The 2024 housing market may seem daunting, but don’t let that deter your dreams of homeownership. Celebrity real estate agent and former Million Dollar Listing star Ryan Serhant joined TheStreet to share some of his best advice for those trying to break into the 2024 housing market.
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Full Video Transcript Below:
CONWAY GITTENS: So give me some strategies here. I like strategies. All right. Given the environment that we’re in right now with rates, with prices, what is a prospective home buyer to do?
RYAN SERHANT: We talked to a lot of buyers who say, I’m going to wait for rates to come down and then I’ll buy. I don’t want to rent anymore. I’ve been renting for five years, 10 years. I want to buy I want to set my boots in the cement and I want to own my own place. But I got to wait for rates to come down. My best advice is to really understand what that means. Every half a point, let’s say in interest rate reduction is about $33 a month for every $100,000 borrowed. So, you know, if you’re borrowing an additional $300,000 to get the home that you’re going to be in for five to seven years and you’re waiting for rates to come down by another half a point, you say, you know what, I’m going to wait till it’s at 6% instead of 6 and 1/2 today, what you’re really doing is turning down a dream house, getting this off your plate for $100 a month. So you need to have a real thought out conversation with yourself as to what that really, really means.
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My best advice is to understand rates are flexible. The price you pay is not. Once you close, you’re closed. So you marry the house, you date the rate. I hate saying that it’s so cliche, but it’s true. It’s true. It’s true. So my best advice is to not wait, right? Because to your point, rates do come down at the end of the year. We’re having conversations with Sellers right now in all of our markets. You know, we think they should sell now. September rates could come down, but that’s also going to be two months before a presidential election. It’s anyone’s best guess as to what that’s going to mean for purchase power and consumer confidence. But if rates do come down, you’re going to have some sellers say, you know what, I don’t want to negotiate as much as I would have back in may, so you might pay a little bit more today than you think you’re going to pay. But you can always refinance in the fall versus paying a lot more in the fall because then you’re going to try to get done by the end of the year.
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