 months out)
4. The cost of waiting has put you into a rental situation which is COSTING you more money.

These are just a few of the many reasons waiting to purchase your dream home is a HUGE mistake.

I will leave you with just one last customer experience.

A client of mine was newly engaged. He had big changes in the near future and wanted to make sure his first home purchase was going to be perfect for his new wife and future family. The home he had his heart set on (and more importantly his fiancé had her heart set on 😉 ) was $302,000. He had the magic number of nothing more than $300,000 in mind for a budget. It was Thanksgiving weekend 2020 and he wanted the weekend to think it over and speak to his family. This specific weekend we were offering an extra $2000 in closing costs with a signed contract. Walking out of the model home he knew he was risking a lot.

A. Potentially losing the home to another buyer over the weekend.

B. Missing out on closing cost assistance. (More money in his pocket)

We spoke quite a bit over the weekend. He changed his mind on multiple occasions about home plans that were under $300,000, even going so far as to writing a contract on one. Sunday night he called me late – one last plea to see if we would accept an offer under $300,000 for his dream home. Unfortunately, due to rising lumber costs we only see prices rising and not going down. The final purchase price would be $302,000 and he accepted. We closed mid February 2021 and in three short months his home had over $20k in equity. To say he made the right choice is an understatement. He decided the wait wasn’t worth the cost.

I’d love to help you make the right choice as well! 🙂