Professional Realtors take their fiduciary responsibility to clients quite seriously and although seemingly counterintuitive, may strongly advise AGAINST buying or selling a home right now if certain criteria apply. This month The Meridian Real Estate Group will explore the TOP 5 reasons NOT to buy a home in today’s market.
Do NOT buy if:
1) You prefer to keep up with the Joneses- This is understandable. Most of your friends and family have mortgage interest rates that average between 5.25% all the way up to 9%. You may not want to surpass your peers by taking advantage of current historically low interest rates that start in the low 3’s (not a typo). Imagine the stares and subsequent deferential treatment at parties and other social gatherings this would garner when others realize how much more financially savvy and sophisticated you are. This could be quite unnerving if you’re not used to winning in life.
2) You prefer less cleaning and yard maintenance- After all, who wants more square footage or land to take care of? By leveraging the lower interest rates in your favor, you may accidentally stumble into a much larger home and/or lot you would not have been able to afford otherwise. It’s basic math…more square footage and acreage equals more dusting, sweeping, gardening, etc. Super boring. Instead you could be bingeing the latest streaming show with a giant bag of barbeque chips in your lap and a box of powdered doughnuts as back up. The only thing you would need to worry about dusting off in this scenario would be your clothes and couch. All. Day. Long.
3) You don’t like people in your personal space- This goes hand in hand with the basic math mentioned earlier. If you prefer solitude over socializing, don’t buy now or you may get more home for your money. You could gain another bedroom or worse yet an in law suite and then what? Random friends and family just assume they can not only visit but stay for awhile?? Your cats would be traumatized. Nope, nope and nope. Wisely keep your socialization in public places, not private spaces.
4) You prefer above ground storage- Many Americans these days have handily converted their garages into large storage spaces and are parking their cars in the driveways, thus giving them more access to the elements such as sunshine, rain and bird droppings. Although this may be detrimental to the paint job and interiors of said automobiles, this probably makes the cars happier and definitely employs multiple car washes in the area. Plus as your garage inevitably fills up over time, you will have the added benefit of periodically becoming a local garage sale guru. We recommend not buying a home with a basement (which you may be able to afford now with the ridiculously low interest rates) if waking up at 5:30am to haggle with professional garage sale shoppers over a dented colander thrills you in any way.
5) You are a natural DIYer- There are so many advantages if you are a type A creative personality to stay where you are. With affordability to better locations possible with the low, low, low interest rates currently, avoid the temptation to move to a better area that may be closer to conveniences such as shopping, top rated schools or access to highways. Instead, jump on the world wide web and learn how to DIY just about anything! Uh oh, you ran out of butter? Learn how to churn your own from expired milk. Farther away from the school district you would like little Johnny in? Simply become a homeschooling superhero via online courses and spend every waking hour together. You barely see your significant other because it takes them hours to drive to and from work? Become sufficient at different languages and/or accents and you can entertain yourself endlessly with stimulating conversation by tricking your mind into believing someone else is there. The possibilities are endless.
This list is far from comprehensive but gives a good foundation in determining whether or not you may fall into the category of someone who would NOT benefit from buying in today’s market with the ridiculously low interest rates. Next month we will cover why now is NOT the right time to SELL your home. Until then, if you do decide to buy or sell real estate, give us a call. We would love to help.
By Holly A. Morris, Realtor