What You Should Believe About the Wild KC Housing Market
Whether you’re planning to buy or sell this year, you’ve probably heard a lot of extreme information out there about what’s going on in the KC housing market. We want to help squash misinformation and bring some facts to the table.
Seller Myth #1
I can price my home at whatever asking price I want.
False. Pricing your home correctly for the market, neighborhood and home’s offerings is important and really takes a real estate professional. If you want to be taken seriously as a seller and receive legitimate offers, it’s important not to be greedy during this process.
It’s true that because we’re in a seller’s market, you may get offers that are far over asking, but the appraisal needs to be considered as well. Unless your chosen offer covers an appraisal gap, it’s possible your home may not get appraised for the amount offered.
This is also why it’s important to price your home accurately. We offer a free home value estimate. There are no fake algorithms in our estimation process; just accurate price valuations from a local agent. Other automated home estimator tools have actually been coming out on the low end. On average, our clients have been getting offers 8-9% higher than the online estimators predicted. Some of our clients are even getting as much as 22% higher!
Buyer Myth #1
Home prices will start to fall soon, so I should wait to buy.
Although we can’t ever fully know what the market will do each year, we do know our own communities well, and experts (including ourselves – *shoulder pat*) are seeing that the KC housing market isn’t going down anytime soon. If anything, prices will continue to rise. And waiting to buy could mean that it will cost you more the longer you wait.
Seller Myth #2
I need to renovate my home to get it ready to sell.
Stop right there. In today’s market, this very well may NOT be the case. So before you decide to gut the bathroom or even just paint a bedroom, reach out to your real estate agent to get their opinion first. Updates may be a waste of time and money in this hot market. We’re seeing most clients able to sell their home “as is.”
For other information about being a seller in a seller’s market, check out our free webinar you can watch at your convenience.
Buyer Myth #2
Waiving the home inspection is a good idea in order to make my offer stand out.
You may not be wrong in thinking this act would make your offer stand out to a seller, but unless you have endless amounts of cash or just cannot see yourself living without a certain house no matter the condition, this isn’t a wise thing to do. You need an inspection to tell you about the condition of the home. You may not end up asking for any fixes, but the inspection will benefit you in the long run by giving you peace of mind and potentially saving you thousands of dollars.
When buying or selling your home, don’t take shortcuts and make sure you’re working with a trusted agent who knows the KC housing market and will have your best interest in mind over anything else.
Did you know?
Nationally, existing home sales recently dropped to a 6-month low, falling 7.2% as buyers struggled to find a home amid rising prices and historic low inventory. Pending sales are also down, declining 4.1% as of last measure, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. Builders are working hard to ramp up production—the U.S. Census Bureau reports housing starts are up 22.3% compared to a year ago—but higher construction costs and increasing sales prices continue to hamper new home sales, despite high demand for additional supply.