Have you put buying a Maryland home on hold due to the Mortgage rates increasing and are you waiting for the rates to go back down before you buy? What if I told you that is a big mistake and this is a great time to buy?
There is a big misconception that you should wait for rates to go down before you purchase a home. As
good as it may sound, you could be setting yourself up to paying even more for a home when the rates
are lower. Why? Right now, as rates are higher many buyers have the same thought process that you
do. They are waiting for rates to drop and when they do all of those buyers will be out in a frenzy to buy
a home driving the prices up further than they are today, encouraging bidding wars and you will most
likely be paying tens of thousands of dollars more for the same home that is out there today similar to
what happened in the “covid market”.
No one can predict how long it will take for the rates to go down, so buy now as long as you can afford
the mortgage payment for a year or so and then break up with that rate and refinance to a lower one
when they do drop. You are not tied to this current mortgage rate for the life of your loan. “You Marry
the Mortgage but you Date the Rate”. The House is the long-term relationship not the rate.
Another thought is that although the rates are the highest they have been in the last few years they
could go even higher and that would make waiting to buy a costly delay and taking out a mortgage to
purchase today would eliminate that problem.
An additional important factor to consider is right now, due to fewer buyers in the market to buy, sellers
are more willing to fix things found on inspections and/or give concessions. They are also open to
helping with closing costs. This will likely not be the case when rates drop and all the folks that were
waiting are back out there to buy.
If you are a renter, think about a mortgage being your savings account. Why put money into your
landlords savings account when you could be putting it into yours? Renters never get their money back
when paying a landlord to rent their home. You are paying the landlords mortgage while they are
building equity. Pay your own mortgage and build your own equity and be the owner of your own
valuable asset.
Wendy Farrar REALTOR®, MRP w/Home Towne Real Estate
